1
GENE WIL Laughing all the way to the 23rd
Making a difference
LONDON'S THEATRE CRITI Are they going soft?
PIUS SAVE £££ on your theatre tickets
,~~ 1~~EGm~ Gf1ll~ G~rick ~he ~ ~ e,London f F~[[ IIC~[I with ever~ full price ticket purchased ~t £23.50
Phone 0171-312 1991 9 771364 763009
Editor's Letter
'ThFl rul )U -; lmalid' was a phrase coined by the playwright and humourl:'t G eorge S. Kaufman to describe the ailing but always ~t:"o lh e m Broadway Theatre in the late 1930' s .
. " \\ . ;t" )ur ul\'n 'fabulous invalid' - the West End - seems in danger of 'e:' .m :: Lw er from lack of nourishmem, let' s hope that, like Broadway - presently in
re . . \ ,'1 'n - it too is resilient enough to make a comple te recovery and confound the r .: i " \\' ho accuse it of being an en vironmenta lly no-go area whose theatrical x ;'lrJ io n" refuse to stretch beyond tired reviva ls and boulevard bon-bons. I i, clUite true that the season just past has hardly been a vintage one. And while there is no question that the subsidised sector attracts new plays that, =5 'ears ago would a lmost certainly have found their way o nto Shaftes bury Avenue,
l ere is, I am convinced, enough vitality and ingenuity left amo ng London's main -s tream producers to confirm that reports of the West End's te rminal dec line ;:m: greatly exaggerated. I have been a profeSSi onal reviewer long enough to appreciate the cyclical nature of the business. This year's disasters ( and yes, there have been a succession of them!) could be next year's triumphs. With the optimistic belief that o ur 'fabulous invalid' will make a complete recovery, I welco me readers to Applause, an exciting new magazine devoted to the li veliest art. Our intention is no t only to provide theatregoers with informed com ment, interviews, features, reviews, and gossip about the pl ays and players making news in bo th Londo n and New York, but also, each mo nth, to carry eight pages of unbeatable, money-saving offers to top West End shows and events. The package, which reflects our fa ith in the continuing survival of the West End, is, I believe, an irresistible o ne.
CliVE HIR SC HHOR N
Cli ve Hi rschhorn was bom and educated in SOl,th Africa . He has been a pop-columnist for Th e Daily Ma il . (, story edilOr for ABC TV (now T ha mes TV ) and from 1966 co},,' )' 1996 theatre eTHi c and feature writer for th e Sunday Express . He is presently that pa per's opcm cmic _He is the theatre corres ponde nt an d critic for LBC radio
and the London theatre critic for Th eatenveel
a1rlause------ THE rplA'l~t BUILDI NG 6 8 lON G AC :t LON DO we 2E QJ O :L_,ISHtD BY AP'l"USE LTD - M AN AG G DI EdO ?'IUI BI N ETT
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~. - ~ ' E :-c) f ~ EF..'Y SESSIO h.S EVE N TS ~OO < INGS • .: '-SHtEY r-IE RV', ~ I ' J ST ALBA N S 01 727 8 J I I 15
ISSN 1364 ·7636
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AOVOTI . II'-- G DI STRIB UTIO N BY, COMAG SPE Ci ALIST DIVIS ION. TEIEPHO " IE 0 7 3 I 2 8~ 7 Q MERCURY CENTRE . CENTRAL WAY. fElTHAM. f,, <01 713 1, 80Q'1 MIDDLESEX TW I A ORX TELEPH ON E 0 181 8AA 1000
OCT':.J~k 1'-!96 APPLAUSE 3 DUKE OF YORK'S I'HEAI'RE Sf MARTI N'S LANE, WC1N 4BG contents
7 OFFSTAGE News and gossip fro m the West End
8 KILLING WITH KINDNESS Moll Wolf asks if london's theotre critics ore too soft
10 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST :: _ " ~.J t < Beast The biggest thing ever to hit the West End , Hal Lewis looks at Disney's ve nture into Theatreland
12 HEATHCLIFF Cliff Richard has been weathering o storm of cri ticism · C hristopher Tookey assesses the situat ion
17 ONSTAGE Clive Hirschhorn reviews some of the latest openings
22 NED SHERRIN The musings of a w it w-.a !:Jconteur Heathcliff 23 APPLAUSE THEATRE CLUB Great savings on many top West End shows
32 INTERVIEW Comic actor Gene leer in Gene Wilder conversation with Ronald Bergan 36 DICK VOSBURGH Tracks down the lost Musicols
38 LONDON'S THEATRES Ronald Bergan looks at the rebuilt Globe Theotre
40 PEOPLE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE Alan Ayckborn hos mode one of the Single greotest co tri ulions to Bri ti sh thea tre. He speaks to Clore Colvin
44 SPECTRUM A look ot the 'other ' orts
46 CD REVIEW Tom Vallance has been comparing the various recordings of Sondheim's 'Company' Akm Ayckboum
47 BOOK REVIEW 'Speok low' is a collection of the lellers from Ku rt Weill to Lolle lenyo. ~LO.". W' "~. Reviewed by Ronald Bergan .. :::" 01 '#p ... " ~ . NED SHERRIN ~ 48 Extracts from hi s book. 'Theatrical Anecdotes'
49 OFFSTAGE BROADWAY Book review More news and gOSS ip, from America's theatre capitol
50 SHOWS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE Ke n Livingstone and the show that leM a lasting impression
OCTOBER 1996 APPLAUSE 5 SPOTLIGHT ON A~ EXCELLENCE.
Lloyds Private Banking's commitment
[0 supporting the writers who bring Britain's
theatre [0 life will continue with our sponsorship of the Playwright of the Year
Award. The prize of £25,000 will be given [0 the most talented playwright whose work has been first performed during the year. For further deta ils, p lease contact David Maguire, Lloyds Private Banking Limited, 1-5 Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 3SP. Telepho ne (01444) 418407.
~ LAY WR1G 'tIT OF THE YE AR
Ll oyds Priv" ,e Banki ng Li mited, 71 Lo mbard Street, Londo n, Ee3!' 3BS. Lloyds PrJva ,e Banking is regu lated by IM RO.
The Young Vic Company presents Bood Wedd ing by Federico Garcia Lorca In a new version by Ted Hughes On the harsh dry plains of southern Europe, a bride's heart lays waste to her weddin9 ...... in the cold deep forest, the Moon herself 9uides the blooded bride9room's hand Lorca's play, Blood Weddin9, was inspired by a newspaper account of a real life story, and is presented in a brilliant new version by Ted Hughes.
Performances Evenings : Friday 20 Sept to Saturday 2 Nov, 7. 30pm APPLAUSI tlCltl' 0'''· Malinees: Saturday 26 Oct & Sa turday 2 Nov, 2.30pm Monday-fr,day, 7.30pm 0 The Young Vic Thealre is at 66 The Cut, Waterloo, Lo ndo n SE 1 £ \ Afull Price ticket, lor l' five minutes walk from Waterloo (Bus, Tube and Roil) CAll0111 312. 1991 O't) stage ~
;: .'L Y ,, 0L-\.\IOROUS NIG HT in (he Wes( End? Daniel J Travanti, the large ly forgo((en star of him, as rhe sc ript demands she must. The h-. r ~ o \'ello's hi( musical from 1935 is finall y Hill Street Blues, suddenly found himself same error of judgo1ent befell the Broadway -<':n .! i\·en a major WeS( End revival m (he starring in a West End show. However, production, where Marrin Short (in the
~ 1\",0\" nex( Spring. The musical (har halfway through the show's run Travanti Dreyfuss role) made co-star Bernade((e Perers launched Novello's career has been neglected suffered the ac tor's nightmare of forgening his look like an ungrareful kvetch when surely it ;Lf so long pardy because the srory involves lines. The curtain duly came down, and when should be rhe opposite way round. Still, 1'01 ' he head of radio paying the invenror of a few minutes larer it went up again, his assured rhar rhe London version, produced by
: el ~ \'i s i on (0 disappear and rake his magic box understudy had raken over. All would have E&B Productions (who gave you ]olson) and \\I(h him. Consequendy, David Christie h as been fine and dandy if the stand-in hadn't directed by Rob Be((inson, will be very dif
reen charged with reworking the musical (0 already appeared in a different role, fazing nor ferent from the show rhat fl opped on
suir the 1990s but its hard (0 imagine what only the whole audience but one of the Broadway, with new songs by Hamlisch, new
contemporary plot device he's go ing (0 plump acrresses, who consequendy forgot all her choreography by Tudor Davies and a new set for - a h and le manufacturer paying off the lines as well. This left the inrrepid Hannah by Rob Jones. inventor of the self-flushing 1001 A newspaper Gordon, who hadn'r been onstage for three
baron trying (0 get rid of a scandal-free royal? years, to batrie her way through to the end of WHO SAYS TH '\T QUA LITY PL.A.YS are thin on
Time will teli. the show. Expect Hannah Gordon to concen rhe ground ?With anorher rhree months (0 trare on relevision work from now on, while go, the panel of the prestigious Lloyds Private IT SEEMS THAT SOMEONE, somewhere, is going Soul and Travanti form a pub duo with a Banking .1:25,000 prize for the besr new
(0 be brave enough to mount a stage musical passion for humming the theme runes of British or Irish pla y of 1996 has already come of Barbra Srreisand'5 Yend in London next seventies cop shows. up with an impressive shon lisr of contenders. year. What! I hear you exclaim, our Lady of Though (he panel's deliberations take place in the Prominent Profile is back in business and WELL, IF DIAHANN CARROLL ca n play Norma stricrest secrecy, I can rell you thm the tides
willing (0 mix wirh the adoring hoi poloi Desmond in Toronto, why not Rita Moreno rhey've so far se lecred are: Sheila Stevenson's once more? N or on your nelly. Sueisand is in London? The fact that Ms Moreno is bener Th e Memory of Water, Peter Whelan 's Th e unlikely to come near the show for less than known for her dancing than het singing (she Herbal Bed, Simon G ray's Simply the combined GNP of the whole of Europe. was dubbed in rhe film versions of The King Disconnected, Marina Cave's Portia Coughlan, But how can you h~ve Yeml without and I and West Side Story) clearly hasn'r fazed Mark McDonagh's The Beauty Queen of Srreisand?It would be like having Copcu:abana Sir Andrew Ll oyd Webber. Maybe he's plan Lianne , David Greig's The Architect, Philip without Manilow and as the producers of rhat ning to give her a big dance solo just as Jerry Osment's Flesh and Blood, Steven Poliakoff's 5hO\\· can resrify, big headgear countS, like big Herman did for Ann Miller when she of the Sweet Picnic, Marrin Sherman's Some Sunny noses. at the box office. inuansigent hairdo stepped in(O Mame on Day and, surely rhe strongest contender of all, Broadway several decades ago. Nice thought. Pam Gems's superb Stanley. ~ . ', TH_ A Sf'£R N PAPERS h as finally passed I've always felt John N apier's staircase was a",8,\', \\·hieh probably comes as a relief to its under-used. So wouldn't it be great if Moreno &)B HOSKINS, BRJTAI~' S VERY OWN Danny producer and cast. Some reviewers found rhe made her enrrance tapping h er way down it? DeVito, returns to the West End next monrh production rarher pedestrian, unaware of the Well, at least it would be different... in a new play by John Marans called Old rather mure e\citing shenanigans that went Wicked Songs. [r's a drama about the relation on behind the scenes. The show came about TALKING OF UNLIKELY CASTI NG, I'm a little ship that develops between a piano reacher after \'ari(l us failed 3nemprs to find a West worried, on paper at any rate, about the (Hoskins) and his young protege (James End vehicle for David Soul, the occasional casting of Gary Wilmot in the N ei l Simon Callis), and is dil'ected by Elij ah Moshinsky. crooner and star of Srarsky and HutCh. He was Marvin Haml.ish-David Zippel musical The Callis, by the way, who recently graduated
originally slated to appear in Jack Weinstock Goodbye Girl, scheduled (0 open in the West from Lamda and is m ~king his professiona l and Willie Gilbert's Catch Me IfYoL( Can last End on 17 April next year. In the original debut. Lucky lad. autumn, but rhe plan was superseded by movie on which the show is based, the role,
attempts to produce A Few Good Men (0 ride you'll recal!, was played by Richard Dreyfuss, And watch out for a new musical from on rhe back of the successful film. That an ac(Or not particularly renowned for his America called Always. N o casting details porential nest-egg was embarrassingly aborred charm or his looks. My gripe is that Wilmot, yet, bur it's about Edward Windso r and Mrs
when the rights weren't approved, and so The is just the opposite of Dreyfuss: he's charming, Simpson. Well, someone had (0 do it sooner Aspem Papers suddenly emerged. After a ll this good-looking and so thoroughly personable or later., didn't they? fuss and palaver, David Soul, for personal thar rhere is simply no \\' ay that the divorcee reasons, had to step down from rhe produc who gives him house-room (a role yet ro be tion after a few days of rehearsals. As a result, cast as we go to print) could find fault with Addison De Witt
OCTOBER 1996 APPLAUSE 7 Are London's theatre critics going soft? Matt Wolf argues that many West End theatres are halffull because people just don't know whom to believe anymore.
