A Night At The Musicals

A trip across to the far reaches of District two is always a bit of a treat, and usually to see either a play or a pantomime, but during my NODA tenure, never a musical. So, this was something I intriguingly looked forward to. And by goodness what a cleverly thought-out show this turned out to be. Compilation musical evenings I have attended many of, but never I have a seen one before where the songs from a variety of musicals were used to interweave a home spun storyline.

The story is set in a night club at an indeterminate time with war threatening and tells the story of the rise and fall and rise again of the Le Cabaret night club, the staff that run it and the guests that come and go, very neatly threaded together with songs from various musicals, both classical and modern. It begins appropriately with “Wilkcommen” from Cabaret and in the first half works its way through songs mainly from the more classical shows such as High Society, Sweet Charity, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls and Les Miserables. In the second half it mostly concentrated on more modern shows such as The Greatest Showman, We Will Rock You, The Producers, Chicago, Moulin Rouge and Mamma Mia.  A clever idea neatly helping to depict the passing of time into a more modern era.

The set by Mike Ward and Colin Delamore, the inside of the Le Cabaret consisted of a back drop of an elegant set of velvet red venetian drapes, an upstage bar and two tables stage right, a table and chairs downstage right, and an art deco style rounded steps to a small stage, upstage left flanked by two Romanesque pillars. All of which gave a perfect stylish small night club ambience. Just before the first act finishes we hear the sound of an air raid, and during the interval we heard gun fire and explosions so when the second act opens the set was cleverly deconstructed to show the pillars knocked over and chairs and tables upended portraying the bombed shell of a building. The set being managed by Tania Amado Fish assisted by Phil Pope with a slick crew of Jan Murray, Annie Shackleton, and Emma Davies.

I would make a special mention of Tom Davies’ sound design, the balance of which was about as perfect as it is possible to be. So many shows we see are spoilt by overpowering music, so it was a real pleasure to be able to sit back and enjoy such a well-balanced musical output between singers and the sequenced music. The attention to detail is something to be proud of and an example was the earlier mentioned compilation soundtrack during the interval going from the sounds of war through to peace, played to those who remained in their seats.  It’s small things like this that make LBDG the top flight group they undoubtedly are. Well done indeed.

Lighting by Dave Miles also captured the ambiance of the night club perfectly, drawing you into the show, and some neat tricks were used such as where several cast members had been secreted into the audience to suddenly stand up and were perfectly lit for the final song before the interval, Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Miserables. Which was a terrific end to first half.

Costume very appropriate designed for the many and varied guests and staff was by Alison Bayliss-Hardy and supplied by Harlequin. Again, neat job.

The Choreography by Saskia McShane was perfectly geared to each number, some her own and some straight out of the original show such as the Cell Block Tango from Chicago. The end of the first act with Do You Hear The People Sing was particularly impressive.

None of the characters are named in the show so each one was just an integral part of the fabric of the club, but each brought something to the party, with little character parts, some extremely funny, some with great pathos and some extremely good voices from actors I’ve seen in plays and had not had the pleasure of their singing voices before. A couple of stand out parts that must be mentioned were John Stone as the nightclub owner and his harridan wife played with deftly comic touch by Caroline Page.  All the comings and goings, certainly in the first act centred around these two, with Louis Fordham adding some wonderful facial expressions to Stones disapproval of the various acts brough before him.

The three youngsters, Megan Groves, Abi Casterton and Ellie-Mae Woodstock showed the up and coming talent within the group with a ripping version of Candy Store from Heathers. There were also several new faces on the Library Theatre stage, including, Philip Ring, Louis Fordham, Karl Rachwal, Charles Merritt and Lois Wright and Lobke van Eijk in her second show with the group.  Fully backed up by the experienced LBDG performers of Emma Brown, Sophie Dean, Kara Florish, Debbie Kaye, Alison Johnson, Maggie Moulds and Tony White.

Last but by no means least the director herself, Jo Taylor whose brilliant concept this was.  I can only take my hat off to her, her cast and crew for providing us with such a superb night’s entertainment. The show is perhaps best summed up by the audience reaction. Not only did half the audience give it a standing ovation, but the atmosphere and energy levels in the bar and foyer afterwards were absolutely hyper.  That I would say is job done!

Finally, many thanks to Barbara Springthorpe for your usual splendid welcome and hospitality.

 

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