Review - Honeymoon In Vegas (London Palladium)

The London Musical Theatre Orchestra have done it again! After the success of their last two musicals in concert, their track record is bolstered further by their most recent offering, Andrew Bergman and Jason Robert Brown's Honeymoon in Vegas. For the first time LMTO's founder and principal conductor Freddie Tapner offers up the baton to a guest maestro, and who better to lead an orchestra in a concert performance of one of Jason Robert Brown's most recent Broadway outing than the main man himself?

Maxwell Caulfield, Samantha Barks and Arthur Darvill 

Honeymoon in Vegas is nothing if not good old fashioned entertainment. Based on the 1992 film starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicholas Cage, it follows the exploits of Jack, a man haunted by the ghost of his marriage averse mother, as he tries desperately to pluck up enough courage to propose to his girlfriend Betsy. After an ill-fated game of poker sees Jack down $58,000, he's forced to offer up Betsy's company to smarmy gambler Tommy Korman in lieu of payment, but when Korman whisks Betsy off to spend a weekend in Hawaii Jack must do whatever it takes to win her back. It's a madcap romp featuring ghostly apparitions, shady henchpeople, and more skydiving Elvis impersonators than you can shake a stick at, and of course all of the adventure is tied together by the music! 

The London Musical Orchestra delivers a polished and professional performance in every respect. Made up of a combination of experienced orchestra members as well as passionate musicians in training, it's clear that the entire cohort share a passion for playing, which seeps naturally into the atmosphere. The dazzling orchestra perform with gusto, and are joined onstage by an exciting cast of West End vocalists, who help to bring the concert to life. In the role of Jack, Arthur Darvill proves himself yet again to be a real musical talent. After his high profile run as Guy in Once the Musical both on Broadway and in the West End a few years ago it's great to hear him performing musical theatre material again. Hopefully it won't be long until he's back on stage in a starring role once more. Meanwhile in the role of Betsy Samantha Barks is given ample room to show off her incredibly versatile voice. Shining in songs like Anywhere But Here and I've Been Thinking, she leaves audiences wondering if there is anything she can't do. 

LMTO's Honeymoon in Vegas also boasts a scene stealing supporting cast including Rosemary Ashe, who makes the most of her scenes as Jack's deceased mother Bea, Maisey Bawden as sultry Hawaiian guide Mahi, and Simon Lipkin, who doubles as a corny lounge singer and an overly enthusiastic Elvis impersonator. Lipkin brings down the house twice with the impressively sung When I Say Vegas as well as hilarious Elvis parody song Higher Love, in which he is accompanied by the entire male ensemble, who lip curl and hip thrust like their lives depend on it! 

It's such a treat to hear the music, and dialogue, of such an irresistibly joyful musical coming to life, if only for one night, on a West End stage. The orchestra's passion is contagious, the vocalists are first rate and it's such a thrill to see Jason Robert Brown conducting his own work. For musical theatre lovers there really is nothing else to rival the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, and with two further concerts lined up in the coming months there's plenty for fans to look forward to. Given how quickly they have achieved notoriety it's going to be a real thrill to see what other projects may be on the horizon. 

Don't forget to check out www.lmto.org for more information on upcoming projects

Review - The Last Five Years (St James Theatre)

The Last Five Years is perhaps composer Jason Robert Brown's most famous and beloved song cycle musical, ever since its 2001 off-Broadway run was immortalised on a cast album featuring Sherie Rene Scott and Norbert Leo Butz, songs such as Summer In Ohio and Moving Too Fast have been stalwart numbers in auditions and concerts all over the world. The musical's popularity was further bolstered in 2015 when Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick starred in a movie adaptation. As far as contemporary musical theatre goes, The Last Five Years is a must-see. 

Photo Credit - Scott Rylander 

The story charts the doomed relationship between successful young author Jamie and aspiring actress Cathy, and uses a unique structure to embellish the tale. While Jamie's scenes are told in chronological order, the audience first witnesses Cathy reflecting on the end of the couple's marriage after their 5 year long relationship. This clever structure reminds audiences that for each happy or triumphant moment there is an undercurrent of sadness and futility.  

If the opening line of The Last Five Years' wasn't 'Jamie is over and Jamie is gone' then the form would still immediately highlight the incongruity of the relationship, as the only time Cathy and Jamie share the stage is during their wedding day. At all other times they are completely separate from each other, thus constantly reminding the audience of the ways in which they are missing each others signs, and neglecting one another in order to follow their own personal ambitions and whims. 