hen Arthur Miller's Broken As the excerpts above suggest, the likes of more theatre people for the safer environs of TV and Hollywood? But after 13 years cov Glass opened in August Tony Slattery - in virulent critic-bashing ering British theatre, I am less sure such an 1994 at the Royal National mode at the 1995 Olivier Awards - may not Theatre, The Sunday realise how lucky they are. Rapacious beasts) argument makes sense. It's just as possible, I Times was among those newspapers whose Not from my perspective as an American arts think, to kill with kindness, which is exactly critic could barely contain his excitement. writer based in London but raised on what critical caution does. 'This grand, harrowing play,' wrote John Broadway' diet of hard critical knocks. The Friends have taken to complaining they Peter at the time, 'is one of the great cre' fact of the matter i precisely the opposite of no longer know what to see, put off by too ations of the American theatre. 'Of the play's what Slattery and others would have us many evenings at well-reviewed plays that Broadway premiere the same year, New York believe. Theatre critics in this country con left them cold. The result is the loss of those Magazine's John Simon was rather less stitute a tame, sometimes e\'en timid, bunch theatregoers who might attend more if critics enthusiastic. 'Like other human failings whose truly bloodthirsty colleagues can be soft-pedalled less. After all, if everything is (Arthur Miller's) creaky dramaturgy and found across the Atlantic. Their primary more or less approved, how is anyone to perch is, of course, New York , a town [hat squeaky language becomes worse, not better, know when a production is really good) with age.' respects strong opinions and, in the long run, David Hare's remarkable Skylight and the An isolated example of differing trans may even benefit from them. crass West End re\'ival of The Killing Of Sister Atlantic tastes? Consider then two views of 1can hear the protestations: who needs George opened within a week of one another the musical revue Five Guys Named Moe. 'I a Butcher of Broadway, as former New York last year to interchangeable raves. In the hope it's not too late to join the chorus of Times drama critic Frank Rich was famously months following, Sister George swiftly praise ... Even the chronically depressed are labelled by London's own Rowan Atkinson, closed, while Sklylight remained the most likely to find Five GU)'S irresistible.' (Charles when the result leads only to bruised egos, sought-after ticket in town. Sometimes, the Spencer, The Daily Telegraph). 'Some dark theatres and the abandonment of ever public is the best critic of all. Broadway musicals want to make you think The local circumspection is surprising, " .. , (or) move you to tears. Five Guys Named 0 not least because the theatre seems to be Moe wants to sell you a drink.' (Frank Rich, C> the one area of the arts where it prevails. The New York Times.) ('I hated Elaine Paige in Sunset Boulevard,' To these shows add Ghetto, Wild Honey, If!f:J: "C more than one critic told me, 'but I Simon Gray's Melon - retitled for New York c;, wouldn't dare write that.') Dance, opera, ~ - - -- C The Holy Terror - and virtually anything by (j (, (; V 0 C art, and - heaven knows -TV, all currently Andrew Lloyd Webber to the list of London field critics whose very saleability and successes that have left New York critics cold appeal lie in speaking from the hip. In the even as London raved. (While some local case of TV, critical point-scoring has critics called Lloyd Webber's Aspects Of Love become a national newspaper obsession, 'a crowning achievement,' The New York with each reviewer vying to be more Times thought it comparable in excitement bruising than the one before. to 'a trip to the bank.') Stephen Fry and The same could not be said of the theatre. Steven Berkoff, among many others, may Those shows that do get panned tend to accuse English critics of thuggery, but their be safe targets - New York imports of a New York counterparts continue on amid a certain sentimental Jewish hue (The Sisters ~ /' . ~/' Rosensweig, Conversations With My Father) climate less thuggish than blunt, in which no 8 1 v . __, __/ ~~-;.: or the occasional homegtown, modestly individual or institution is beyond reproof. ~ w. .-/---- ~ -:;::.-- 8 APPlAUSE OCTOBER 1996 --- budgeted product like E~Lrovision or dissenter was Frederic Raphael in The New attendance - this in a city whose theatre is Unforgertable, musicals that cost reviewers Statesman, who is far enough removed from forever 'dying.' In London, with generally a nothing to be dismissive. This past season, the industry to respond to it without senti mere handful of unfilled theatres, attendance American_ ha\'e come in for a sizeable share mentality or prejudice. for most plays is lu cky to exceed 60%. And of hard . ·)l k;, \\'ith The Fields Of Ambrosia, London critics, too, are subject to var even a hermit will have noticed the decline Tob r o ~ ane! S::il ia quickly shot down. And ious insidious pressures that their New York of a West End whose producers have of late while one hard ly wants to act as apologist for colleagues simply wouldn't tolerate. This taken to remarking that the standard runs am' cr' ,h ,e shows (I hated them all), it is summer, one prominent critic was urged only towards rubbish. wonh noring that when it comes to half in jest by a no less prominent producer Perhaps the contrast lies in a critical
!mr r 1 Plays · Messrs. Stoppard and to lie if he didn't like a cerra in starry West temperament that in New York is quick to Ha.n · c me to mind, as does anything by End opening. And some critics are so busy revile bur equally quick to exult, lending Da\ .:1 E ' ~ a r . on go the gloves. One won· dabbling in the theatre that they lose any shows that survive the Darwinian climate er-. 'nr instance, whether Harwood's Taking critical sense of it: after all, why risk panning across the Atlantic the status of an event. It's S -!?; wdl find the sa me approval when it an actor or director whom you might impossible to say for sure. But I would argue p~i15 un Broadway in October as it found someday work with, or invite round to that while impassioned responses may close la, ;cason on the West End: I doubt it, espe dinner? The result is a cosying up to the some shows, they also awaken interest in Ciall, given the play's subliminal message community from which a distance must be others. A mollycoddled West End may in the ,hat it's better to have been a N az i than maintained. It is one thing to be informed, long run prove far more deadening than all ~ " sp! - an American. As Arthur Miller long quite another to be compromised. the butchers Broadway, or Belsize Park, could ago discovered, nothing succeeds in London Bur, comes the ri poste, a gentleness of ever offer. II like elevation to the status of sacred cow, approach encourages work, which of course is even if a dismayed audience is the result. It's good since any theatre is preferable to no a lot easier to vilify Voyeurz than to cavil theatre. Anyone seeking to refute that point over John Gabriel Borkman , real though the would do well to compare Broadway and the Matt Wolf moved from New York to London in problems are with Richard Eyre's nearly West End of late. In New York, with one 1983. He is the London theatre nitic for Variety unanimously acclaimed National Theatre third of theatres dark, the remaining tWO and arts correspondent for Th e Associated Press; revival. Interestingly, the major Borkman thirds are averaging an impress ive 80% plus he lives in Belsize PClrk.
Barbican The return of one of the RSC's most acclaimed shows Theatre, London until 5 October: A MIDSUMMER 0171-6388891 NIGHT'S DREAM Royal by William Shakespeare Shakespeare Theatre, A rial) able's mogically staged produclion Stratford-upon-Avon a leost lor Ihe eyes ond 0 delighl for Ihe imogi ollon 12 October relurn s rom ils triumpha nt Un il. Sto te s lour to 9 November: 01789295623 'A magnificent breathtaking production...brilliant' Sun ay Times And on tour to Newcastle 'A night of ravishing enchantment... beautiful, Cardiff funny and mysterious' Doily Te legraph Edinburgh 'Adrian Noble has created an astonishing Bath end of the 20th century Plymouth Midsummer Night's Dream' Evening Standard
'A sheer delight... visually stunning' For more Moil on Sunday information please telephone 01789 205301 uesday 13 May 1997 will be a landmark Menken 1 0 APPLAUSE OCTOBE . 1996 in-I'our-(Zlce encertalllmenc thZlt offered the hi"gc: ,t 1" " ' II,le 'hem" for their buck', ;\l()n ~ <111 e :-; rr.w rJ inary path of success D lmel" , Bl' ,llH \ a nd che Beast hCls shattered h)\ ,',inCe rec" f,l , el'erywhere it has played, ,,"t-- t"llm!! , li ch theatrical giancs as Cats and Til, r i ,~n! " lH of tile Opera in cities from Los -\'1>!ele't, \ \elbourne, All eyes are now on L, nJ, n II Ic h the official 'box office' opening ,( \ c ' C c"'r 22 October. \X1hether the success " [' J-x lni~ rn c1tional productions can be rei" J lcJ In the West End remains to be seen, hI' ;\ h ,1[e l'er the London theatre critics n~ .1\; " c,t the show, English audiences are sure t. re, l" 'nd in the SClme way as their overseas ( ), unccrparrs, In an unpredictible business, if ,-"",,' I .r show looked like a sure-fite winner, ,hen this is probClbly it. So what is the secret Disney formula AboFe, part of Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre MARTIN GUERRE £3.5m ZlEGFELD £3.2m Dame) brings all of the film songs, writtcn (1988 lor 6 monlhs) OUVER £3.5m lIith the late Howard Ashman, to the live MISS SAIGON £3m KING [3m musical version, together lVith new songs ( 1990 lor 5weeb) IITirren in partnership with lyricist Tim Rice, CRAZY FOR YOU £3m METROPOUS £2.5m .Audiences go into the theatre whistling the ASPEGS OF LOVE £2.2m (1989 for 6 months) runes, IOl'lng the story and knowing all the THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA £2m nell' charClcters created for the movie,They THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK £2.5m STARUGHr EXPRESS £2m come out da::led by the illusions and trans (1991 for 2 months) JOSEPH [ 1.4m po rted 1'1 the Ii I'e theatre experience. Little WHICH WITCH £2,2m IIL) nJe r' then that the formula hCl> worked, LES MISERABlfS £900,000 (1992 for 3 month,) Little II', 'nder also that the production has CATS £700,000 CITY OF ANGELS [1.6m brought such a huge percencage of first-tUDe ME & MY GIRL £600,000 (1993 for 5 months) theatre!:!),.: r' into all the venucs it has played, J MOBY DICK £1.2m For this alone Disney should be applauded. (1992 for 4 months) And if ,1nmne needs to know where the £5.5 million London budget has been spent, Recent longest running hits BERNADETTE tUm (1990 for 2 monlhs) JUSt look at the srage -it's all there in front of CATS 15 YEARS you. A huge C8St of thirty-one acwrs, dancers GRAND HOTEL £I .Om STARUGHr EXPRESS 12 YEARS and singers, and one of the greatest illusions { 1992 for 4 monthsl LES MISERABLES 11 YEARS every seen on a stage as the Beast turns into VAlENTINE'S DAY £500,000 a Prince, in mid-air, before your very eyes, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 10 YEARS (1992 for 9 doys) Go figure it out. I certainly couldn't. BLOOD BROTHERS 8 YEARS ROBIN, PRI NCE OF SHERWOOD £500,000 MISS SAIGON 7 YEARS 11993 for 3 months) Hal Lewis is a freelance journalist. OCTC BER 1996 APPLAUSE 1 1 VANITY, INSANITY OR A TRIUMPH OR HUMANITY? Struggling against the elements across an inhospitable terrain, alone and friendless. A scene from Heathcliff, or from Sir Cliff Richard's own daring adventure into West End theatre? Christopher Tookey questions the overwhelming hostility facing this new production, and looks at other pop stars who have attempted the cross~over to mainstream theatre. Illustration by Clive Francis. but that and his most famous fllms - Summer o Sir Cliff is to play Heathcliff but can Holida)' and Th e Young O nes - exploited his he win ! Britain' s jo urnalists seem to happy-go-lucky charm. His only prev ious have written him off already as a gal attempt to reveal a dark side was in the 1967 slant lose r. Those promotional pictures didn't film Two a Penn\' where he played a drug help. One reportet sa id he looked like Li onel pusher. The Daily Telegraph critic wrote Blair in hair extensions and a su lk. Another that C liff 'seems miscast as a bad boy'. The described his hairdo as more of a haird on't. fil m fl opped. Other unkind jokes going the rounds are that C liff is unders tandably tetchy about Cliff should call the show Patiodiff, and being prejudged. He even threatened to ban change the end so that Heathcliff and Cathy critics from the show - a decision which the can marry and re-christen their home Dail y Mail 's Jack Tinker said smell ed of Mothering Heights. Some are gleefully pre 'cowardice in the face of medi a mockery'. dicting the bi gges t theatrical debacle si nce But C liff has re lented, and now proclaims Peter O 'Toole's Mac beth. himse lf undaunted by thnse who nrgue that, When Heathcliff opens in October at a at 55, he's too old for the ro le. 'For years cost of ,[3.5 million, three-quarters wi ll have people have been te lling me how you ng 1 been put up by the si nge r himse lf. Inevitably, look,' he says. 'I a m the most perfect person there is talk of it bei ng a 'vani ty' producti on . in the country to playa 38 year-old.' The critics have grounds for scepticism. H is fans seem to agree. The sounJtrac k The re is somerhing unlikely about a man album has 'gone gold' twice over, and the who sa ng alongside Vera Lynn on VE Day show se t a theatre record in March, when trying to play one of the nastiest anti-heroes £2.3 million worth of tickets we re bought in in nineteenth century fiction. a single day. The promoters have added six There is nothing in Cliff's acting career weeks to its 22 -week tour, which will visit to suggest he can achieve Heathclifh Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Byronic feroC ity. C liff can dominate a stage, Labbatt's Apollo in London next Febru ary. as he showed ill Dave C la rk's musical Tim e, 12 N 'PL4.U5 E OCTOBER 1:;96 i. THERE'S A DEMON IN US ALL ... JUST BECAUSE I'M A CHRISTIAN DOESN'T MEAN THE DEMON ISN'T THERE! ,~ OCTOSE , 1996 APPLAUSE 1 3 -'11 ',' 1111 )' yet surpri se his critics, H has bland. lr is vc rI' pus tL11 0Jern to have him Hc,ilh liff. C li ff has so ld 45 million record s. m,'re 1:1 (.)mm0n with Heathcliff than they play ing Heath tiff.' He is the only British performer to h~vE' had ImJ;:i 'le, Heathcliff is dark and gypsyish , fl n Forty years of stardom show why Cliff hits in e\'e r~' Jecade from the Fift ies ro rhe "l! -:J r. 'I,f( IVas bullied at school for his Richard shouldn't be underestimated. He is Nineties. He is the 158th richest man in "" u :h\· complexion. 'Taunts of 'lndibum' every bit as much of an obsess ive as Britain. Yet he i work in g as hard as ever. ,nd Re,l lnd,bum' followed me arou nd the r ll\ 'r\lLmd,' he reca ll s. 'I must say I became a mli . fighter.' DirE'ctor Frank Dunlop is "n " uraging him to draw on those memories: '1 Ie understands Hea thcli ffbecause of that; he knows what it is to be dark and different tn)m other children'. Those who say C liff isn't se xy enough to pl ay Hea thcliff should read hi s ea rli es t re\'ieIVs, which denounced him for 'violenr hip-sw ingin g', 'indecent vu lga rir y' and 'crude ex hibirioni sm'. Hi s ac r has gor less raunchy over the yeMs, bur in a recent poll British women srill voted C liff as rhe man IVnh whom rhey wou ld mosr like ro go on holid ay. Runner-up lVas Mel G ibson. Hearhcliff was a rebel aga insr rhe mores l)f hi s day. So was C liff. In 1968, when the Bearles were embrac ing drugs and thc counter-cu lrurc, C liff did rhe really dilri ng rhmg and ;;a ng 'Congraru lations' in rhe Eu rovision Song Contest. A II rhrough the years of 'youth revo lu ti on', Sir C liff couned rhe di sdain of roc k jl) url1Rli sts by acting as a derermined fifrh colul11l1lsr on behalf of trad iri onal va lu es. Thl' h ilS nor made him pop ular wirh rhe pun,i its, Tom Paulin, cu i rural guru on rhe Late Rene\\', confesses 'I am astounded by his p ' i'ul ri \', Perhaps Ir is because he is so Cli(f Richard 5l"'TII1~ n Dm \.