WALKING IN A WEST END WONDERLAND - PART 3

WALKING IN A WEST END WONDERLAND

PART 3

I think it's time for another visit to the fabulous West End of London, don't you? Today's offerings include a beloved musical especially popular around the holidays, a Rodgers and Hart masterpiece, a sophisticated art-deco wonder by Comden and Green and Cy Coleman, Marvin Hamlisch's other long-running hit, a literate and interesting play about Oscar Wilde and an AIDS-themed play produced in the Fringe, London's answer to Off-Broadway. All set? Let's begin.

As I write this (early November, 2013), the holiday season is just around the corner and soon a plethora of playhouses…I just love the word "plethora," don't you?... around the planet…keeping with the alliteration here… will present a production of Lionel Bart's classic musical as its holiday presentation. I have to get this off my chest: I just don't get it! How did a musical based on Charles Dickens' harsh novel of contemporary London in the late 1830s become this kid-friendly, family musical? Why not just slot in Sweeney Todd as your holiday show while you're at it? (Full disclosure…I wouldn't mind that at all. Sweeney's an amazing show.) Oh, yeah, I know you're saying, "But, Jeff, Sweeney Todd has themes of  murder, revenge, cannibalism and that weird and very disturbing guardian/ward thing that Judge Turpin wants to get going. Ewww. Oliver! Is nothing like Sweeney Todd." No? Well, let's take a "big picture" look at the plot of the musical Oliver!.

Oliver is an orphan of about 10 in one of London's nastier orphan workhouses. Makes Miss Hannigan's establishment look positively plush. Anyway, he asks for more food and for punishment is sold to an undertaker (see song "Boy For Sale"). Oliver runs away and gets lost in the chaos that is London in the late1830s. Notice that nobody seems especially upset that he's run away. Oliver is picked up by an adolescent named Dodger, who lures him to his house with promises of food and shelter. As it turns out, Dodger's digs is the home of a gang of pre-pubescent boys trained as pickpockets and under the rather dubious care of an older man named Fagin, one of the most anti-Semitic portrayals of a Jew in literature, who at best is an extremely creepy perv and at worst a pedophile. Add to the mix Fagin's cohorts: Nancy, a prostitute, Bet, a prostitute-in-training and Bill Sikes a really badass criminal and murderer…and you've got a truly jolly band of pretty despicable characters. In Act Two, Nancy is bludgeoned to death onstage by Sikes (at the performance I attended in London, Nancy's leg-wiggling death throes were especially, well, graphic), Oliver is eventually reunited with a long-lost and wealthy relative (the explanation is a bit far-fetched, but I'll go with it), and Fagin is forced to set up shop elsewhere with his trusty Dodger at his side, though one is left with the impression that Dodger is indeed "artful" and now has the upper hand in the relationship.  Now, I don't know about you, but nothing says wholesome family fare like child abuse, prostitution, pedophilia, thievery and an onstage bludgeoning.

So why is Oliver! so popular as a family musical? Frankly, I haven't a clue, but I suspect the reason is that the show tends to be presented in a light and bouncy style. Nobody is really bad, not really. Bad in a cartoonish way, perhaps, but not truly bad people. Bill Sikes might be scary, but, gosh, aren't Nancy and Bet fun and isn't Fagin just lovable? There's also a crapload of kids involved. Translation: lots and lots of ticket sales to parents and friends and family forced to see little Joey or little Susie belt out "Consider Yourself" and "Food, Glorious Food." About little Susie…in the London program there isn't a female name listed among the literally two dozen or so children in a rotating cast as Workhouse Boys, Fagin's Gang, Oliver or Dodger. It's a boy's workhouse. Fagin's gang is not coed. This trend of casting little girls as little boys needs to stop. Until they allow a boy to be cast as Matilda (put the kid in a wig…a child soprano is a child soprano) or turn Miss Hannigan's into a boy/girl orphan house, well, then, I'm against the practice.

Now, before you get the wrong idea, I like Oliver! Quite a lot, in fact. It's a solid show with a phenomenal score by Lionel Bart. I just wish someone would have the guts to put some much-needed substance into this show. "I Shall Scream" is sung with such overwhelming cuteness that it's pretty much unbearable. Perform it with a "By the Sea" (Sweeney Todd again) irony and it could be a delight. I would trim "Consider Yourself" considerably (no pun intended) and end the song with Dodger. Who are all those cheerful Londoners exhorting to "consider yourself part of the furniture" anyhow? Nancy and Bet would be dirtied up (they always look too clean and put-together). I'd trim "Oom-Pah-Pah" and have the curtain to Act Two rise on the song midway through. It's a great song, but doesn't really do anything except give Nancy more to sing. I'd totally cut "My Name." Sorry, Bill Sikes, but it's not a good song and it just slows everything down. Audiences don't like it, either. Carousel and Oklahoma!, among others, have already been re-imagined. Why not Oliver!? (PS. Just in case you're wondering, I have similar concerns about The Sound of Music which will be addressed in a future post.)