Samantha Barks and Jonathan Bailey are exemplary in their roles as young lovers Cathy and Jamie. Barks is an engaging performer whose powerful and soaring voice effortlessly navigates Cathy's belty numbers such as I Can Do Better Than That and Climbing Uphill. meanwhile she brings a touching vulnerability to quieter moments and punctuates moments of silence with long lovelorn looks.

While Barks' Cathy is rather restrained, Jonathan Bailey bursts into his earlier scenes with boundless energy and an adorkable lovableness. He attacks many of his numbers in a controlled frenzy, puts on silly voices, emotes, dances and laughs with abandon, and is evidently the polar opposite of his sweet, witty yet reserved other half. Although his voice is not exactly that of a typical leading man's he injects songs with charm, and wins over Cathy (and the audience) through goofy numbers such as The Schmuel Song. It is heartbreaking therefore, to see his sleazy side develop, and the last couple of numbers are emotionally tiring tearjerkers as a result. In particular, the slow, languishing Nobody Needs To Know signals an irrefutably heart stopping revelation. The Last Five Years is an ultimately dispiriting musical, which Barks and Bailey navigate faultlessly from joyous to painful or vice versa, proving themselves pitch perfect leads. 

Nowhere is this perfection clearer than in the final scene, wherein Cathy tells Jamie Goodbye Until Tomorrow, while Jamie sadly reflects on the shortcomings of the pair's love in I Could Never Rescue You. Although the audiences has been privy to the entire relationship from beginning to end, there is still something in the way Cathy dreamily sings about her hopes for a future with her new love which gives the audience a sense of hope that maybe things will turn out differently, however much the inevitability of their incompatibility has already been established. It is therefore gut wrenching to see a rare moment of connection between characters in the musical's final moments, and there is no denying the fact that they are well and truly over. 

The musical battles with a number of universal emotions and ideas, such as ambition, rejection, longing and self doubt, which only serves to make each moment all the more affecting. Even more notable is the role gender plays within the piece, the young and ambitious man is rewarded with success and reaps the rewards of his skills, meanwhile the woman is subjected to cattle call auditions, where she is judged first and foremost on her age and appearance rather than her talent, and is chiefly concerned with avoiding becoming a housewife, and haunted by the idea that she may never be able to have the career she always dreamed of. The fact that this issue remains as relevant today as ever is extremely disheartening. For this reason it is impossible not to relate at least one of the characters at some point or another, and the intimacy of the two-hander in such a cosy space really helps to drive the poignancy home. 

The Last Five Years is an intimate story, and the St James Theatre is the perfect London venue to stage it at. That being said, the production is a little bit busy at times, and features lots of moving pieces, and somewhat superfluous screens, used only to give the audience an indication of location. The beauty of The Last Five Years is in its simplicity and therefore at times the production does feel a little bit fussy, however, for the most part the minimal sets and props are of no consequence.

The fact that composer Jason Robert Brown is the director of this production is very interesting for several reasons, not least because The Last Five Years contains some semi-autobiographical elements. Famously Brown based Jamie off of himself, and therefore his direction of this cast is also an exciting insight into the way in which the character was intended to be played. Despite this, it it Jamie who ends up coming off worse in the end, while Cathy remains a far more sympathetic character. That being said, Jonathan Bailey does his best to try and inject some likability into his older Jamie, and plays later scenes much less stony faced and cold than is often seen in productions of this musical. 

The Last Five Years is a musical which every musical theatre fan should see. Not only is it a modern standard, its influence can also be seen in countless new musicals today. With such an impressive cast, and a director who knows the piece better than anyone else, this is an unmissable production which will resonate on some level with everyone! 

The Last Five Years plays at London's St James Theatre until 3rd December. For more information and to book tickets, visit the St James Theatre website.

Review - City of Angels - Donmar Warehouse (previews)

Question: Where can you find Hadley Fraser, Tam Mutu, Rosalie Craig, Samantha Barks, Rebecca Trehearn and countless other West End stars all under one roof?

Answer: The Donmar Warehouse, where they are performing in an incredible new staging of City of Angels, a musical with a book by Larry Gelbart and music and lyrics by Cy Coleman and David Zippel. But good luck getting a ticket, the production (which played it's first preview on Saturday the 6th December),  has been sold out for months now. However, if you are REALLY eager to see the show, like I was, and you are prepared for a few minutes of extreme stress on a Monday morning, then you could as I did, try purchasing Barclay's Front Row seats, which are released every Monday at 10am on the Donmar's website. However, as so many people are eager to see the show, and there are only a very limited number for each performance, you'd better get in quick!

Luckily though, I was one of the lucky few who managed to secure a ticket for the 2nd preview on Monday 8th December, and I'm so glad of that! My seat, Circle A8, was a front row, side facing seat on stage left, and from there I had an absolutely perfect view of the stage. That being said, the Donmar is such an intimate space that I can't imagine many seats have anything less than a perfect view).