- C~ U"k\ TiltH. .' . C":10EE; '996 APPtAlJ')f 1 5 Cliff's desire to play Heathcliff has been an obsession since the age of 15. He has read the novel more than a dozen times and put himself through an exhausting physical regime to build himse lf up for the role. He remains unshakable in his self-belief. "There's a demon in all of us,' he says. 'Just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean that the demon isn't there.' Soon we shall see whether he can make his critics eat their words. I like many others, would love to see him succeed. Christopher Tookey used to be a bad musician but is now Film Cl'itic of the Daily Mail. He has written the book, music and 1)'Tics for ten stage musicals including The Time of Your Life! , an adaptation of Dickens 's Hard Times to be pro duced next year - and not stan'ing Cliff Richard. with Cliff Richard BIRMINGHAM The Academy in the Notional Indoor Arena, King Edward Rood , Birmingham Wednesday 16 October - Saturday 2 November 1996 EDINBURGH The Playhouse, 18 - 22 Greenside Place, Edi nburgh EH 1 Tuesday 5 November to Wednesday 23 November 1996 MANCHESTER Palace Thea tre , Oxford Street, Manchester M 1 Tuesday 7 January to Saturday 25 January 1997 LONDON Labolt's Apollo, Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith W6 Wednesday 12 February to Sa turday 8 March 1997 prd • 1 6 APPLAUSE OCTO BER )996 Clive Hirschhorn reviews two new productions of Hedda Gabler ~ at the Donmar, and at the Chichester Festival, along with] B Priestley's When We Are Married. Also, Dial M For Murder, at the Apollo. :\ .:k blc dose of Hedda Gabler not only Juliana (Phyllid a Law) that a child will give What the papers say ... re ll) '_' rc e> (lne'S admiration for the skill with her something to live fo r. Left alone earlier I':hich Ibsen constructed his mos t famous in the play, she vi olentl y pounds her preg HEDDA GABLER ~l.1\ , cut, like all great works for the theatre, nant stomach in unnatural disgust. Donmor Worehouse rr" " !des infinite possibilities for both the But then there is nothing natural about ./ Michael Billington, The Guardian Ibsen's aristOc ratic, chilly, heroine wh ose cas t and its director, 'One of the best Hedda Gabler's I' ve ever seen , At the Minerva Theatre last month, scornful, contradictory nature mirrors the Everything in (Stephen) Unwin's production is J lrcctor Lindy Davies, in the company of debilitating frustrations of an intelligent thought through ,.. ot the Donmar you get Ibsen's Harri et Walter (Hedda), Nicholas Le Prevost female struggling for independence in the complete world : at Chichester you get a fine solo (Tes man), David Threlfall (Lovborg) and male-dominated soc iety of 1891. Here's a performance.' Peter Blythe (Brack) offered patrons of this woman who admires courage in others but ./ Benedict Nightingale, The Times year's Chichester Festival a small -sc ale lhe evening combines narrative clarity with 'chamber' production of the pi ece which was pace. And thanks to the thoughtful skills of as intense and as challenging as , sa y, one of Alexandra Gilbreath 's Hedda , and the intelli gence of those supporting her, I found myself Beethoven's late string quartets. Mea nwhile, looking otthe play's key evenls in a new way: in the heart of Covent G ard en, the sa me pl OCTOBE? ;996 APPlAUSE 17 What the papers ay ... character sli ghdy more asse rti ve and less grey than lI sual. HEDDA GABLER Dav id Threlfall, Chiches ter's solemn, Minerva Theatre, Chichester hrooding and low-key Lo vborg could just as Elvstead), plu s an occasional lapse into a .IX Benedict Nightingale, The Times eas ily have played Tesman, which cannot he typical Bette Davis intonation, this was a 'After a photo finish this steward believes that Harriet sa id for Jonathan Phillips - a better looking Hedda not to everyone's taste, hut which Wolter... has beaten Alexandra Gilbreath, but only ve rsion of Bjorn Borg, wh o exud ed se xuality by a short Hedda ... Nowhere does she get much won me over in the end. Not nearly as sexy but never convinced me he was the author help from her supporting actors.. . the production nor as a ri stocratic as Walter's Hedda, of 'one of the most amaz ing books ever locks the pace, clarily and sheer thoughtfulness of Gilbreath, her hair uncompromisingly its Covent Gorden counterpart.' written.' By the same token, ne ither of the pulJed hack into a bun, was the more fine actresses playing Mrs. El vstead - Ann ove rtly emoti onal and impetuous of the ,,/ Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times Firhank in London, Jenny Q uay le in the 'A fascinating actress, (Harriet Wolter) expresses country - seemed to possess qu alities capahle Hedda's self-destroying ironies ond contradictions in myriad details... Lindy Davies, directing, has of 'inspiring' the men whose lives they elicited from the whole cost a very unusual spon happened to touch. But then very few Mrs. taneily of contrasting dynamics.' El vsteads I've seen do. ./\ sleek Peter Blythe, stepp in g in at X Nick Curtis, Evening Standard short notice for an indisposed Roy Marsden, '(Harriet Wolter) has moments of mesmerising power but rother more moments of careless over gave Judge Brack a quotient of sleaze totally playing. The (slackly directed) production is both Alison Steadman (as the trio in every way, beneath her expecrations. 'Comparing these two productions, reading by of wives who, on their 25th wedding There was not much to choose betwee n reading, role by role, is not a game of spot the anniversaries discover they're not legally winner. Both directors search for the truth behind Nicholas Le Prevos t and Crispin LettS as marri ed) is too young for the role. To com the text with utter integrily.' Tes man. Though Letts was, marginall y, the pens ate, she misguidedly sli pped in to revu e more pe rsonabl e of the two, both managed mode to the detriment of the character. to excavate qualities that made the Funny, but wrong. 1 8 ·\PPLAUSE OCTOBE R 1996 As their respective spouses, Paul Copley, What the papers say ... Roge r Lloyd Pack and Gary Waldhorn fou nd WHEN WE ARE MARRIED their Ln spiration where they should: Chichester Festival Theatre hilariously la Esma Cannon, Hylda Baker a .! John Peter, Sunday Times and O ld Mother Riley. I'm not sure what 'A glorious, glowing revival : Priestley would have made of the perfor Robert Gore-Langton, Daily Telegraph mance, mind you, but the audience loved it, .I 'Glorious to behold ... Leo McKern's gravelly voice is and so did I. shot, but he still gives us the outline of a great perfor A s H enry O rmonroyd, the inebriated mance . I don't see how you can fail to have fun: photographer who arrives at Alderman Jack Tinker, Daily Mail H elliwell 's West Riding home to reco rd the .I '(Jude Kelly's) production is stuffed fat as a jo int anni versary celebrations, Leo McKern's Victorian sofa with stellar performances ... Yet it is gruff gargle and W C Fields-like appearance that most glorious of our comic actresses, Dora was no match for either Fred Emney, who Bryon, who dominates every brief moment in which made the role his own at the Strand Theatre she appears. A feat disappointingly not matched Dora Bryan as Mrs No rthrop in 19 70, o r Bill Fraser who did likewise at the by Lea Mckern.' III Prics dey 's When We Are Marri ed Whitehall in 1986. # Michael Coveney, Observer in Priestl ey's su re fire lines, and always man Jude Kelly's crowd-pleasing production, 'Leo McKern gets funnier as his bloated photogra pher... gets drunker... But the notion of West Riding aged to remain true to the text. in a sumptuously evocative set by Robert Edward ia n 'respectability' is scuppered in the Going way o ver the top, (but so what?) Jones, kept the laughter simmering, though playing... the whole locks the vintage cohesion of the dominee ring albeit proprietorial Mrs. was the irrepressible Dora Bryan, who as revivals in the Seventies and Eighties .' Mrs Northrop, the char, teetered about Soppit would never ever takes a swig of alcohol from a bottle (perish the thought l ); .I James Christopher, Sunday Express nor would Mrs. Northrop be paid off (as she 'The only disappointment is the normally brilliant Leo McKern ... he is incomprehensible most of the time.' What the l)al)ers say ,. , \\' as at the fin al preview I caught) with a pound coin 90 years ago. # Benedict Nightingale, The Times DIAL M FOR MURDER Rea ll y great stage thrillers are an endan '(J ude) Kelly's prod uction... (which) has its ups and Apollo Theotre gered species. A mere half a dozen spring downs .. tends to opt for the broad effect rather than the sly telling detail .. .Dora Bryan twitters in wonder instantly to mind: Witness for the Prosecwion, .! Duncan Campbell, Guardian fully batty glee... and Leo Mckern is more memorable Slewh. Deathtrap, Wa it Until Dark, The 'An old murder classic still canvincing enough to still as Ormonroyd.' win a jury's verdict: Mousetrap and my own personal favo urite (if one can have a favourite thriller) Dial M For .! Ion Shuttleworth, Financial Times 'As the big-name centrepiece of the 1996 .I Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph Murder (Apo llo). Chichester mainhouse season, it delivers the goods 'Peter Wilson's production plays it all dead The si mplest and least contrived of the and no mistake . French is magnificently Dawn stra ight, nicely capturing the faintly dowdy, bunch, Frederick Kno tt's classic story of a sexually repressed otmosphere of the early fift ies.' French, yet kept in admirable check ..Leo McKern is murder that goes wrong is a producer's dream a bit of a disappointment . his voice, as often as not .I Michael Coveney, Observer (one ~et, five characters) and Bill is (reduced) to a semi intelligible gurgle. 'Absorbing revival: Kenwright's Mobil Touring Theatre # Nicholas de Jongh, Stondard production is a thorough II' respectable X Nick Curtis, Evening Standard 'Annette Badland's Cauncillor's wife is far too 'There are precious few thrills in Frederick KnoWs account of the piece. simperingly sweet...and Alison Steadman ... lacks mechan ised Fifties thriller A bland night out: Peter Davison heads a solid, if unstarry camic drive. It is Dora Bryan's bibulaus old char woman ...who gives the evening its chief comic allure.' cast as the husband whose wife 's infidelity X Jeremy Kingston, Times with a thriller writer drives him to murde r. 'The play's language, speed and constructive .! John Gross, Sunday Telegraph 'The comedy... is brood and vigorous. Down French style is extremely old-fashioned: Catherine Raben, projecting the icy glamour of a typically British fifties film actress, is the paces and prowls magnificently... McKern, apart from a few inaudible patches, gets it just right: .I Shaun Usher, Daily Mail unfaithful wife, Brian Deacon her paramour 'Peter Wilson's staging highlights every quirk and' and Peter Bourke the hapless hit man. Paul Taylor, Independent nuance af what amounts to an artefact of social # 'Kelly's cost are a mixed blessing....Dawn French is history.' Kenwright's revival is we ll served by Andrew Leigh, whose li ghting is integral to good in sequences .. . but you feel you are being offered a limited repertoire in gags... Leo McKern # Steve Malins, Daily Express the play's success, and by director Peter 'It's hard to see the attraction of forking out for a shuffles through the play like a befuddled walrus .' Wilson whose main task with suc h a neatly blandly impressive stage set when the BBC and Michael Billington, Guardian lTV produce equally homely shows in the comfort plotted scneario is to let the thrills take care .! What Kelly's production proves is that Priestley of your own Iivi ng room : of themselves and to make sure the actors was always a Yarkshire moralist with a hatred of don't bump into the furniture. He succeeds X Robert Hewison, Sunday Times middle-closs cant and fake piety. It is not her fault on both counts. 'It would be nice to think that the West End hod that the clop-happy Chichester audience treats moved on since 1951 , but clearly it hasn't: every exit as on excuse for another round.' OCTOBER 1996 APPlAUSE 1 9 INDEPENDENT Keep an eye out for these productions opening in and around the West End this month. THE OEDIPUS PLAYS FOOL FOR LOVE THE GAY DETECTIVE Peter Hall directs A lan Howard at the Royal Ian Brown directs Sam Shepard's acclaimed A new play by Gerard Srembridge from Dublin's National Theatre in Ranjit Bolt's new 1985 play, ser in a seedy motel on the Projecr Am thar fo ll ows a murder enquiry translation of Sophocles's Oedipus the King and outskins of the Moj ave Desert. Opens October rhrough rhe srreers and saunas of Dublin. Opens Oediplls ar Colonnus. Opens September 17th 10th at the Donmar Warehouse. at rhe Tricycle Theatre on October 29th. at the Lynelton. ART HAPPY DAYS ASHES TO ASHES Manhew W archus directs Yasmina Reza's play, Karel Reisz's producrio n ftom rhe Gare Theatre, The world premiere of a new play, wrinen and adapted by C hristopher H ampton, which has Dublin comes to rhe Almeida after a summer directed by H arold Pinter, stars Lindsay Duncan been a hit in France. Albert Finney, Tom visir to rhe Beckett Fesrival in New York, where and Stephen Rea. Opens at the C ircle Courtenay, and Ken Ston star in the rhe Gare presented all ninereen or Becken's (Ambassador's Theatre) as part of the Royal West End premie re. Opens October 15th stage plays. The casr includes Rosaleen Linehan Court Theatre Upstairs' s new season on at the Wyndham's Theatre. and Barry McGovern. O pens October 29th. September 19th. IN THE COMPANY OF MEN DEATH OF A SALESMAN THE SEVEN STREAMS Edward Bond di rects his own play (or the RSC Arthur Miller's Pulitzer Pme-winning drama, OF THE RIVER OTA tn which the take-over of an armaments firm direcred by David Thacker, srars Alun Robert Lepage's seven and a half hour rel'eals the horrors of the male business world. Armsrrong as Wrll\, Loman and Marjorie Yares marathon, is an epic fable of the fifty years Opens October 22nd at The Pit. as his wife Linda. Opens :u rhe Lynelton on si nce the bombing of Hiroshima. There are six October 31st. complete performances over three weekends, MOJO beginning Saturday 21st September at Jez Butrerworth's first play is revived to mark the Lynelton . the opening of the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs residence at what was previously the WHO'S AFRAID OF Duke of York's, Ian Rickson directs this black REDUCED VIRGINIA WOOLF? comedy about Soho's underworld in the late Howard Davies returns to the Almeida Theatre 50s. Open s October 16th. @5hakespeau to direct Diana Rigg, David Suchet, C lare Holman and Lloyd Owen in Edw a r~ Albee's MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION @ fim full-length play. Opens Neil Bartlen directs Bernard Shaw's depiction 25th September. of what happens when a woman discovers her mother has a talent for' pleasing men'. The SHOPPING & FUCKING cast includes Catherine Cusack, Neil Stacy Macbeth These two contrasting acti vities are explo red in and Gregor Truter. Opens at the Lyric ~ lark Ravenhill's new play directed by Max Hammetsmith on October 21st. (Clmchc, a mortalwl1unJ while sin[:lIIg Stafford-Clark . Opens at the Stage to the Illne of Th~ Teddy /3ear.