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drinks Monday 4 August 08
Cole
Verdict: So damn fun
Cole Porter's mastery of both music and lyrics has yielded a repertoire littered with standards, from the foreboding So In Love to the crazy frolics of You're the Top. Cole - An Entertainment Based On The Words And Music Of Cole Porter originally played the West End in 1974 and featured, among others, Julia McKenzie.
The greatest strength of this revival is the young cast. Hara Yannas in particular has caught the attention of other reviewers and it's easy to see why. Elfishly pretty - and with a voice just as appealing – she’s a firecracker of comic talent. Her Lost Liberty Blues early-on establishes hilarity as the order of the evening.
Angela Bleasdale's sultry elegance proves perfect for such seductive numbers as In the Still of the Night. Georgina Wyatt offers Ethel Merman-size vocals plus superb comic timing and a sexiness Merman never had. A direct, wide-eyed simplicity best describes Gemma Morsley's way with Porter, equally at home in ballads and comedy.
Lincoln Stone - besides embodying the ideal of the tall, dark and handsome leading man - sings with effortless lyricism. The more comedian-type Tim McArthur shows off a great Broadway character voice in I Happen to Like New York, before going impressively legit for the swooning Night and Day.
There’s imaginative staging by first time director-choreographer Racky Plews. One notable sequence features a bacchanalian Brush Up Your Shakespeare by the boys. They sink into drunken stupor, perfectly setting up the entry of the girls to lament Why Can't You Behave? - as though to their over-boozed boyfriends.
The set, which incorporates the show's three musicians, is simple but stylish. A series of multi-levelled squares backed by a miniature city-scape evokes the classic Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers films of the 30s - Porter's heyday. Fred and Ginger themselves would not have been ashamed to wear some of the myriad of costumes designed by Isabel Muñoz - which keep the boys and girls looking respectively suave and svelte.
The revue is threaded together by John Martin’s narrator. His matter-of-fact delivery nicely balances the energy of the cast.
The only aspect in which this show falters is in conveying the darker side of Porter's genius. We get a taste of it in the pairing of Love for Sale with the rarely heard I'm a Gigolo. However, the self-loathing implicit in It's All Right With Me and the callousness of Just One of Those Things are distinctly soft-pedalled.
A few real brooders would round out the evening wonderfully, as demonstrated by James Pearson's searing account of You Don't Know Paree - which almost stops the show cold.
Such criticism seems churlish, however, when the show is so damn fun. And - in the words of one of Porter's songs - so Easy to Love.
Cast Credits (alpha order): Angela Bleasdale, Chris Lambert, Tim McArthur, John Martin, Gemma Morsley, James Pearson, Nicholas Sagar, Lincoln Stone, Georgina Wyatt, Hara Yannas.
Company Credits: Director - Racky Plews. Musical Director - Chris Lambert. Lighting Designer - Stuart Green. Costume Designer - Isabel Muñoz. Narrator’s Director - Gay Lambert. Hair and Make-Up - Jessica Plews. Stage Manager/Technician - Charlotte Harber. Graphics - Joanna Hayler. Set Dresser - Melanie Hewitt. Set Painter - Karen Andersen. Lighting Rigger - Oli Roberts. Photographer - James Dunn. Audition Pianist - Alastair MacGeorge. Poster Design - Adam Kelly. Company – Ovation. Devised by - Alan Strachan and Benny Green. Songs – Cole Porter.
END
(c) Tim Passmore - June 04
reviewed June 04 / Upstairs at the Gatehouse
Tim Passmore also reviews Cole in the current edition of Musical Stages.
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008