Whew! Felt good to vent. Now on to this specific production….

May, 1980. I had always wanted to see Oliver! The Broadway cast album featuring the smoky tones of the incredible Georgia Brown was, and remains, a favorite. The real impetus to see this revival, mounted at its original theatre and produced by a young Cameron Mackintosh, was to see the award-winning and legendary Sean Kenny's design, credited in the program "décor," considered to this day to be a masterpiece of stage scenic design. (Kenny's design was/is so iconic that even I, a non-tech person for the most part, knew that to be able to see his original work was an opportunity not to be missed.) I was not disappointed in Mr. Kenny's work nor in the energetic, well-acted, well-sung efforts of the large cast headed by John Fleming as Fagin, subbing for absent George Layton, and Helen Shapiro as a full-voiced Nancy, who especially nailed the show's huge mega-hit "As Long As He Needs Me" with stunning vocals and characterization.

( Sidebar: Shapiro had a successful vocal career in the early 60s with a sound that today conjures up bee-hive hairdos and sunny dispositions and/or "tragic" teen events. Think Lesley Gore with a British accent. When her popularity as a pop star waned, she branched out to other music genres and the theatre, but today is all but unknown. )

This revival also featured direction by Robin Midgley based on Peter Coe's original direction. (Mr. Coe's name was bold-faced and in the same size font as Midgley's. Contractual or an indication of the importance Coe's direction for this show?) Even back then, I found the show struggling to make its point of view clear. I'm all for a revival with a fresh POV. - at the Albery Theatre, London

February, 1981. In an earlier post, I wrote about a production of Pal Joey that Bob and I had seen that had been mounted by a well-regarded local Chicago company (Porchlight). The critics lauded it; we hated it. We hated pretty much everything about it: the acting, the direction, the physical production. In my book, it was not only a major misfire, but a major disappointment since my previous exposure to this challenging and, for the period at least, daringly adult musical had been such an overwhelmingly positive experience. This tasty production was spot-on in all aspects. It was deliciously tacky when it needed to be and stunningly sophisticated when called for. The ensemble's accents were sometimes a bit over-the-top south side Chicago, but that just added to the hilarity of "The Flower Garden of My Heart." The sardonic, crisp and memorable score by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (book by John O'Hara) is a highlight and was excellently served here. Heading the cast was a young (34) Denis Lawson as a suitably sleazy Joey and a sexy and uber-sophisticated Sian Phillips as Vera. Phillips was 47 at the time and exuded an easy sexuality and worldliness that was perfect for the role. The I-smoke-too-much-and-drink-too-much earthiness to her voice added an additional element to her portrayal. I was mad about her and so wanted to hang out with her Vera. (Fun fact: Denis Lawson is Ewan McGregor's uncle.) I loved this show. - at the Albery Theatre, London

March, 1998. The relationship between Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, aka Bosie, was the subject of at least two plays in late 1990s: Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moisés Kaufman and The Judas Kiss by David Hare. I think the Kaufman play overall is the better play, but this somewhat long and very talky play had its virtures, chief of which were the performances by Liam Neeson as Wilde, Tom Hollander as Bosie and Peter Capaldi as Wilde's most faithful friend Robert Ross, quite possibly the most decent character in the play. We were in the front row and I can tell you point blank that Liam Neeson is big: tall, commanding even when quiet and has huge hands. For all of you with filthy minds, I don't know if that means anything or not, but at one point, I turned to Bob and whispered "Lucky Natasha." (He was married to the late Natasha Richardson.) Critics noted that Neeson's physical appearance and vocal qualities were more like the real Wilde than most portrayals in the past had been and Neesom's Irish background added a nice sense of verisimilitude. I liked the play's structure of Act One taking place in London hours before Wilde's arrest on charges of "gross indecency," i.e. having sex with other men, and Act Two taking place at a seedy hotel in Italy following Wilde's release from prison where a broken Wilde is treated with disrespect and disregard by a supremely douchey Bosie. David Hare's dialogue was skillful and though the play could easily be trimmed, it was never dull. Throw into the mix gorgeous and expensive production values and generous amounts of nudity (why, hello there, Mr. Hollander! Face it, you gotta love the Brits…no qualms about skin at all) and the result is an interesting, if not exactly riveting evening at the theatre. - at the Playhouse Theatre, London

(Sidebar: Did you know that the British government was willing to look the other way if Wilde had exiled himself to the Continent even up to the time of his arrest? You can thank that twit Bosie for convincing Wilde to stay.)