~' Picnic) (.A.mbassador's Theatre) as part of the Royal AS YOU LIKE IT C,'un Theatre U pstairs's new season on Stephen Pimlon directs the RSC production of When I looked ow III Ihe wood wday. October 1st. Shakespeare's pastoral comedy, The cast I coll/dn', helieve Ill)' eyes! includes Niamh Cusack, Rachel Joyce and Tile trees, they suddenly marc/led my way, VIOLIN TIME David Tennant. Opens at the Barbican on Ken Campbell 's one-man show, directed by October 23rd. With Malcolm and 1u!.s of guys! Colin Watkel·s. At the Conesloe Theatre (rom MacduH "')f)~ared, October 2nd. SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE He chon/ed with mirth, British premiere of the Broadway revue inspired Hn'('aling his THE LODGER by rhe words and music of Jerry Leiber and Murray Melvin returns to Raffles Square after Mike Stoller. Many of rhe American cast are Caesarean hirrh! an absence of 34 years wi th a new thri lI er by expecred to feature in rhe British production. And I've lust Ill}' Queen; Patrick Prior. S tars Lynn Farleigh from lTV's Opens ar rhe Prince of Wales on October 23rd. Tuday JIG.m'l been Wycliff. Opens October 3rd at the Theatre A /Jicnic! Royal Stratford East. BURIED TREASURE Robin Lefevre directs a new play by David (He gurg l es and dies) THE ALCHEMIST Ashton for rhe Bush Theatre ar rhe Lyri c Ben Jonson's most accessible farce stars S imon Studio in Shepherds Bush. Ser in a small seaside By Dick Vosburgh Callow, Josie Lawrence and Ttm Piggott-Smith. town on rhe Sconish coasr, the play looks at Bill Alexander directs. Opens 9th October at rhe impacr of rock music on society, Opens Copyright © 1996 by Dick Vosburgh. the O livier Theatre. October 25th. OCTOBER I QQ6 APPLAUSE 21 called Nor the Midnight Mass ). While ho 's Afraid of Virginia on the way to the theatre, vi a Hyde Woolf? (coming to the Park, C laudette <-Isked Burt; "What are Almeida with Diana these trees, Bunie ?" "Plane trees, Rigg and David Perhaps Boublil should submit a couple Claud ette." "And what are those pink WSuchet) poses the second most intriguing of English lyrics for next year's Vivian Ell is bushes?" "Rhododendrons, C laudette." theatrical question this season . The first) prize. Carmen or La Tra viata might be "And what are those white things, Burtie''' What does Alain Boublil do? good 'books'. "Those", sa id Bunie, "are Engl ishmen." As I emerged from a preview of Martin A las t word o n Martin Guerre. I liked Guerre which I enjoyed more than many Paul Taylo r's desc ri ption (in The ••• critics, I heard a caricature Frenchman ask To ge t back to where we started. When I first Independent) of Bob Avian's choreography; his neighbour, 'What zen does zis Boublil do) saw Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on 'Tap-dancing for the slow-witted'. Does 'ee first write every wo rd in French and Broadway with Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill, zen every word is tra nslate) I sink not. • • there was an empty seat next to mine for the We know what Claude-Michel Jeremy Meadow, who has a wicked pen , duration of the first act. O n the seat next to Schonberg does. We hear actors singing the wrote to me to lament the end of the happy that. sa t a girl anxiously chewing her nai ls. notes he writes. But, 'Book by Alain run o f Salad Da)'s. He wonders if the arrival In Act Two she was joined by a ve ry young Boublil'? That, I ass ume, must be the story ofVoyeurz was the death-blow, 'A similar Dennis Hoppe r. Before the third act they line in a sung-through musical - greatly story line - a girl and a girl over a piano'. both left. [ ha"e always wanted to ask Mr. helped in us Mis, by Victor Hugo, in Miss Hopper why ' Saigon by Madam Butterfly and in Marcin • Is anyone else puzzled by the I rish dance Guerre by centuries of myth and speculation. Ned Sherrin considers him se lf 'a jack of all phenomenon ? Fo r reasons too complicated If Boublil ge ts credit for the book, then c:heatrica! trades, and mas ter of none. ' what, exactly, did Herbert Kretzmer, John to explain, I went to Riverdan ce and, after Caird and Trevor Nunn contribute to il ) If the sensatio nal backlit, sca mping first John Caird is to be believed, the highlight of entrance, soon lost interest. A week la ter I his working days at us Mis was arriving at saw M ichael Flatley's Lord of the Dance. Mr. lyricist Herbert Kretzmer's fl at in Bas il Street Fl atley is a slar fro m the ankles down. Like SECONDHAND and being offered lashings of smoked salmon many unbeautiful sca rs, he backs himself from Harrods. What did they do before and with exceptionally pl ain black-clad goose FILM & after eating if they weren't writing u s Mis' stepping hoofers. C an it possibly be true that Kretzmer stood down for Mi ss Saigon on the first night Elton John was heard to far too many American characters fo r his mutter ' II sho uld be called Hitler was Ir is h'. THEATRE preferred idio m. So Cameron stiffened h is This particular dance idiom strikes me REFERENCE BOOKS 60's Butterfly with Richard Mallby and the as incredibly limited. And Mr. Flatley's per dazzling director icholas Hymer. sonality suggest a bouncy combinati on of During the creation of Marrin Guerre - Terry Wogan (relentless moues to camera o r, Kretzmer was replaced by Edward Hardy, a in Fl atley's case, the audience) and Ken OUR WIDE-RANGING promising graduate of the Sondheim course Dodd. (Won't ge t om. CATALOGUES OF 1OOOs at Oxford - though I would be prepared to • OF DIFFERENT TITLES ARE wager that most of what survives in the Act I was sad to read of Claudette Colbe rt's One widow's trio is Herbie's. Hardy fails to ISSUED REGULARLY death at 92. 1 sa w her last a few yea rs ago in find many verbal felicities; but he does Frederick Lonsdale's Aren't We All al the manage to tell the eventua ll y agreed story in Haymarket. By the time Marti Stevens and I simplistic "words 'r us" language. And again, arrived at her dress ing roo m to take her to the producer has lavished Declan Donnell an, d inner she was already dressed and wairing. one of today's brightest, mos t inventive TO SUBSCRIBE, SEND £1 .00 TO: At Harry's Bar she downed two large neat directors, on the piece. vodkas before tucking in. Nunn, Caird, KrelZmer, Maltby, Hymer, DECORUM BOOKS (TAP) In the sixties we went with Burt H ardy, Donnellan! H ad I been introduced to 24 ClOUDESLEY SQUARE Shevelove to see Wait a Minim at the the Frenchman who asked, 'What does LONDON N1 OHN Fortune. (Would Ihat someone would impo rt Alain Boublil do?' I should have been hard a similar, clever Soulh African revue troupe FAX +01 71 837 6424 put to answer his conundrum. 22 APPLAUSE OCTOBER 1996 Club Manager MAGGIE GEMEI Subscriptions MICHAEL LOCKWOOD St Albans Office STUART HARDING London Offic e: The Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, London WC2 E 9JQ 5t Alban s Office PO Box 1, 5, Alba ns ALI 4ED Dear Readers, Welcome to the Applause Theatre Club , and our O ctober package of prizes and Club N igh t offers. Shows & Events Diary \,(Iith Cliff Richard on our cover, this month's compe ti tio n prize of tIIO ti ckets to h is eagerly -awaited musica l Heathcliff couldn't be SEPTEMBER more appropriate. And nor only will the winner get to meet Cl iff 25 The Bachelors at the TaU, of Lone/on at'r er the show, but, should he or she li ve outside London, the prize wil l include a pair of rail tickets and a night's accommodation in a OCTOBER Ll1 ndon hote l. 15 Laughter on the 23rd Floor We're also offering a Spec ial C lu b Night for }olson at the 25 Swal1 Lake Victori a Palace. C all it a joint celebration to mark the show's first 25-27 Th omas HClHl )"s Wess ex anniversa ry, as we ll as the return of its star , Br ian Conley, after a twO & Stonehenge at [)(lum month break. Why not join me in bl o wi ng out the candles o n the 29 jots on birthday cake ? A lso on offer this month are ti ckets fo r Miss Saigon, Oli veri and NOVEMBER A nthony Newley's forthcoming Scrooge; as we ll as for Matthew 1-3 I3roclswonh Hall Bourne's controversial Swan Lai<.e at the Piccadilly, and Neil Simon 's A Rigolctto Laughter on the 23rd Floor at the Queen's. Great offers, all of them. So, see you soon. 13& J6 Scrooge 17 Clas sical Specwculur Christopher Biggins DECEMBER 7 or 8 Luxur)' Da)1Out Lincoln 's Christmas Street Market J4 Riverdancc & Sup/)cr SlllEI .)(C&:lI •OH• CLUB tI Jolson , sl Birlhday Party Tue day 29 October 7. Opm Exclusive Club Night, double celebrations! }olson the musical is one year old , and Brian C onley returns to the show after taking time out to get married. On the 29 O ctober, you will have best seats, and after the performance join in the birthday parry. "Truly you ain't seen norhin' yeti " (Richa rd Wa ll ace, Daily Mirror). Don't miss this opportuniry to welcome Brian Conley back, and celebrare the show's first birthday. Victoria Palace, Victoria Street, London SWI Performance length approx 2hrs 5Omin . Price inclusive of birthday party. Top Price Seats £19.50 SAVE £10.50 OCTOB ER 1996 APPLAUSE 23 TIl F 9 < - • d/ ~¥ ~ ,oA;,s~·~G.!~,ln~!{~ al~you Registered trademark of Joey &Gina Productions. All rights reserved. Produced by Joey &Gina Productions Limited Yi ur chance t win a pair (tickets t ee Heathcliff at Labatt's Apollo Hammersmith on Wednesday 26 February 1997 and meet CI iff Richard after the performanc . The prize al 0 includes travel by rail to Lom.! n an I an overnight tayat the Bums Park H tel in Ken ingron. All y u have to do i answer the f, lIowing questions correctly. 1 Who wmte the bool< Wuthering Heights? 2 Who wrote the lyrics for Heathcliff the musical? 3 What was the las t stage musical that Cliff Richard appeared in ? Answer on a postcard, stating your name and address and day time telephone number to: Heathcliff- Competition, Applause Magazine, Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JQ. The winner will be the fiTS[ postcard drawn after the closing date on 31 Octobt!r 1996 with the correct answers. 24 APPlA USE OCTOBER 1996 READERS' OFFER BY JEEVES 1996 London cast recording CD £10 .99 including p&p Save £2.00 Cassette £7 .99 including p&p Save £2.00 COMPANY A musical comedy 1996 London cast recording CD £9.99 including p&p Save £3.00 Casse tte £6.99 including p&p Save £2.00 TO ORDER, TELEPHONE 0171 312 1991 P..EASE AllOW 28 DAvS i'C DEllI. ERY COMPETITION WINNERS FROM PREV IEW IS SU ES (Martin Guerre' Competition The Question was: Who plays the title role of Martin Guerre in the West End production at the Prince Edwa rd Theatre? The correct answer was Matt Rawle The lucky winner fo r a pair of top ptice seats (0 see Martin G aerre is Mrs J Hall of Kingston -on- Thames. The Royal Variety Show Competition. 1 Who was the first compere of SLlnda)' Nigh! at th e London PalladiLlm l 2 Who was the last compere of the sa me show) The correct answers are: I. Tommy Trinder 2. Jimmy Tarbuck The lucky winner for two tickets to attend The Royal Variety Show on 28 October 1996 is Mrs J Young of Cardiff. REMEMBERI Beauty and the Beast on sale from Applause magazine from 20 October Call 0171 312 1991 OCT BR 199 APP USE 25 EAT, DRINK AND BE FRIGHTENED MISS SAIGON Based on the srory of Madame But terfly, Miss Saigo n is a true spectacle of a musical with a large cast and orchestra ro A delicious 3 co urse meal at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and a match . The audience is u eated ro the epic compositions of chilling night at The Woman in Black for only £25.00 Boublil and Schonberg with h it numbers such as 'The Last Revel in the tradition and hisrory of Ye Olde Cheshire Night of the World' along with dance and acrobatic displays, Cheese in Fleet Sueet. Rebuilt in 1667 after the G reat Fire of helicopters, and stunning ligh ting and sets. Lo ndon, it became a C hop House for C harles Dickens and Mon-Thur eves. 7,45pm Samuel Johnson. Today you can enjoy a tradition ally British Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London WC2 three course pre- theau e d inner with coffee. The menu Perfonnance length approx 2 hrs 45 mins includes: Terrine of Smoked Fish served on a Tomato Coulis Good Seats £19.50 SAVE £10.50 or Canoe and Ora nge Soup or Melon Exotic Olde English Steak and Ale Pie or Englis h Garde n \'2,Q OLIVER! Pear Tan or Lemon Meringue Pie "r Fresh Fn/it Salad Li onel Bart's multi-award winning mas terpiece is presented by Coffee Cameron Mackinrosh as never before seen at the world Then journey alo ng Fleet Street to experie nce the West fa mo us Lo ndon Palladium. The show is literall y full of hit End's scariest sh ow T he Wo man In Black. A remote mysterious songs including 'As Long as he Needs Me' 'Consider Yourself ' house and a strange rec lusive woman ensure that T he \X/o man and 'Where is Love'. This is a spectacular production which in Black is a na il biting nigh t at the theatre. leaves everyone asking for more as it takes yo u through the hisroric Londo n of C h arles Dickens. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese,145 London EC4 (from 6.00p Mon-Thur eves. 7.30pm London Palladium, Argyll Steet (off Oxford Circus), London WIA Performance le ngth approx 2 hI'S 30 mins "HE WOMAN IN BLACK Mon to Fri evening at 8pm with pre-theatre dinner and Saturday matinees at 4pm with post-theatre dinner. Fortune Theatre, Russell Street, London WC2 Performan ce length approx Ihr 50 min Good Seats £19.50 SAVE £10.50 3 Course Meal &Theatre ONLY £25.00 26 APPlAUSE OCTOB ER 1996 SWAN LAKE STILL BOOKING Friday 25 October, 7. Opm The Adventures In Motion Pictures' Swan Lake, which was THE BACHELORS ori gina ll y premiered at Sadler's Wells theatre for a three week C hart-toppers of the 60s. so ld -out season in November 1995, features the now cele A complete evening of dining and entertainment. brated all -male corps of swans. This production which won a Wednesday 25 eptember Olivier Award fo r 'Bes t Talk of London, Drury Lane New Dance Productio n' (Parker Street), London WC2 has arrived in the \X/est End for a limited season, Special Rate f'J 1.50 SAVE £3.50 prior to a wo rld tour. Matthew Bourne's new interpretation of Tchaikovsky's fa mo lls LAUGH"ER ON "HE Adam Cooper (IS The Swan ' in Ma ll hew Boumc's Swan Lake. score has a cast of 34 and 23rd FLOOR uses a 27 piece o rchestra. The great comic actor Gene W ilder stars in Neil S imon's The cast will be headed by Adam Cooper giving his award hilari ous play. winning performance as 'The Swan', wi th Scott A mber, Fiona C hadwick, William Ke mp, Isa bel Mortimer and Ben W right. Tue~Jay 1 C; October 8.00pm Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Theatre, Denman Street, London WI London WI Performance length co be advised. Top Price Seats £25.00 SAVE £5.00 Special Rate £17.50 SAVE £7.50 SCROOGE "HE MUSICAL WeunesJay 13 November 7. Orm & aturda ' 16 November 3.00pm Scrooge - the Mllsical makes its Wes t End debut, hav ing delighted audiences at sell -ou t seasons in the U K, A ustralia and Japan. This stunning seasonal ex travaganza srars A ntho ny Newley in the title role as rhe mean, mi se rl y, money- lender Ebenezer Scrooge in Dicken's much loved C hristmas classic. With dazz ling effects, lavish se ts and costumes and fabulous dance routines. Tom Watt, who is best Amho:\\' N~tvfev known for his portraya l of Lofr y in as Eh:' tlc ';..?"r Scr {lf)g~ Eas tenders, plays Bob C ratchit. "THIS BREATHLESS, SOA RAWAY SHOW M'}SS IS MAG NIFIC ENT" T he DadyExpress Dominion, Tottenham Court Road, London WI SaIgon Perfor mance length approx 2hrs 30 mins . Top Price Seats £15 .50 SAVE £12.00 CC OBE 1996 APPLAUSE 27 LINDUM FAYRE CORINrHIAN rRAVEL LUXURY DAY OUT NEW YEAR IN EASTERN EUROPE Saturday 7 Del:cmbcr PRAGUE OR BUDAPEST SlIoda) Decemh r 1 1.OOam This year we will have two fabulous New Yea r breaks in Prague Lincoln's famous C hristmas street market is probably the finest and Budapest - we will be delighted to we lcome you o n e ithe r. event of its kind in Britain. The quaint cobbled srreets leading Outline details of bre8ks are as foll ows: up to the magnificent Cathedral are lined with all manner of market stalls offering inspiratio n for the 'different' C hristmas PRAGUE is one of the mos t beautiful Central European cities gift and, as darkness fall s in the late afternoon, the who le scene with architecture ranging from the 16th century to Art nou takes on an almos t magical fe eling. There are clowns and street veau and a fa SC inating history dating fr om medieval times. music ians, carol singe rs, and handbe ll ringers thronging the W alking is easy and there are some lovely parks and gardens. streets and se llers of hot chestnuts, Gluhwein and traditional You will be able to see a lot during this break and there will be English Fayre all adding to several optional excursions ava il able. Our hotel is in the fash the carnival atmosphere. ionable Wenceslas Square within a (longish) stone's throw of W e travel first class by the Opera H ouse. specia l excursion train Prague - 3 nights, .30 December to 2 January. Bed & Breakfast leaving Kings Cross at is centrally loc8ted 4* hote l. New Yea r's Eve musical enterta in 11.00am. lunch is served ment with dancing and buffet supper. A tour of the city by at your seat on the outward coach . O ther optional entertainments wi ll be avail able. Flights journey and a traditional and transfers to hotel. Price and availability: At the time of C hristmas dinner with all publicatio n we are negotiating prices with the hotel and can rhe trimmings on the way only give an indic8tion of prices for the break which we expect home, arriving back at 20.30 to be approximately £475 per person. Please call us so that we can send you full details as soon as available. We are pl anning fo r a maximum of about 20 for this break. BUDAPEST is our second N ew Year destinatio n and is another fasc inating city split in two by the Danube. The castle on the Buda side domin8tes the city 8nd is surrounded by other lovely buildings . On the Pest side Art Deco and Art Nouveau Price £69.00 buildings house cafes and shops of all kinds. Apart from a coach tour of the city there will be a range of optional enter tainments and excursions available. Budapest - 3 nights, 30 December to 2 January. Bed & Breakfast is centrally located 4* hotel. New Year's Ev e musical entertainment with dancing and buffet supper. A tour of the c ity by coach. Flights and transfers to hotel. Prices and avail ability: We can only give an indication of the price fo r this break which we expect to be approximately £450 per perso n. Please call us so we can send you full derails as soon as avail able. There will also be a maximum number of about 20 for this break. C ontact: Corinthian Travel 30 Culver Road, St Albans, All 4ED The beautifu l cities of Prague (above) and Budapes t (tlghr). 28 APPLAUS OCTOBER 1996 EVENTS STILL BOOKING RIVERDANCE Labatt's Apollo Hammersmith THOMAS HARDY'S WESSEX SatllrdilY 14 Del'cmber 6.00pm & STONEHENGE AT DAWN Start your C hristmas fes ti vities early and treat yourself to this The White Hart Hotel, Salisbury exciting show which is continuing to entrance audiences in London. The pri ce includes a two-course supper at a nearby Friday- -'unday, 25-27 October restaurant, and seats in the S talls for the show that is guaran teed to sweep you off your feet. Join us fo r a weekend in Dorset visiting many of the places which fea ture so prominently in Thomas Hardy's novels. Price £49.00 Explore the house which Hardy designed and lived in, see h is CLASSICAL SPECTACULAR hand-written manuscripts and various personal items at Royal Albert Hall Dorchester Town's County Muse um. Sunday morning begins earl y wit h a dawn trip to Stonehenge before breakfast and Sunday 17 November at 1.30pm contin ues to the class ic sites of Gold Drop Hill in Shaftesbury, Enjoy the U .K's greatest classical show with music, li ghts and the Pure Drop Inn and Tess's Cottage in Marnhill. Two nights lasers at the Roya l A lbert Hall. Listen to some of the best clas accommodation with breakfa st and dinner and coach travel sical music , performed by the Royal Philharm onic O rchestra, du ring the weekend and all entrance fees are included, plus a including 'Nessun Dorma', 'Pearl Fishers duet', 'Swan Lake year's membership of English Heritage. finale' and the 18 12 Overture with live cannons and muskets. Price £219.00 We begin with a twO course lunch, in the Victoria Restaurant, fo llowed by good seats for the matinee performance at 3pm. PUnlNG TO BED AT BRODSWORTH HALL Price £46.00 Forte Posthouse, Bramhope Friday to Sunday, 1-3 November ST ALBANS TRAVEL SERVICE This break offe rs the last chance to see A llerton park, one of the most im portant Victorian Gothic mans ions in the country, St Albans Travel Serv ice, our own ABTA/IATA travel agency, and Brodsworth Hall before they close for the winter. The should be yo ur first call when booking t1 igh ts, short breaks and weekend includes a visit to Harrogate and a Victori an mill at hold ays - not on ly because of the special prices for members but Hebden Bridge. because the choice of tour operator , range of discounts for Coach travel on Saturday and Sunday, the services of a fli ght and the late availabi lity is among 'c the very bes t around. profeSS ional guide, all entrance fees, guided tour at A llerton Here are a few example of ome fl igh t on ly prices: park and Brodsworth Hall and Buffet Lunch at Brodsworth are included, together with two nights accomm odation with break Sydney - from £663 + tax fast and dinner. In addition you will receive a full year's New York - from £203 + tax membership of Engli sh Heritage A mst rdam - fro m £75 + tax Price £199.00 Pa ri s - fro m £72 + tax Madrid - from £100 + tax RIGOLEnO Malaga - from £109 + No tax London Coliseum San Francisco - from £288 + tax Lo, Angeles - from £278 + tax Friday 8 N vember at 2.30pm Boston - from £216 + tax We begin the day with an introductory talk about the opera, A spec ial tour to Ban.gkok from £475, including S nights followed by tea and coffee served in the Dutch Ba r. We then accommodation at the Mercure Hotel, room only + tax, valid have a guided tour of London's largest theatre, including the to 31 October, not including transfer . audi torium and backstage, (subject to avail ab il ity), learning about the history of the theatre and the work of the English Do call 01727 866533 for up to date availability and prices. National Opera. The tour fini shes at Spm, which will give you time to relax at your favourite restaurant before the evening performance at 7.30. HOTELS Jonathan Miller's fa mous production of Rigo1e uo rums JUSt a reminder that we have a wide range of hotels we can book Verdi's hunch-backed jes ter into a barman and the dissolute for you at spec ia l rates. N ew prices will apply from ! Novemher Duke into a Mafia boss . It is set amidst the skyscrape rs and 1996 and t.h e good news is that most rates will either stay the sinis ter waterfronts, dark all eys and ba rs of the Big Apple. same or be less than the current listing, If you would like a new Price £64.50 price list call St Albans offi ce on 01 n 7 841115 OCTOBER 1996 APPlAUSE 29 REMEMBERI Beauty and the Beast Ticketline 01 71 312 1991 on sale from Applause magazine from 20 October All ~eots subject to availability The West End's biggest Comedy Hit!! the I\.EDUCED SHAKESPEAI\.E COMPANY Th~ Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) All 37 plays in 97 minutes 'FI\.ENZIED ...II\.I\.ESISTI.BLE... MAYHEM ... The audience adored it and so did l' Jack Tinker, The Mail 'UPI\.OAI\.IOUSLY FUNNY' Evening Standard 'A TI\.IUMPH' The Times 'You will laugh until it hurts' What's On CRITERION THEATRE 30 APPLAUSE OCT03ER 1996 THE OFFICIAL LONDON THEATRE GUIDE OF THE SOCIETY OF LONDON THEATRE ADELPHI DRURY LANE NEW LONDON ROYAL COURT THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS Sunset Boulevard Miss Saigon Cats The Beauty Queen of Leenane Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest musical is Boublll &Schonberg's musical abaut a G.1. Andrew Lloyd Webbe~s musical inspired Martin McDonagh's evocation of the based on Billy Wllde~s 1950's film about an who falls in love with a Vietnamese giH by TS EHofs Old Possum's Book ofPractical smalltown world of Connemara is revived ageing silent movie star plotting her continues Hs amazing run. Now In its Calscontlnues Into Hs 14th year. Booking after Hs great success earlier this year. comeback in the film industry. Petula Clark seventh year. through to March. Directed by Garry Hynes. November 26 leads the cast. Mon-Sat 7.45. Man-Sot 7.45, January 11. Mon-Sot 7.45. Mats Thur & Sot 3.00 Mats Wed & Sat 3.00 Mats Tue & Sat 3.00 Man-Sat 7.30. Mat Sat 3.30 ALBERY DUCHESS THE OLD VIC ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANYt The Cherry Orchard Don't Dress for Dinner An Ideal Husband BARBICAN THEATRE: A MIDSUMMER Adrian Noble's 'Royal Shokespeare Marc CamoleHi's successful farce about Peter Hall's production of Oscar Wilde's NIGHrS DREAM Adrian Noble's production Compa<1Yproduction of Chekhov's dromo aHempted adunery continues with Royce comedy of political sleaze and blackmail returns. features Alec McCowen. Penelope Wilton Mills. Michael Shorvell-Martin. Jackie is now set to continue Hs run through to AS YOU LIKE IT Niomh Cusack stars In and David Troughton. From Nov 21. Clarke and Judy Graham. November 23. Steven PimloH's production. MACBETH Ion Albery directs Roger Allam Man-Sat 7.30. Mon-Fri 8.00. Man-Sat 7.30. as ambHious Scot. Mots Thur & Sat 3.00 Mat Wed 3.00. Sat 5.00 & 8.30 Mats Wed. Sat 3.00 Prices: £6-£24.50 ALBERY FORTUNE THE OLD VIC THE PIT: FAUST PARTS I 8< 2 Michael Bogdonov directs Goethe's epic in which The Goodbye Girl The Woman in Black The Wind In the Willows a Doctor is tempted by Mephistopheles. Gary Wilmot stars as a would-be actor David Burke and Andrew Havill play the Talking furry animals return to the riverbank IN THE COMPANY OF MEN Brttish premiere who ends up shari <1 g an apartment with a two men embroiled in this extraordinary for the Christmas season in Alan BenneH's of Edward Bond's study of the arms dancer after confusion over ·its lease. ghost story. WriHen by Stephen MallatraH adaptation of the classic Kenneth industry. Musical by Neil Simon. Marvin Hamlisch from Susan Hill's novel. Grahame story. Nov 26-Jan 25. THE HERBAL BED Peter Whelan embellishes and David lippel. From Feb 14. Man-Sat 8.00. Tue-Sat 7.30, the true story of the trial of Shakespeare's Further details to be announced. Mats Tue 3.00. Sat at 4.00 Mats Wed. Thur. Sat 2.30 daughter. Prices: £10-£17 APOLLO GARRICK THE OLD VIC ST. MARTIN'S Dial M For Murder An Inspector Calls Henry IIV Parts 1 and 2 The Mousetrap Peter Davison and Catherine RobeH play Stephen Daldry's hugely successful revival TImothy West ploys Falstaff to his son Sam' Murder in a remote hotel Is the source of husband and wife in Frederick KnoH's of J. B. Priestley's play in which 0 Hal in Stephen Unwin's production of the wQrld's longest run. It's now the 44th thriller where a seemingly happy morriage mysterious Inspector disrupts a celebration Shakespeare's history play. January 28 year for the Agatha Christie thriller and gives woy to murderous intentions. Limited at the BiHing residence. November 22. people are still trying to find out who did iI. season. Mon-Fri 7.45. Sat 5.00 & 8.15. Man-Sat 7.30. Man-Sat 8.00. Mon-Fri 8.00. Mats Thill 3.00. Sat 5.00 & 8.15 Mats Wed 2.30 Mats Thur. Sat 2.30 Mats Tue 2.45, Sat 5.00 APOLLO VICTORIA HAYMARKET PALACE SHAFTESBURY Starlight Express The Odd Couple Les Mlserables The Who's Tommy 2nd longest running musical in theatre his Tony Randall and Jack Klugman play the Boubili. Schonberg & Kretzmer musical Pete Townshend's story of the deaf. dumb tory is Andrew Lloyd Webbe~s roller-skating two divorcees who set up home together evoking the tragedy of the French and blind bay with a penchant for pinball extravaganza. inspired by the movement of in the revival of Neil Simon's comedy. Revolution. A few seats are available for receives Hs London premiere. wHh Kim Wilde trains. Directed by Trevar Nunn. Limited season. this long-runner. playing the mother. Man-Sat 7.45. Mon-F ri 8.00. Sat at 5.00 & 8.15. Mon-Sat 7.30. Mon-Sot 8.00. Mats Tue & Sat 3.00 Mats Thur 3.00 Mats Thur & Sot 2.30 Mats Wed. Sot 3.00 CAMBRIDGE HER MAJESTY'S PHOENIX STRAND Fame The Phantom of the Opera Blood Brothers Buddy Musical based on the exploits of the Andrew Lloyd Webbe~s musical follows Willy Russell's award winning musical The Buddy Holly Stary. His life stary is talented students of the New York High the tale of the masked man who haunts follows the plight of two Liverpudlian threaded amongst the songs that School far the Pertorming Arts. Trials and the Paris Opera House. Now booking to brothers separated at birth but destined to influenced a generalion before his tribulations abound. May 1997. meet again. untimely death. Over 2500 penormances. Man-Sat 7.30. Man-Sat 7.45. Man-Sat 7.45. Mon-Thur 8.00. Frl 5.30 & 8.30. Mats Wed. Sat 3.00 Mats Wed & Sat 3.00 Mats Thur 3.00. Sat 4.00 Sat 5.00 & 8.30 CRITERION LABAITS APOLLO HAMMERSMITH PICCADILLY VAUDEVILLE Reduced Shakespeare Co Heathcliff Swan Lake Kindertfansport The Reduced Shakespeare Company Cliff Richard stars as Emily Bronte's mean Adventures in Motion Pictures presents Diane Samuels play folloes the plight of present The Complete Works of William and moody hero in the musical MaHhew Bourne's Olivier Award winning Jewish children shipped from malr'1lond Shakespeare (Abridged) and The adaptation of Wulhering Heights. Features interpretalon of Tchaikovsky's ballet. Europe to Brttain in the late 19305. With Complete History of America (Abridged). lyrics by Tim Rice and music by John LlmHed season. Diana Quick and Jean Boht. Tue-Sat 8.00. Farrar. February 12-April 5. Man-Sat 7.30. Man-Sat at 8.00. Mats Thur 3.00. Sat 5.00. Sun 4.00 Man-Sat 8.00. Mats Wed. Sat 2.30 Mats Wed. Sat at 3.00 DOMINION LONDON PAUADIUM PRINCE EDWARD VICTORIA PALACE Grease Oliveri Martin Guerre Joison Major revival featuring Shona Lindsay as Lionel Bart's classic tunes return to the West The latest from Boublil and Schonberg. Brian Conley stars in the new musical Sandy in the first stage version to include End in Sam Mendes' major revival of the writers af Miss Saigon and Les Miserables. is inspired by the life of AI Jolson. the wor1d's the famous songs from the film. David musical versian of Dickens' tale. Russ based on the story of a man's return from most famous vaudevillian and star of the GlUnore directs. Must end Octaber 19. Abbat now stars as Fagin. the war. claiming to be a woman's long first "talkie". Mon·Sot 7.30. Mon-Sat 7.30. lost husband. Man-Sat 7.30. ~. ' ;-,o s 'l ed & Sot 3.00 Mats Wed. Sat 2.30 Man-Sat 7.45. Mats Thur. Sat 3.00 Mats Wed. Sat 3.00 DOt.! ON LYCEUM PRINCE OF WALES WHITEHALL Scrooge the Musical Jesus Christ Superstar Smokey Joe's Cafe Voyeurz ea", ~ foyre will include Gale Edwards directs Andrew Lloyd The Broadway revue inspired by the songs Lesbian rock group Fem2Fem ore ;'nlt'ox ~;N.1el as m lse ~y Mr. Scrooge in Webber and TIm Rice's musical based on of Leiber and Stoller gets Hs West End amongst the pertormers in a steamy New Le 3ncu;." DONMAR WAREHOUSE