Kipps – The New Half a Sixpence Musical

The original Half a Sixpence was premiered in 1963, and a film version was made in 1967. Kipps – The New Half a Sixpence Musical has a revised book by Julian Fellowes, and catchy new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. It premiered in 2016.

Based on a story by H. G. Wells, it tells the rags to riches story of orphan Arthur Kipps, an overworked draper’s assistant at the turn of the last century. It asks the age-old question: Can money buy happiness?

Charterhouse School has a well-equipped theatre with raked seating. It also possesses a spacious bar area. The loyal followers of GTG are always met with a warm and friendly welcome.

We were offered a fine, well-designed programme with good pieces by the Chair, the Director, and on the transformation from the original Half a Sixpence to Kipps. Interesting cast profiles, and the useful list of musical numbers were included. The wonderful ‘on location’ photos set the scene, and the rehearsal photos were great too. And throughout, behind the text, we could enjoy the split sixpence! Good work by designer Tim Henniker-Parker.

The revolving centre piece of the set and the mobile flats meant that scene changes were slick and effortless, and very effective. The flats for the Draper’s shop were lovely, with shelves and samples of curtain material hanging on a rail. The revolve there acted as the door of the shop.  When rotated, all pieces were brick walls, very flexible as they could be fronted by flowers for the garden party, and architect’s plans for the house plot scene, and so on. There were some fun props for the fairground scene too.

Elegant costumes, hats and gloves for the garden party and wedding scenes, and of course for the Walsinghams were delightful. Kipps himself, once he had become rich, sported not only tails, but a natty couple of striped jackets and a boater. There were workaday clothes for the pub scenes and smart draper’s overalls for the store staff. Mr Chitterlow was immaculate in a 3 piece tweed suit, red bow tie, red handerchief in his pocket, and a cap.

Lighting was very effective throughout, with some exciting flourishes for the ‘Flash Bang Wallop’ scene, and the Ann and Arthur proposal scene. Sound effects likewise.

Steven Bean provided impeccable musical direction of the ten-piece orchestra, working from behind the scenes, and produced the most lively, jolly, and where needed sweet and beautiful music, together with the talented singers, and the whole ensemble.

The dance numbers, many quite complex and with a very large cast, were wonderful. People would pop up all over the place, constant movement about the stage, there was some great energy, a fizz and a buzz, and some marvellous ‘stage pictures’. Great work from choreographer Alison Chapman.

First of all, I must congratulate Director David Dray on his excellent casting, from the early scenes in the draper’s shop, one knew this would be a fine evening’s theatre.

The curtain rose onto the scene of two children playing, with the boy protecting the girl from some dastardly threat with his wooden sword. This was of course Kipps and Ann as children. We next met the two as teenagers, with Kipps just about to go away to start his apprenticeship. We had the first rendering of ‘Half a Sixpence’, well performed by Rohan Sabharwal and Matilda Hodges. This was an interesting way to start the show, and put the relationship between Ann and Arthur into context.

The Draper’s shop was ruled over by the owner Mr Shalford (Peter Flew) with a rod of iron, as we saw in the number ‘Look Alive’. The young adult Kipps and his five downtrodden, disgruntled, yet still lively and cheery colleagues: Sid Pornick (Dan Bundy), Pierce (Joel Seaman), the ever-hungry Buggins (Ben Dray), and the optimistic Flo Evans (Karen Scull) made a great coherent team, and gave us a fine ‘Money to Burn’ and later ‘A Proper Gentleman’. I cannot praise Rob Richmond, who played Arthur Kipps so wonderfully, highly enough. His fine tenor voice was a delight, and his acting skills were perfect too, he made Kipps a real, believable character one could truly identify with.

The three Walsinghams painted a good picture of the type of society Kipps found himself thrust into on his inheritance of his grandfather’s fortune. Helen Walsingham was a kind young lady, at first attracted to Kipps, but too much of a teacher, always trying to improve him, yet an honest person horrified at her family’s exploitation of him. Emily Owen gave a good portrayal here. Her mother was well played by Lisa Barker as the archetypal impoverished and snobbish gentlewoman, keen to climb the social ladder again. Andrew Blagden gave an absolutely wonderful performance as her son James, the ’wheeler dealer’ dodgy financial adviser, supercilious, creepy, desperate to get Kipps’ signature on the contract that was to ruin him. In the musical evening scene, we also saw that he had great skills on the organ!

Another great character performance was that of Keith Thomas as Mr Chitterlow, the ever-optimistic theatre impresario, full of boundless energy and joie de vivre. I loved watching these two gentlemen, the way they developed their personas was a delight to watch.

A further delight to watch was the feisty Ann, Kipps’ childhood companion and sweetheart. Stephanie Mottershead played Ann masterfully, with a sweetness and yet strength of will that was easy to relate to. She portrayed her as a young woman with strong moral values, but also a great sense of fun (especially obvious in the lovely fairground duet with Flo ‘A Little Touch of Happiness’.)

The partnership of her with Rob Richmond’s Kipps was a joy, their fine voices stay in my memory, and they seemed like a genuine young couple in love, she tearing him off a strip in ‘You Never Get Anything Right/I Know Who I Am’, contrasting nicely with the sweet duet when they were reconciled.

Kipps of course is also a great comedy, the song lyrics witty and amusing. This humour was brought out so well in the ensemble numbers, for example ‘Money to Burn’ and ‘The Joy of the Theatre’. ‘If the Rain’s Got to Fall’ was also very jolly. But for me, without a shadow of a doubt, the highlights of the evening were firstly ‘Pick Out a Simple Tune’ at Lady Punnet’s Musical Evening, which was just absolutely hilarious and perfectly executed, and secondly, of course, ‘Flash Bang Wallop’ which was also brilliant. The nice touch in the Finale of reprising ‘Pick Out a Simple Tune’ with many of the cast plucking banjos, was a really great way to end a fabulous evening.

Great direction, music and choreography, wonderful performances, great teamwork from all. Thank you, GTG!

 

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