If you are unfamiliar of the story, as I was, then here is a description of the show from the Donmar's website -

'Hollywood comes calling for a New York novelist. The offer is too good to refuse: adapt the private detective protagonist of his books into a big-screen hero. The siren song of Los Angeles is a dangerous temptation and while his movie plays out in black and white, his new life is all-too colourful.' (plot summery from the +DonmarWarehouse website)

Hadley Fraser played the novelist; a slightly geeky, cardigan wearing, unsuccessful affair-having push over named 'Stein', while Tam Mutu played his literary persona, the handsome, brandy sipping, cigarette smoking womanizer, Detective Stone. Clearly, everything that Stein longs to be and more, Stone has an influence over his creator that only increases as the story progresses. The rest of the cast multirole as characters in both Stein's novel and his real life. Notably, the incredibly talented Rosalie Craig played both Stein's business-minded wife Gabby, and Stone's old flame, the alluring nightclub singer Bobbi. Part of the fun of the show is spotting the similarities between Stein's characters and the people who inspired (or become inspired) by them. 

Perhaps the most awe inspiring element of the production though, was the music, which I was blown away by. From the first note, every song oozed 40's glamour and seduction. As Bobbi, Rosalie Craig wooed the audience with her rendition of 'With Every Breath I take'. Her performance was a incomparable masterclass in musical theatre. Alternatively, Rebecca Trehearn's sarcastic performance of 'You Can Always Count On Me' was both hilarious and heartbreaking, a real standout number in a show jam packed with brilliant songs. Unsurprisingly, Hadley Fraser gave a flawless vocal performance, as did Tam Mutu, and when the pair performed together and played off one another, the result was nothing short of breathtaking. The final song ('I'm Nothing Without You') was one of the most joyful, brilliant songs I've ever had the pleasure to hear performed live, and I was grinning as I left the theatre! The rest of the cast all gave brilliant vocal performances too, with the omnipresent Angel City Four ensemble group (Kadiff Kirwan, Sandra Marvin, Jennifer Saayeng and Jo Servi) keeping everything running smoothly. 

As far as other production elements were concerned, the show was a period clothing fanatic's dream,I wanted to take home every character's wardrobe! The set design was also brilliant, quite minimalist (except for the large bookcase that formed the back of the stage), and set changes happened mostly at the hands of ensemble members who wheeled desks and chairs around left, right and centre. There was a gorgeous act 2 surprise in the form of a magnificent grand piano, but I'll keep the details of that a mystery for those who already have tickets!  

The idea of two stories running parallel to one another was inspired, and worked remarkably well on this occasion (The show reminded me vaguely of a film noir take on The Last 5 Years at some points!). Although, there were points when I found myself getting a little bit lost, especially due to the fact that sometimes fictional characters and their real life counterparts shared too many similarities and for a split second it was hard to tell weather you were inside Stein's novel or not. I also found that occasionally there was too much sound on stage and it was hard to focus. On the occasions where Stein was typing at his typewriter, and characters on the stage were speaking or singing, and there was music playing too, there seemed to be too much going on and the vocals were drowned out. However, I'm sure that this is an issue that will be ironed out before opening night. I also noticed that some actors appeared to be underused, with Samantha Barks, Nick Cavalier and Cameron Cuff going long periods of time without making an appearance, but this is an issue with the book, and not with this specific production, and was only an issue as their performances were so brilliant that it would have been nice to see more of them, but not necessary I suppose. 

I'm so happy to have nabbed those illusive Barclay's Front Row tickets, and if you don't have a ticket I seriously recommend that you try your luck every Monday morning. The show runs until February 9th so you'll have plenty of tries. Personally, I have fallen in love with the ingenious book, the gorgeous music and the talented cast, and would go back tomorrow if I could. An extended run or transfer to a different theater would be a dream come true for me, but sadly, not all great shows can be seen by everyone and I predict that once this show is gone, it's gone, so SEE IT if you can! 

Verdict - 5 Stars

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Edit - August 2015
In response to recent events, I would like to state that this preview review was posted solely for personal use at the time of publication. This blog began as a hobby, and for this reason I was not familiar with embargos or the etiquette surrounding reviewing previews. Even so, this review was posted with the word PREVIEW in the title, so that it would be clear that my comments may not fully reflect the content of the show later in previews or on/after press night. Having now become more a more professional theatre blogger, I would like to state that unless specifically agreed, no preview reviews will appear on this site, and any posts which contain references to or comment upon preview performances will continue to be clearly labelled as such. Thanks for your support!