NATIONAL THEATREt In repertoire QUEENS WYNDHAM'S Fool For Love OLIVIER: THE ALCHEMIST Simon Callow and Laughter on the 23rd Floor Art Josie Lawrence star in Ben Jonson's comedy. Limited season of Sam Shepard's play in Gene Wilder makes his West End debut In Albert Finney. Tom Courtenay and Ken THE OEDIPUS PLAYS Peter Hall directs which. May and Eddie. who are Nell Simon's comedy revealing the behind StoH play three friends whose relationship Sophocles' tragedies. incestuous half-siblings. play out the climax the scenes mayhem of tap N show. From is turned upside down when one of them LYTfELlON: DEATH OF A SALESMAN Alun of their love-hate relationship in a motel. October 1. buys a work of modern art. From Oct 4. Armstrong playsWdlie Loman In Arthur M i l~s October ~November 30. Man-Sat 8.00. classic. Tue-Sat 8.00. Mats Wed 3.00. Man-Sat 8.00, Mats Thur. Sat 4.00 Mats Wed 2.30. Sat 4.00 SEVEN STREAMS OF THE RIVER OTA Robert Sat. Sun 5.00 Lepage's huge. transglobal epic. DONMAR WAREHOUSE ROYAL COURT THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN Paul Scofield. Please note: All informo~on in " Nine Vanessa Redgrave and Eileen Al1 OCTOBER I QQ 6 APPLAUSE 31 interview GENE WILDER Still crazy after all these years ' but now centred and content, Gene returns home to the stage and to London in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor. By Ronald Bergan. Pictures by Ian Cook ene Wilder is stretched out on a up or thumbs down, smash or fl op, there is couch talking about his life and no room in between. I came to London to Gcareer to someone sitting on a do this play, not fo r the money (though I'm chair, listening, taking notes and asking be ing well paid), not to boost my career, but questions - the class ic portrait of a because I want to learn more about acting.' psychotherapist and his patient. Except Not wishing to disturb his new-found equa Gene Wilder is not being analysed. He is nimity, I failed to mention recent occasions only obliging a humble interviewer, and we when c ritics' thumbs down have caused a are in the lounge of the lovely house he and number of London theatres to go dark, nor his wife have rented near Sloane Square that his career needed a boost after a few film during the West End run of Ne il Simon's failures. Instead I asked why he is taking a Laughter on the 23 rd Floor at the Queen's chance on a Neil Simon play which flopped Theatre from October 3rd. on Broadway and is about Sid Caesar, the Like many people in show-business, he versatile comedian who starred in Your Show has gone through therapy, but claims he is of Shows, the very popular T V programme of now ex tremely well-balanced and content. the J950s, hardly known over here. How different from what is still his most 'I honestly believe that apart from a few celebrated sc reen role, that of the hyperneu local refe rences audiences don't have to rotic accountant in Mel Brooks' The know who S id Caesar is ro find it funny. It's Producers, in which he made hysteria hyster a strange irony that I should be playing Sid ical. The curly -headed comic actor with the Caesar. When I read it, a be ll went off in my wistful smile and melancho ly eyes, now head. Like many of my co ntemporaries I slightly thinner and greyer (he's 61), feels grew up with Your Show of Shows. I would that he couldn't play that kind of character never miss it. J aspired to be Sid Caesa r, and again. 'I 'm probably too healthy emotionally. 1 used to do Caesa r routi nes at parties for $10 In those days I was afrai d of my own shadow. a time. Then years later I worked with Mel I was afraid of life. When my life got Brooks and Woody Allen, both of whom straightened out, the parts changed.' were writers on rhe show. Yet, I still wasn't The fact that he can li e back and talk sure J was ri ght for the part of Max Prince as calmly of taking on his first stage role for 30 the Sid Caesar character is called in Laughter years is an outward sign of his maturity. But on the 23rd Floor. So I called Mel. He said why has it taken him so many years to return that the reason the play bombed on to the stage and why England? Broadway was that they just went for the 'When I spent 1975 in London directing quick jokes, and they missed something The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' SmaTter essential about C aesar. "They didn't under Brother, 1 saw so muc h good theatre that J stand that Sid was a shy ma n like you," Mel told myself if I ever do a play again I'd rather explained. "When he was performing he do it in London than anywhere else on earth. could be a giant, but otherwise he was Broadway is much more cutthroat, thumbs pai nfully shy. " I realised then why they 32 APPlAUSE OCTOBER 1996 ••... I'M FUNNY, NOT BECAUSE OF JOKES, BUT BECAUSE MY BEHAVIOUR IS SO CRAZY " OCTOBER 1996 APPlAUSE 33 wanted me, because I am all emotion. Everyone else is wisecracking, but I'm funny, not because of jokes, but because my behav iour is so crazy.' So crazy that Wilder has a bandage around two of his fingers which he injured in rehearsals during a bit of business that requires him to rip up a chair in anger. Isn't he finding it difficult to readapt his acting technique to the theatre after three decades in the movies) 'No, I feel I'm back home. I starred acting when I was 13. All I did was stage work . I didn't really want to do films. I thought the only acting was in the theatre. had wanted to be an actOr since I saw Lee J. Cobb in Death of a Salesman, My greatest hope and dream came true when I was accepted from thousands of applicants into in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of a Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted Lee Strasberg's class at the Actors' Studio. Russian-Jewish immigrant who prospered in to Know About Sex .. .. when I fell in love with Although I'm Jewish, I went into St. the USA by manufacturing miniature a sheep. The thing you ought to know about Patrick's Cathedral in New York and prayed whiskey bottles. On hiS graduation from the sheep is that when there's a loud noise yo u're that I'd get in. The so-called Method University of Io\\'a, the young Jerry, deter go ing to ge t about 50 to 100 pellets dropped. enabled me to arrive at an interpretation of a mined to make acting h is profession, left for And I was in bed with the sheep. Luckily, role through seeking equivalent emotions in England, enrolling at the BristOl Old Vic they had someone there with a vacuum my own experience. I use it all the time.' Theatre School. Howe\'er, he became dissat cleaner to suck up all the pellets. A new image of Gene Wilder, straight stage isfied with traditional Engli sh teaching Perhaps this experience has prepared the actor emerges: in the early 60s on Broadway methods, and retume.] to New York, the sensitive Gene Wilder for any crap he might in Graham Greene's The Complaisant Lover ActOr's Studio and a change of name. have to take from some quarters during his with Michael Redgrave and Googie Withers, 'I picked Gene because of the hero of belated debut on the London stage. and in Bertold Brecht's Mother Courage. The Thomas Wolfe's no\'el L.lOk Homeward Angel latter starred Anne Bancroft, whose and Wilder from ThorntOn Wilder, whose boyfriend and future husband was Mel Our Town was my fa\'(',uri te play.' But he still Brooks. But after Bonnie and Clyde, in which feels he is Jerry Silberman trying to gain his Ronald Bergan is a free lance writer on the arcs he played the jumpy undertaker whisked off parents' attention by shOwi ng off. 'As a child whose books include The United Artists Story on a perilous joyride by the eponymous I wanted to be loved for who I was. When I and The Bloomsbury Foreign Film Guide, couple, and The Producers, Gene Wilder was not, I settled for applause. I suppose as well as biographies of Dustin Hoffman, comic film actor was born. what I liked to do, from a young age, was Jean Renoir, Anthony Perkins and In fact, he was born Jerome Silberman something bizarre and play it straight. Like Katharine Hepburn. 34 APPLAUSE OCTOBER 1996 I would like to ~ubscribe to Applou5e magaZine. : £25 0 yeor UK subscription for 12 issues SAVE £5 : £39 0 yeor Overseas subscript;an (inclusive of p&p) Nom .. A Idress ... POlloi Cnd~ please send a Gift Subsc ription to Nome . .A.ddress ...... Poslal Code Method of payment, choose from the fallowing ~OIR ECT '!..)'Oebt't DIRECT DEBIT APPLICATION FORM (JF'''I(Ic1I,)f~ 1J,.,nt1 ...:10" \'10 oJ076€! Instruction to your Bonk or BUi lding Society 10 pay Direct Dobit Send to ' APPLAUSE Magazine (Subscriptions) Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JQ Name and full pastal address of your Bank cr Bvading Socte,>, To The Managel . IBon k or Building Society) Address '" . Postcod Name{s) of account holder{s) Branch sort code Account no Please pay Applause MClgazlne Direc1 Debi ts from the occounl delatled on Ihis imtructior subleet th ;afeguards assured by Ihe Dtreet Debit Guoronl"" I HU' Signalu Dole I SAVE £££ I __·W''''·'I,L o" t_ I I 2 I enclose a cheque made payable to pplavse ud. I I 3 Please debtl my credit card Type I I Card no ... t Expiry . I I Signature. I Date t I ------~ OCTOBER 1996 APPlAUSE 35 LET HIM EAT CAKE ... AND PEAS, AND POTATOES Somehow it reached Broadway with a cast o f Thelma Ruby, Vivienne Marrin, David de ha ve never forgotten the first 139, and a multi-le ve l playing area, full of Keyser, Kathry n Evans, Peter Jones, Frank telephone conversa tion [ had with [an u eadmills, slidmg rlarfo rms, loudspeakers, Laza ru s, Elizabeth Counsell, William I Marshall Fishe r. It las ted nearly two hydraulic curtJins and a giga nric screen on Rushton, Mandy More, Jessica Marrin, Sara hours, during which he announced he was which vari ous images appeared. Fisher's style Kesre[man and the late David Healy have all going to presem concert versions of what he of presenmtion - a formally dressed cast, worked fo r nothing motc than the pleasure of considered to be the lost or neglected standing on a bare stage in front of a curwin, performing quality materi al. That is Fisher's musicals. That was in 1990. holding black-bound scripts, a single piano 3[ criterion and abiding passion: the work of In the imervening six ye ars there have the side - coukln'[ suit Allegro bener. (As the American theatre's most craftsmanlike been many marathon phone calls from this for Pipe Dream . it haS an in venrive score, composers, lyricists and librettists. His 30 ba lding, engagingly dedicated eccenrric (now but badly need; a ne\\', appropriarely odd productions have included smash hits 40) , whose background includes acting, raffish book.) that have been forgonen (Rodgers and Hart's singing and stage managemem, and whose A sho\\' rhac does not need a new book 194 2 B)' Jupiter), stylish misfires (Frank diet consists solely of cake , potatoes and is Herberr and Dorothy Fields and Cole Loesser's atypically whimsical Greenwillow) , peas. (The entire Joe Allen kitchen staff Porter's Some rhi ng For the Boys (1943). The and shows that fl opped before even reaching o nce c rept out to behold the man whose reference books, most of which copy from Broadway (the savagely hih1rious 1927 ver order was boiled, fried , roast and mas hed one another, , wte orherlVise, bur it's really sion of George S. Kaufman and the potatoes. ) genuinely funny. The Golden Apple is thar G ershwins' anti-war satire Strike Up the That first phone call was to in vi te me to rare avis a 1950's through-sung musical. Band) . inrroduce his initial presentati on, Fanny Ho mer's Od)·sscl' wittily nansp lamed to (1954), S N Behrman, Joshua Logan and turn-of-the-century America, it clearly Harold Rome's touching musicalisa tion of influenced Bernstein's Candide. Panama Hmt ie .. E,hd MnmQIl 's Marcel Pagnol's Marse illes rrilogy. A t the fiT.~ L stanillR role . The piano accompanimenr at each Theatre Museum, R well chosen cast immac performance is played by a top fli ght ulately performed rhe show. Fisher read Ollt MD - e.g. , Mark Warman, Mark the stage directions, but realisi ng they slowed Donell, Kevin Amos, etc ., and intro the pace, dispensed with the m in future duced by someone imerested in productions. Instead, lines of dialogue are musical theatte - e.g., Herbert sometimes added that suggest radio drama; in Kretzmer, Sandy Wilson, Mark Cole Porter's DuBa1T), Was a Lady, Barry Steyn, James Hammerstein, Ruth C ryer had to exclaim helpfully, 'Hey' You're Leon, Michael Freedland, Sheridan wearing a monk's habit" Morley and your currem chroni Porter's underrated O ut of This Wurld, cler. It's curious that Ian Marshall Jerome Moross and Jo hn La Touche's The Fi sher, who bea rs the same initials Golden Apple and rwo interesting Rodgers as the Imernational Mo netary and H ,lm merste in failures: the innovative, Fund, can command the tale nts anti-materialist A llegro (1947) and the John of so many splendid artistes Steinbeck-derived Pipe Dream (1955) were without paying them; Henry among the sholVs that followed. When Oscar Goodman, Daniel Massey, H ammerstein se t out to wrire Allegro, he Kenneth Haig, Frank envisioned such simplicity of staging that Thornton, Joanna Riding, community thearres and uni versities could Sam Ke lly, Peter Reeves, perfo rm the show after its initia l run. 36 APPL4U5E OC OBER I C: , After nine productions at the Thea tre Boys, DuBarr)' Was a Lady and the current Museum, Discover the Los t Musicals moved to Panama Hattie, but non-Merman roles in Just a short walk ~ the cinema in the bowels of the Barbican One Touch of Venus, New Girl in Town, Love labyrinth. A It hough the new venue accom Life, By Jupi ter and Of Thee I Sing. from the West ln~ ... • modates 160 more people, empty sea ts on a This season's Discovery has been Swee t Sunday are a rarity; last season , two Adeline, a 1929 show as surrealistically funny French's Theatre di stinguished midd le-aged men actually as it is wneful. In addition to such glorious engaged in a fi st fight over returns. Kern-Hammerstein ballads as 'Why Was I Bookshop Four musicals originally seen at the Bo rn )' and 'Don't Ever Leave Me', it boasts A veritable Aladdin's cave of books 'My Husband's First Wife', a comic gem with Theatre Museum have had new productions about all aspects of theatre: scripts, at the Barbican: Allegro , Love Life, Do I Hear a lyric by the vaudeville star Irene Franklin, set design, lighting, sound, audition a Waled and Out of This World. The last who sang it in the o riginal show. material, and more! named opened the current season, fo ll owed By all that's co incid ental, a seri es called by Hammerstein and Kern's Sweet Adeline , Encores' Great American MltsicaL, in Concen Our recent publications include: Jerome Weidman and H arold Rome's lean, began two years ago at New York's C ity Bad Company by Simon Bent bold I Can Get it for You Wholesale , George S. Center. They've already presented such Cracks by Martin Sherman Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind and the shows as Allegro, One TOt/ch of VenLlS, Ow of The Dearly Beloved and What I Did In The Holidays Gershwins' Pulitzer Prize-winning Of Thee I This World and DltBarry Was a Lady. Last by Philip Osment year a similar series started in San Francisco, Si ng, and the current offering, Herbert Fields, lGllers by Ad am Pernak B G DeSylva and Cole Porte r' s rowdy call ed The Lost MI<-licals. Eerie, isn't it ? Playhouse Creatures by April de Angelis Panama HaHie (1940), the first musical to Playing the Wife by Ronald Hay man give Ethel Merman solo billing. The epony If We Are Women by Joanna McLelland Glass mous Hattie Maloney is being played by someone whose mother certainly never had Dick Voshurgh is a freelance moadcaster, lyricist French's Theatre Bookshop and French Ltd to shout 'Sing out, Louise l ' - the clarion and libretto writer whose shows indttde A Day S~muel 52 Fitzroy Street, London WIP 6JR voiced Louise Gold, who has not only played in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine and Tel 0171 3879373 Fax 0171 3872161 the Merman roles in Fisher productions of Windy City. He has just comple ted the mllSicals Porter' s Red, Hot and Blue', Something For the A lphabet Soup and A Saint She Aint. Compiled by Neil Stevens _..l.Hii onn is here. Two fam oLIS pla),S inclttde that season in their 9 Name the RSC's fir st permanent theatrical home in London? ~~ ,-, I }'OUname them' to Early on in their theacrical careers, Dulcie Gray and Richard - k ::;""l....:'- R~L rions : John; Mary; Juliet; Hayley . Surname please? Attenborough enjoyed, and appeared in, two ver)' famous stage .) _' . /Tn ntH" Relations: (play tides) Uncle .... ; Altntie .. successes. One was from New York, che mheT 'home grown' . -1 Tfir ~:;;- ~:ll p",,,lticcion of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Alan What were ch eir titles ! l~ : -,,-, l 1W tl' known as By Jeeves hut originally 11 Colour in the followin g ticles: (A) ... Murder Jee\'e" pl.;' t! ~ .le \l nh.:nWest End theatre' (B ) The Woma n in ...... (C) The . .. . Room (0) The . .. Mill 5 A much-ltJ td Di:!'