Copacabana

In the hands of Sandra Laidler (Director/Choreographer) and Bethanie Johnson (Dance Captain) West End’s Copacabana was spectacular from start to finish.  The company was its own dance troupe and, boy, did they work hard.  There were several impressive dance routines performed by the chorus, with no imported dance troupe.  In particular, the Bolero number featuring Bethanie Johnson and James “Mitch” Mitchinson had the audience’s collective heart in its mouth.  Eat your heart out “Strictly”, never have I seen a female dancer’s head come so close to the stage as she was being swung/spun round by her partner.  A great deal of trust and an apparent lack of fear went into that number.
 
I have gone on about the dancing because I feel there is very little plot to the show.  Apart from two familiar (to me) Barry Manilow songs, most of the music is not very memorable.  In it, songwriter Steven’s mind drifts away as he tries to put words to the familiar strains of Copacabana and he takes the company and audience off to Cuba in a sort-of show within a show.  I feel a script which relies upon a character waking up from a dream five minutes from the end is something of a cliché. There is some lib. but really the  principals had to rely heavily upon their own personalities/characters and  singing voices, to hold the spectacle together.
 
Liam Gilbert, as the songwriter Tony/Steven, was in very good voice and the interplay between him and Helen Cash as Lola/Samantha worked well.  She was also in fine voice and very funny, trying to do an audition artistically posed atop a piano.  Simon Pinkney, channelling Pavarotti appearance-wise, made a suitably sleazy Cubano night club owner (Rico) and, again, showed no inhibitions when it came to loosening a button or two in furtherance of his art.

Leanne Harrison played Conchita, a statuesque chorus girl inexplicably discarded by Rico, with considerable aplomb and feathers and Dan Dickinson gave an amusing comic turn as New York night club owner Sam, with a wig that deserved a credit of its own.  These performances added substantially to the production and were ably supported by Emma Scott as “girl Friday” Gladys, Jack Hindmarsh as Willie and Michael Skoyles as McManus plus the 24 members of the ensemble.

The sets, costumes and lighting were all bright and impressive and enhanced the show throughout, particularly during those dance numbers.  The orchestra, under Steven Hood’s baton, carried the whole thing along, brassy when called for and more delicate in the quieter moments.  All in all, an enjoyable show to be very proud of.

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