Around the World in 80 Minutes

It was a chilly May night, but such a lovely musical evening meant we all left the theatre with a very warm glow. This musical extravaganza took us on a journey around the world, with songs from musicals and opera, many of which were past productions of BLOS. We encountered revolutionaries, dreamers, mischief-makers, heroes, nuns, cabaret performers, sailors and many other wonderful characters. We travelled from France to Germany, Austria, Ukraine, India, Japan, the South Pacific, Canada, the USA, Argentina, and the UK, before returning to France.

Performers were sat on chairs at raised levels, gents at the back, ladies in front. The gentlemen were in evening dress with bow ties, the ladies all wore elegant dresses of many styles and colours, they all looked splendid.

The band of pianist David Mortimer and percussionist Tessa Lawn were discreetly placed to the right of the performance area. The narrator was to the left. The very lovely poster, of a blue and green globe with a wide, golden girdle of the title around it, was projected at the start onto the back of the stage, and also on a screen situated on the balcony to the left. As we progressed on our travels, fascinating scenes followed of the cities, or scenery, appropriate to the number, and in many cases the programme cover of BLOS’s past production of the work.

These were viewed during the narration of the fabulously evocative, informative and extremely interesting introductions to each of our destinations. These had been written by Paul Winder, who was to have been the narrator. He, however, was indisposed sadly for the 2 performance days, but his place was taken by Kevin Wood, who made a very fine job of it. The quality of the texts greatly enhanced our appreciation of our voyage – every tourist needs a good tour guide, after all, and Paul and Kevin did us proud.

During each number, the projections were replaced with a sumptuous curtain, which was then lit in various colours, and varied in brightness according to the mood of the piece. This was super, and indeed for the final medley from Les Miserables, we had the colours of the French flag – blue, white and red.

So the whole evening unfolded before us, from the sweetness of the Barcarolle from Tales of Hofman and the exquisite harmonies of The Flower Duet from Lakme, (this finely performed by Selena Edney and Tessa Lawn), via the charming vulnerability of Sally Bowles (Cabaret) and the resigned frustration of the long engaged Adelaide in Adelaide’s Lament (Guys and Dolls), sung with great character by Sophie Gray and Jenny Bookham respectively.

There were numbers from 3 Gilbert and Sullivan operas: the Mikado, HMS Pinafore, and the Yeomen of the Guard, showing their range from patter song (the one with the list), chorus numbers, and the more thoughtful ‘Is Life a Boon’ from Yeomen, which brought back good memories from BLOS past productions.

There was some Rodgers and Hammerstein, with the nuns from Sound of Music worrying about Maria, via the lonely sailors on the South Pacific island missing the ladies, to the patriotic Oklahoma farmers.

BLOS included an excerpt from the musical Come from Away, which deals with the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, as 38 planeloads of people were diverted to the small Canadian town of Gander. This was an interesting piece, performed with great spirit by Oskar Brown and the chorus.

We visited Ukraine for some feisty numbers from Fiddler on the Roof, and the ladies chorus thrilled us with America from West Side Story.

A thoughtful moment again was provided by Joanne Rowlands, who enthralled with Don’t Cry for me, Argentina. Thoughtful, I guess, in part due to the excellent introduction to the piece. I cannot emphasise enough how these introductions enhanced our enjoyment of the show, they were an integral part of the evening.

As a cockney girl, one of the highlights of the journey for me (and for everybody, judging by the reaction) was, of course Michael Ayres’ The Lambeth Walk. Such fun, impossible not to join in that chorus, (very quietly, of course.)  I wasn’t the only one. It brought back lovely memories of BLOS’s production of ‘Me and My Girl’.

There were two fine medleys, one to start the show from Phantom of the Opera, and one to finish from Les Miserables. Both excellent.

I have jumbled up the journey a bit here, but I must say BLOS had cleverly produced a logical progress right around the world, starting and finishing in Paris. The chorus were in fine voice, all the soloists were very good and full of verve and character,  and musical direction by Selena Edney was sensitive and well-balanced. The audience reacted enthusiastically throughout, and of course at the end. We all thoroughly enjoyed whizzing round the world that night with BLOS, in a well-crafted evening of pizazz, energy and fun, with some thoughtful moments too.

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