!'::! cump,/m' wrrendy features the mLlSic of (E) The Com is ... .. (F) ..... Horse Inn. Bob D),lan in thm 'Pt',-,uir.? Wh o are they ' 12 Famo llS for Henry Irving Melodrama, lavish pantomime. Now 6 In the next weeks t("(~ (an expecc a sore of 'Everes t - Event'. full)' restored to former glories. What' T he protagonist is an actor-u riccr-adventurer both big and 13 He would have been 60 this year. His memory still chirps bountiful. Who? nightly in London and elsewhere. Who is this male-bonding type I 7 Can you name the popular TV series u·h,ch helped co make him 14 Name auo leading ladies momentarily concerned with a hOltsehold favourit e' Argentina's No.1? 8 Gems of Blonde Venus, tuhen Sean (Mathias) and Sian (Phi llips) create which glamOl'ous Goddess? ')In ~41 3UlJnOl JO'{lO ' 4' ~u= uo 'el!~3 ~ UI ,i ' ld 4loq ~9q~1X\ 11J l'" !CUUOP"l'" (tl !('JlC"LL pm"l ~·\ppl\ll) .11l " H Appna «(I ::Ul""'lL UJn"~'\l "ll~ (ll ",14tl.\ (:I ) !U" J, (3) : p~~ (0 ) ~~u'd ( ) !V"IS (a) !anlll (v) (II , ~ ;X)~ U()14 ~!'1l ,saX0:l ~ l ul1"'lL (01 !au""4.l p''''J1IV (6 ,,,tr.>C) Uled.lq (lplJl~lG) ,u'peV'l (8 !SJ"',J Z ' (L : P;»~ IH ''''pa (9 !( lJ ;)l{ UJ"~ ]'II "1l ,IIJ'UlJ(>j) .\u.dUJo;) 3:" lUO lJ~l\"Il ~ (~!"J:l" 4.l ." ll~'("V'l J'H (~!'UJ"V'l ~e.(uei\ (f !S ll'~'/ (0 ~sn:tOJ:> UUlnj"Y :u~"lJny (J : S~3IX V OCTOBER 1996 APPlAUSE 37 Mark R)'WllCe is Artistic Director the performa nce and ge t drenched if it rains, of SJ. ake ,peare's G/o!>e. no umbre ll as being permitted. 'The wooden ~. o benches are hard, there are no backs to the wL'rbble. If it passes the test, then it will he seats, and there is no heating. There is virtu· built in oak with two trapdoors and all the ~ Il y no scenery and no lighting, so the plays mdchinery necessary to lo wer and r ~ise can only be performed in day light hours. props before the offi c ia l opening in the C heating rathe r, there are fl oodlights in case summet of 1997. it gets too dark, and fire regulations insis t on Itonically, it w~s an American, Sam sprinklers under (he tha(ched roof, and (hree Wanamaker, whose Herculean efforts over exits, instead of the o ne in Shakespeare's da y. three decades made it all possible. Altho ugh there will be no bear baiting and Unfortunately, hls death in 1993 pre ve nted brothels around the new-o ld theatre, Rylance his seeing his dream fully realised. But has all says 'I wouldn't mind if audiences heckled Fa lsraffian guide's basso vo ice was un ~b l e to the mo ney (£11 million fro m private sources and pelted (he cast with rorren apples if they compete with it. like something out of ~ and £12.4 million fro m N atio nal Lottery don't measure up to expecta(io ns, juS( as the Jacques Tati film, wo rkers in hard h ats, scene funds ), effort and strivi ng for authentic ity raffish crowds did in S hakespeare's day. The painters, a Japanese T V crew, and groups of been worth it ) A number of doubts still need Globe IVas never a place for polite behaviour. tOurists kept mmgling and bumping into to be que ll ed. It had the atmosphere of a bo isterous mark et each other. There is a danger that Shakespeare's square.' In the end, the acting and the pro· There IS stdl a great dea l to do. At the G lobe will seem li ke an Olde \Vorlde theme ductions will have to be strong enough to moment, The Globe, one of 6 bUildings on p~rk attraction. Being o nl y parth' roofed · make audiences forget any disco mfort, damp the one·acre area that will form the there are thatch covered three·t lered ga l. or cold hy rransporting them back fou r cen· International Globe Centre, stands ~lone, leries for 500 people plus 500 groundlings turies in a theatrica l time mac hine . Forward anachronisticall y surrounded by a chaotic who stand in the central ya rd open to the sky to (he past I modern building site. The Two Gentlemen of . the season can only run from ~la\ ' to Verona, which opened last month to a mixed Septembe r. A s undemocratic as in reception, is being performed on a temporary Elizabethan times, those that can 't afford the Ronald Bergan's The G reat Theatres of stage, to make sure tha t it is safe and covered seats will have to srand ci1ro ughout London is published by Prion Books. READERS OFF E R A YEAR'S FREE subscription to Applause Magazine! A special insurance offer to all Applause Magazine Readers to include a free year's subscription . We have a very competitive Personal Home and Building Insurance package . please Forward details of Applause Magaz;ne's Readen. Offer. Nome ...... _...... _...... Address ...... _...... ...... Postal Code ...... Telephone No ...... Policy renewal dote ...... Return to: Applause Magazine, Applause Building, long Acre, london WC2E 9JQ ocrOBE '996 APPLAUSE 39 who make a di~erence ALAN AYCKBOURN He's our most prolific playwright, producing innovative and challenging theatre for almost thirty years. Clare Colvin meets a cornerstone of British theatre playing through your bad patches.' In it Richard Briers rLwed a happy ithout Alan Ayckbourn the We were talking during a brief lunchtime widower adrift among his unhappily married British theatre would lack a break from rehearsals in his office at the friends and the play se nt a frisson of doubt dimension - and, arguably, an W theatre. He was wearing relaxed rehearsal through the audience T his was a comedy audience. Over the years, regardless of cri t clothes - buff coloured trousers and matching yet it dealt with death~'. the" queried. ical fashion, our most prolific playwright has sweatshirt - and, at 57, looked no older than 'I'd become alarmeJ J[ the di"is ion that produced a body of work - fifty plays at the he did ten years ago when I last met him. He had grow n up between comeJ,· and tragedy last count - which mirrors our times. is friendly, unassum ing and totally objective as if the two always had to Ix: .dioned dif His Stephen Joseph Theatre in in assessing his work, which, of course has ferent plays,' he exrlalOed. 'Looking back at Scarborough - his creative stomping ground made him extremely rich. So much so that older plays it was clear to me [hat the two for the last 25 years - may be a long way from he was able (0 put half a million pounds of could co-exist. Chekhl)\' WJ' be ing done the West End, but each of the plays he cre his own money towards the construction of a with the utmost solemni[\ , yet he himself ates there, affects our theatre nationally new Stephen Joseph Theatre. defined his rla,'s as co medies. first through its inevitable transfer to 'I real iseJ I was rossible (0 leave the London, thence into the provinces via rep. audience 111 >l' me slight doubt as to whether [n Scarborough he has nurtured a vital what the"'d seen was funny - or not, without audience of middlebrow, middle-class the bordering on bad tas te or getting in(O sick atregoers in search of entertai nment but comed,·. So', he sa id, ' I decided to pursue sceptical of li ghtweight froth. Ayckbourn this theme through a number of plays, the tapS into their psyche because it is, in part, darkest of a ll being]us[ Between Ourselves,' his as wel\. At the same time, his life in the [n that disturbing 1976 play, the wife of of an theatre, beginning as an ASM (0 Donald Wolfit in 1956, has given him the knowl inconsiderate husband ends up in a catatonic edge to experiment with form. What makes n ance. Ayckbourn had found his inspiration from life: as a young man he had rescued his him so special is that each play he writes own mother from a sim il ar fate when her extends his range and often plays intriguing games with time and space. marriage (0 his bank-manager step-father broke down. His latest, It Could Be Any One of Us, is 'You've got to find some platform that a whodunnit which, in typical Ayckbourn will give the people out there a sense of fashion, offers a choice of endings, just as his identity with the characters,' he said. extraordinary eight-play cycle, Intimate Theatre is about human beings and not, as Exchanges , did in 1982. Following its season you see in the films, about space rockets. I in Scarborough, it opens in Chichester on Ayckbourn's writing career began with write about the middle-classes because I'm Oc(Ober 2nd, starring Juliet Mills and John clever light comedies such as Relatively middle-class myself - and proud of ir.' Strickland. Speaking in 1968, How the Other Half Loves O ne of his aims in writing as frequently What his long-running assoc iation with and his inter-related trio collectively called as he has about marriage, is to show that the Stephen Joseph Theatre has given him, The Norman Conquests. Then, with Absurd none of us is alone in our problems; that it is is, he says, 'the assurance and the freedom to Person Singular, the mood darkened and possible for audiences to see something try new things and not (0 be chased by my became positively black by the time he wrote uncannily familiar to them, re-enacted by last playas I would if I had (0 rely on one-off Absent Friends in 1974. strangers whose points of view may be com commissions. [n cricketing terms, it's like 40 APPLAUSE OCTOBER 1996 -",' e,\' clifferent from their o\Vn. 'Mos t of us yo ur audiences to identify with the - J"" rhe id ea we're unique and then realise characters.' hat. baS Ically, we all suffer from similar Since its official opening in May with things. W hen I starred my married life the musical By }eeves (music by Andrew there was a tremendous smokescreen put up Lloyd Webber, book and lyrics by by o ther married couples to hide the faCt Ayckbourn), the Stephen Joseph Theatre, that they had problems. They pretended fo rmally a 1930's Odeon, has become an arts everything was fine. So, when my marriage centre offering a choice of films as well as a broke up, I believed I'd let the side theaue, and a writer's workshop for young down because I'd failed to make a great people. The devotion thm has gone into the lifetime relationship. project reveals a side to Ayckbourn most 28 October 1996 at the r - .----" Dominion Theatr London Ayckboum outside [he Stephen loserh The.nrc in ::; ~,,,bo r o ugh, in wh ich he io\'es red hll it .1 mlllh m f'ot m'lb. , My plays never disgui se the fact that people outside the area are unfamiliar with. people do argue, they do fa ll out. And when To the rest of us he is better known as our In lhe presence oj people see someone in one of my plays who is most successful and prolific play\\'right, IUs I uyal HiJ;imcss in an even worse re lationship than they are, whose plays, because of their unique struC they may decide theirs isn't so bad after all.' ture and theatricality, have been turned into The Prince of Wales Because Ayckbourn sees theatre as an films only twice (A C horus of Disapproval, endangered species, especiall y if people lose directed by Michael Winner, and parr of the habit of going to it, he has, in the last Intimate Exchanges, directed by A lain few years, begun to write plays for younger Resnais). In aid (J.f The En terwinmenl audiences - the theatregoers of the future. Question him about the enduring Anisr.s ' Bene'tvienl Fww 'Besides which,' he says, 'writing for kids is quality of his copious body of work and he liberating. They have a willingness to sus will reply with characteristic modesty. 'Once To he hmadC£l r. fill BB ..... / on pend disbelief and a feeling for the visual you starr to get hung up on posterity,' he says, 1 \\·hich we sometimes tend to forget.' 'you're in [rouble. There are some 30 year-old Sa turday . 2 ot'e111ber 1996 ,\, .. kIYl urn also encourages new writers to plays of mine that are still being revived, and J e', e\c1 p [heir , kil l- J t the Stephen Joseph some, from the same period, d1at aren' t. But I Theatre. L H \ (<' 51<'H.I"r, a new play by hope that even the runts of the litter have Vane" a f ': ' :- . I> i--eim, presented there, in their moment. I've had a few noble failures of the round. course, bu[ they were all written wi th my 'We are pI Cluo,!hl ) ~ .J ,ht"ferc: nt furro\\' heart in the right place.' For Ji mher details please ((mUlct : from the Rm'a l Coun \\Ti eri.· he sa ki. The Entertainment Arti -ts' 'What I'm looking i('r are ne\\' commercial Benevolent Fund, Brinsworth playwrights capable of writing about the human condition and, at the same time, Clare Coltlin is a theatre writer, literary critic HOll e, 72 taines Road. reaching as wide a public as possible. and author. Her critically acclaimed novel, Twickenham TW2 SAL What I want to say to yo ung writers is A Fata l Season, set in the theatre, was 'Write what you want but al\Vays a llo w p~rblis h ecl recently. OCTOBER I N6 APPLAUSE 41 SPECTRUM DAVID DONEGAN On September 12, The English Na[io nal LOOKS AT THE OPERA Opera's season a[ [he C oli se um opens, for [he second year running, WI[h a new produc CALENDAR FOR THE [ion by Jona[han Miller: Ve rdi's La Traviata. MONTH AHEAD Conducwr Steven MerC Uri() makes his UK debur with [hiS !,wduc[ion , [he sets and Beginning September 21, [he Royal Opera's costumes are J e'·gned by Bernard Culshaw Music Di rec[or, Bernard Hai[ink, conducts and Clare /v\i[chell, wuh li gh[ing by Tom [he first of three comple[e cycles of Mannings. Sln _ing \'iole[[3 for [he first rime Wagner's mass ive tetralogy, Der Ring das is Rosa Mannie n: J \~ lm Hudso n is A lfredo Nibelungen . Richard Jones's and Nigel and [he A mcncan b riwne Chriswpher Lowry's conuoversial prod uction, which Robenso n, Wh 0 rec mh· 'co red a great reinterprets [he Ring for contemporary success a[ [he ~Ie ( III "lew Yc'rk in [he [ide audiences and fuses arche[ypal images with role of Dl)n G k)\-annl. makes hiS ENO debut a vision of present-day malaise, divided [he as Germl)nt. critics when [he four operas were seen individually over [he las[ [WO yea rs. On Se{'kmh<: r 1;;' [)a\.jJ Daniels also ra kes Hai[ ink's conducting of Wagner has [he ~ !b<,um ' rlge r·,' r [he first rime as been hailed as o ne of [he supreme achieve O be r(, 11 \'FF0> I[e Lilltan Warson's Ti[ania in ments of his regime 3[ [he Garden and was R,-, h :r[ ~;use n·s acclai med production of recognised earlier [his year both by [he Benj mi n Bri[[en's enchanting A Midsumm er Laurence Olivier Award for 'Outstanding .