(Fun Factoid: The Judas Kiss originated at London's Almeida Theatre, one of London's premiere Fringe theatres (think Goodman, Steppenwolf, Roundabout, etc.).in early 1998, transferred to the Playhouse Theatre in March, 1998, in what could pass as an out-of-town tryout, dashed across The Pond and opened in New York on the last day of Tony eligibility in 1998. All that dashing about, however, was in vain as the play was greeted with less than enthusiastic notices and did not receive a single Tony nomination.)

May, 1980. An under-appreciated treasure. Cy Coleman's remarkable, soaring score, Comden and Green's urbane and witty book and lyrics, Robin Wagner's wondrous art-deco inspired scenery and Florence Klotz's elegant period costumes seemed to be a better fit at the smallish Her Majesty's Theatre than at New York's sizable St. James. The more-intimate house brought the story more into focus while not diminishing the screwball comedy antics of the piece, yet, perversely, the smaller size of the house made the one major negative I have with this show even more glaring. The negative, in my opinion, is that of Mrs. Primrose, the evangelically-religious would-be backer of Oscar Jaffee's  latest production who turns out to be an escaped mental patient. Everything about this character and the way it's written seem at odds with the style of the show. Instead of being, like the show itself, sophisticated, yet ridiculously fun, Mrs. Primrose's material seems like it was grafted onto the rest of the material. Imogene Coca originated it in New York, and according to an article I read, the part was specifically adapted from the original source material with her in mind, so that could explain the stylistic disconnect. (For the record, I quite enjoyed Coca's performance both in New York and on tour, but it truly was an Imogene Coca turn and not a character-driven one. That's not bad, mind you, I'm just saying…) Ann Beach did what she could with the role and did well with material that was clearly written with someone else's specific skill set in mind. Having said all this, Coleman, Comden and Green did write a delicious song for Mrs. Primrose, "Repent." It, like the rest of the part, was stylistically different from the rest of the show, but it was great fun. Now on to the positive….Keith Michell's Oscar was suave and handsome with a gorgeous baritone voice that filled the theatre. Julia McKenzie's Lily? Well, by now you should know that I'm a major McKenzie fan and she used all her considerable talents to top advantage in this showcase of a part. Lovely to look at, hysterically funny, and able to hit those very high notes with ease, she was a wonder. Eric Delzenne lit everything with great skill, Gerald Teijelo recreated Larry Fuller's original choreography and director Peter Coe (London and Broadway Oliver!) made everything flow smoothly. (Sidebar: Julia McKenzie would work with fellow castmates David Healy in Guys and Dolls  and Follies in London and Ann Beach in the TV series Fresh Fields. Beach's line "It's only Sonia" became a catchphrase for Steve and me. I haven't the faintest why.) By lucky coincidence, thanks to a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, etc., I have a bootleg audio recording of a live performance of this production. It's pretty freaking wonderful. - at the Her Majesty's Theatre, London

August,1995. Another play I saw in London during my  "Lick My Wounds" tour (see burning blue comments in an earlier post). And another play in which AIDS and death played major roles. This play by Andrew Alty was produced at the black box studio at London's esteemed Lyric Theatre Hammersmith. It was praised by Time Out magazine and a Critic's Choice top five. This quote starts the Time Out review: "It's amazing how messy a threesome can become, particularly when one of the participants is dead." If the play was published, I can't find it on a Google search or through French or Dramatists. Critic's Choice top five notwithstanding, I don't remember a thing about this production except that I found it entertaining enough with good acting and a nice helping of full frontal nudity. (Note: 1995 seemed to be a banner year for men showing it all. I didn't complain. Interpret that as you will.) - at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, Studio, London

February, 1981. This breezy slip of a musical is a favorite of mine. It has a melodic score by Marvin Hamlisch and Carol Bayer Sager that boasts three really fine ballads, a totally off-beat love song ("Fill in the Words") and a toe-tapping, exuberant title song. (Actually at ten songs listed, including the one reprise, it's thin song-wise by musical standards.) The book by Neil Simon depicts the show's two characters in very broad strokes and is absent of any introspective depth, but it's chockfull of laughs and plays with classic Neil Simon precision. I would have seen the show anyhow, but the real incentive for me was the dual casting of Tony-winner Tom Conti, in a surprisingly accomplished musical comedy turn, and especially Gemma Craven, whom I fell in love with in the underrated film The Slipper and the Rose. She was a joy with keen comic timing and a big, rich voice that did justice to her songs. I've always wanted to play one of the Voices, either Vernon's or Sonia's…don't care which, though Sonia's seem to have more Supremes-like fun. YouTube and Tony Awards clips of the show reveal a musical that is hopelessly dated, but it's still a lark and I remain a big fan. - at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London

What was going on in London theatre, West End and Fringe, during a week in August, 1995. WE=West End; FR=Fringe

That's it for now. More later. Go see some theatre! Cheers!