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Day: 1 January 2017

Review: Sweet Charity

Written by Brogen Campbell on . Posted in Theatre.

This musical follows the unlucky in love Charity a dancer-for-hire at Times Square Dance Hall. The musical begins dramatically with Charity being pushed in the lake and robbed by her boyfriend Charlie (whose name she has tattooed in a heart on her left arm). The rest of the show revolves around Charity as she continues to try and find the one, as all she wants is to be loved. Charity’s luck seems to change after she gets stuck in a lift with nervous and shy tax accountant Oscar. Although through embarrassment Charity hides her true profession from Oscar, which leads to trouble.

The Broadway musical of the 1960s seems dated with its reliance on Charity looking for a man to complete herself, yet always being left broken hearted. Yet the vision of director Derek Bond, acknowledges these draw backs and produces a production that pulls on your heart strings, whilst also delivering on the comedy side it is so well known for.

The comedy musical is a roaring success not least because of the strength of the cast.  Kaisa Hammarlund as Charity is superb, with outstanding characterisation and comic timing. Hammarlund really created a connection with the audience, so you experienced the high and lows with the character. The rest of the cast all delivered stellar performances, particularly disgruntled dancers Cat Simmons and Holly Dale Spencer, and the endearing Daniel Crossley as Oscar. A special mention to Josie Benson who took on the traditionally male role of Daddy Brubeck and made it her own, providing further proof in the success of blind casting in regards to ethnicity and gender.

As with any Royal Exchange production the staging was excellent, with seamless set transitions. The production is really grounded and brought to life by its musical numbers and the band does a terrific job of delivering Broadway pizzazz to Manchester. Stand out numbers being ‘Big Spender’, ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ and ‘The Rhythm of Life’.

One of the best visual elements of the show, and there were many, was the depiction of Charity and Oscar becoming stuck on a Parachute Jump ride. The use of tiny props to indicate how high up the couple were was genius. The show was scattered with visually brilliant moments.

I have never seen a musical performed in the round before and it certainly adds a new dynamic to the production. Sweet charity performed at the Royal Exchange is more intimate than most musicals, this just means the audience feel more connected to the characters and really invest in the musical.

If you aren’t familiar with the musical the end certainly comes as a shock, but is also the moment where I most identified with the character of Charity. I won’t divulge any further as I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Let’s just say Charity finally learns a valuable lesson about love and self-worth.

This toe tapping musical will have you laughing and gasping. Sweet Charity is being performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre till the 28th January. Get your tickets here.

Review: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Written by Harry Newton on . Posted in Theatre.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has been reeling in the positive reviews this year, as critics generally agree that this show is one of the best the year has seen. With this in mind my expectations were high, and it did not disappoint.

Despite a little hiccup during the performance, it was mostly excellent. The slight hiccup came early on and was never really explained — the performance stopped and the safety curtain came down for around 15-20 minutes. It was later forgotten though, and really it was testament as to how good the performance was that they could recover seamlessly from it.

Local Mancunian Jason Manford was the lead role of inventor Caractacus Potts, and although he was pretty funny in the show, the comedian did not rely on his comedy for the role. His acting was superb, and his voice was surprisingly quite good. He’s not going to go on and bag himself a recording contract with Sony Records any time soon, but there wasn’t a rotten tomato in sight (this is a compliment, I think).

The comedy surprisingly came from elsewhere. Phil Jupitus and Claire Sweeney were hilarious as Baron and Baroness Bomburst. Their accents were not in the least bit convincing but I doubt that either of them cared, and nobody in the audience did either, as it simply added to their great comedic performances. The musical number of “Chu-Chi Face” was a personal highlight in the whole production, as the Baroness attempted to get the Baron’s attention away from toys and onto her. Innuendo rife.

The set was used well and was attractive throughout, but the main visual delight of this production was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang herself. She only went and bloody flew! Although the Lowry may not have a stage as big as the Palace or the Opera House, it is still a fairly big stage, that was filled by the car as it lifted into the air!

Filled with your favourite songs (which the two ladies next to me knew all the words to… loudly), the film has been adapted into a theatrical performance perfectly. “Truly Scrumptious”, “Toot Sweet”, and of course “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” all make an appearance in the play, to make sure that nobody is disappointed — and these songs are joined by quite a few new songs also.

Although all this sounds beautiful, don’t be under the impression that this play will not terrify the living day lights out of you. We may have to wait until after the intermission to really meet the Childcatcher, but Jos Vantyler’s portrayal of the character is utterly terrifying. Never mind the children, I was close to tears myself. The only negative of the whole production would be that perhaps it was too similar to the film — perhaps there could have been more brand new editions to the script. But perhaps that’s just me nit-picking so that I don’t seem too nice.