\·ighr', Drc ' m. Achievemem in Opera', and, wge[her with • • • his orchesua, by [he Evening Swndard for O cwber 2 sees [he re[urn of Richard Va n 'Outstanding Artis[ic Achievemen[ in A Ilan in Ian Judge's stag ing of Massener's Opera'. Don Quixote with Sally Burgess as Dulcinea, O nce aga in Deborah Polaski and Anne and on [he Ocwber 18, Les ley Garre[[ Evans share performances as Bru nnhikle, recreates her much-praised interpretation while Siegfried Jerusalem and Wolfg:ll1g of Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen, direcred Fassler re[urn as Siegfried. John Tomlinson by David Pountney and conducted by and Jane Henschel re-crea[e [he roles ()f Richard Hickox. Woran and Fricka, and Ann Murray and Philip Langridge, newcomers w [he Le sle y Garret: as The Cunning Link Vixen. productions, are Walu. .au[e . and Loge. Also in September and Ocwber John C opley revives his produC[ion of Puccini's perennial tear-jerker, La Boheme. Conducwr Charles Mackerras shares [he podium with Jan La[ham-Koening for [he fifteen -performance run , and [he casts include Amanda Roocrofr, Leontina Vaduva and Ange la Gheorghiu as Mimi, and Luis Lima, Richard Leech, Tiw Beluam and Robeno Alagna as Rudolfo. The role of Muse na is shared by Elizabe[h Fu[ral, Cynthia Lawrence, Janice Warson and Panicia Race[[e. ... 42 APPlAUSE OCTOBER 1996 SPEC TRUM JEFFERY TAYLOR FINDS SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS IN MATTHEW BOURNE'S SWAN LAKE ... BUT NOT MUCH. Re-working the classics is a dangerous game. You risk accusations of arrogance, unoriginality and a serious lack of genuine creative talent. But many artists find the temptation to dip a toe into these dangerous waters irresistible - once at least. However, to make a career out of what many perceive as plagiarism appears both flagrantly exploitative and recklessly suicidal. But Matthew Bourne, director and founder of modem dance group Adventures In Motion Pictures, has done just that. Following his cod versions of The Nutcracker and La Sylphide (Highland Fling), last year A scene [rom Sw. n Lake. he focused his busy-fingered sophistry on blends of movement and melody. Together dancers to give spurious allure to his choreo Swan Lake, which opens on 11 September at they build into an allegory of love , death and graphic limitations. While former Royal the West End's Piccadilly Theatre. redemption that is justly regarded as a Ballet principal Fiona Chadwick command That Bourne has a talent to amuse is pinnacle of Western culture. Such an icon, ingly rivets the eye as the Queen Mother, beyond doubt. But Spirfire, a celebration of St it could be argued, is fair game. However in current Royal Ballet star, Adam Cooper has Michael's underwear to music by Minkus and place of spiritual aspiration, Bourne the best bits as the Swan. He cuddles the Glazunov; sending up huntin' shootin' and substitutes the philosophy of a minority swooning Prince by the lake with commend fishin' in Town and Country and mocking The lobby then camps it up, and thus the gap able conviction and injects a refreshing dose Percys of Fitzrovia have the vogueish appeal between the choreography and the music's of attacking, all-out dancing as his own of Noel Coward or Kit and the Widow. expectations aches like a lost tooth filling. villainous, leather-clad alter-ego. Bourne tackling Swan Lake is a bit like But perhaps the most unforgivable omission Scott Ambler as the Prince labours painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa. and damning indictment of the whole sorry heroically to give meaning and purpose to Among the published psychobabble misconception, is the paucity of Bourne's the shallow Freudian scenario, but finally surrounding the work's launch were the dance vocabulary. succumbs to a lobotomy, (I think). Which inevitable claims of new insights into old Like it or loathe it, Swan Lake's original somehow sums it all up. eternal truths. The swans and their leader are 19th century construction was an explo male, the Queen is a sex obsessed harpie and ration of the classical technique whose • • • the Prince an alienated youth who discovers comprehensive range and subtlety has been Jeffery Taylor is the only ex-profelSional the roots of his masculinity - yes, you've rarely matched. To cast a new light on the dancer un-iting on dance in the national press . guessed it - in the arms of a hairy chested but worl.d's favourite ballet takes more than After a twenty-year career in the theatre he otherwise feathered friend. Bourne's three steps. After all, there is only turned to journalism and his first book, lrek One constant that Bourne apparently so much you can say with a grand jete and a Mukhamedov: The Authorised Biography overlooks is Tchaikovsky's music. The score step-ball-change. was published in 1994 by First Estate. In March resonates with a hundred years of non-stop Like many modern dance makers, of this year he joined the arts un-iting team on the performances of one of the most perfect Bourne relies on superbly trained classical Sunday Express. OCTOBER 1996 APPlAUSE 43 SP ECTRUM JOHN RUSSELL TAYLOR VISITS EDINBURGH TO Le{e,The \'(later Se ll er of Seville by Diego Velazquez; below,Giamm",,;', Invisible object (1934). SEE THE WORKS OF VELAZQUEZ AND of the same bit too stereotyped for comfort, the show was subject, in full of other surprises to counteract the slight GIACOMETTI. ",hich she sense of deja-vu. tl ons magi 'Jothing so thrilling around in London at Even as artists go, Velazquez was not exactly a ca lk agalmt a the moment. Even the BP Portrait Award at the model of modesty and self-effacement. night sh ~atiom l Portraet Gallery, long a bone of con He was quite sure from a very early age uncluttered tentio n, seems ro ha\'e passed off this time amid that he could claim all the prerogatives of a with miscella fairly general appro\·al. The problem there, of great painter, and when consulted by an aristo neous angels course, is: what constitutes a portrait, and cratic collector about the man's collection, had and saints, to see the difference between what, if anything, makes a painted portrait no hesitation in pOinting out that a painting of competence and precocious genius. different from (better than ~) a photograph I his own was by far the finest and most impor Another Edinburgh highlight was the When the award began fift een years ago, a tant thing in it. There must have been many Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art's photo of the subject had to be appended to around the Spanish court in the mid-17th cen comprehensive exhibition of the works of the each painting, so that we could judge likeness. tury who would have loved to take him down a Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Even if the Now all that has gone. peg. The trouble was, he was unarguably ri ght name does not immediately strike a chord, Also, no more nude self-portraits this year. in his self-assessment. You need only glance at there are many images in the show which will. But what we do get is an exciting feeling that a the painting he valued so highly, The Watemller After our own North Country painter lot o f young painters (the three prizewinners are of Seville , exhibited in the dazzling Edinburgh L.S.Lowry, Giacometti is art's most famous all under thirty) really love the idea of painting Festival show Velazqu ez in Seville to see that, creator of 'matchstick men'. A characteristic people. It is not JUSt the glittering prizes any within the context o f contemporary painting Giacornetti sculpture is an immensely elon more, but the artistic satisfaction to be obtained the show so cunningly created, Velazquez repre gated figure, male or female, standing or fro m pinning down a sents a quantum leap forward . Even in his teens. walking, evoked in rather blobby, liquid-looking whole person on For the most astonishing thing about the show bronze which might have been dribbled down canvas. OK, so it's not was that everything in it was painted before from the h ead. It was quite uncanny to be in a what the Turner Prize Velazquez left his native Seville for Madrid in room peopled by these long, thin, rather is looking for. But then 1623, when he was JUSt turning 24. The centre spectral shapes, which for all the ir drastic sim 1 find speaking to the piece and inspiration of the exhibition, An Old plification have a vibrant life of their own. kids now coming out Woman Cooking Eggs, one of the gems in the The Edinburgh show is rich in such experi of art school, that the National Gallery of Scotland's crown, was ences. But it also reminded us of other things Turner Prize represents painted when he was just 19. This dark-toned, about Giacometti. Alberto was born into a the restrictive exquisitely painted canvas is incredibly mature family of distinguished painters, and began as a Establishment view, both in its penetration of character and the painter himself, so that there are a couple of and its winners are technical virtuosity with which the foreground brilliantly vivid early self-portraits and various already dinosaurs still-life of eggs in a pan and kitchen utensi ls is other evidences of his abilities as a painter whose early disappear rendered. Obviously it was the presence of this throughout his career. Then, too, it took him ance from the scene is picture in the gallery which suggested making some time to evolve his familiar mature style; taken for granted and will not be such an exhaustive survey of Velazquez's youth, not until his early fo rties. In the 1920s he was much mourned. for which almost every painting known to influenced by Cubism and produced some sleek survive from his Seville period was gathered and elegant abstractions. In the early 1930s he from as far afield as St Petersburg and Chicago. got to know Dali and came within the orbit of The 'context' works include several by his the Surrealists - contacts which resulted in such John Russell Taylor has been an mric for The teacher and father-in-law Francisco Pacheco, splendidly bizarre sculptures as Woman with her Times since 1978; before that he was the paper's and you need only compare the older man's Throat Cut, which looks rather like a dismem film eririe for 11 years. The lateSt of his 40 odd rather stolid and unimaginative 1mmaculate bered lobster or a pair of scorpions mating. books is on the London- bom New York-based Conception of the Virgin with Velazquez's version Even if the matchstick figures are sometimes a painter Bill Jacklin . 44 APPLAUSE OCTOBER 1996 CD REVIEW Tom Vallance New productions of Stephen Sondheim's Ladies Who Lunch' not easy on the ear. Company were produced last year both in Conversely Debra Monk of the New York has been listening New York and London. The first major revival, far less believable on stage, does a to new cast revivals since its 1970 premiere, they creditable job on the number, if failing to confirmed rhe show's status as one of the capture Snitch's stunning combination of recordings of Stephen cleverest and most trenchant of modern wry humour, bitterness and husky melodious musicals, its score crammed with brilliant ness. In both new productions the breathless Sondheim's Company, and numbers winily dissecting city life and the' 'Gening Married Today' was a show-stopper, making some comparisons. complexities of relationship and commit each lady handling the vocal pyrotechnics ment. If the recent New York production had admirably. On disc, Veanne Cox (New York a greater feel of the ciry, smaner musical revival) underplays, and Sophie Thompson know-how and a marginally stronger cast. (London revival) overplays the hysteria, the London revival had its own unique slant ",hile Beth Howland finds just the right on the show and, in Adrian Lester, the m,- st touch of mounting panic. Anna Francolini convincing portrayal of protagonist B0 ~b\ (London), whose kooky approach to the role (so often merely a cypher) I have ever ,een vI \ lan a on stage proved controversial, is a Both casrs have recorded the score, _ucc .5~ on disc with 'Another Hundred bringing the total number of recordings Pec I",', ,upenor to New York's La Chanze, available to four, since there were alread\' wh0 pre uces pop inOections. two albums by the original cast, each \\'ith ? ~ h · \I·a.> pla\'ed in New York by Boyd different leading man. When the show Game"' wh, :e I"c'C ! prohl,"ms are, opened in New York, Bobby was played b\· 10r u. atd\", 11>..' III c·; iJence on the album Dean Jones, who headed the original cast Col." . 1_·0 --- - 6\.~ -21. The Angel disc album. He was succeeded by Larry Ken, \,;h o al ' 0 ha; he aJ\" ntage of being the most then played in London and, in a unique c ~ l lr l t't , including 1:0th 'Marry Me a Little', enterprise, recorded Bobby's numbers so that ,' rI!11l1 II\- cut but restored for these revivals, his voca l tracks could be mixed into the 3.11 Tick Tock', the sensuous solo dance existing Broadway album for release in n ll m!' er omined from the London revival. England. Kert is immeasu rably superior to (The Angel version of 'Tick Tock' includes Jones, whose edgy, neurotic approach, not to more of Bobby and April's on-going dialogue mention his prominenr vibrato on the ballad than the original.) The strength of the new 'Someone is Waiting' puts his version (US London recording (First Night Cast CD 57) Columbia CK 3550) out of conrention. lies in Lester's Bobby, just as strong vocally as Though showing its age slightly in recording it was dramatically. 'Someone is Waiting' is quality, compared with the two new albums, superbly controlled, 'Marry Me a Little' the original with Ken (Sony West End SMK conveys the requisite mixture of uncenainty 54396) still has much to recommend it, not and bravado, while his 'Being Alive' is least the larger orchestra - Jonathan Tunick's almosr unsettling in its raw emotion. (The use of soaring strings behind 'Another album ends with this number, whereas the Hundred People', for instance, is missed on others all include a reprise of the title song.) the later discs. 'The Little Things You Do The three casts handle the infectious 'Side Together' includes snatches of the married by Side' with joyous abandon, and ensemble pair's competiti ve karate (missing on the work is uniformly good. This is a score which later albums) which gives extra point to the can be relished even if you have never seen number 'You Could Drive A Person Crazy', the show - a truly essential work for any and the three girls sing with more infectious collection of modern theatre music. abandon. This recording also has Elaine Stritch, one of Broadway's unique talents here at her peak. Sheila Gish, who Tom Vallance is a freelance writer and deservedly won high praise for her searing performing arcs historian. Author of The portrayal of the worldly Joanne in the American Musical and Westerns, he is a London revival, has her vocal limitations regular contributor lO The Independent. exposed on disc, her rasping tones in 'The 46 APPLAUSE OCTOBER 1996 BOOKREVIE 'It's true that you need a human being that score or Broadway show, while she remained that her overcoat is 'drop dead chic', she has belongs to you, because there has to be at home or, when she did work, she mixed 'good vibes' about someone, is glad to have someone to whom you don't need to lie. It's mainly with the same members of the cast all accepted 'a gig', and that there were 'gays' at also true that this someone has to be me.. .' the time. Her letters were reactions to his, a party. lending him encouragement and advice, and After the composer's premature death, This IS how the 24-year-old up-and-coming about practical day-to-day issues. aged 50, in April 1950, Lenya, who had three Germa.n composer Kurt Weill wrote to the Contrary to the common perception of more husbands, all of them 'gay', became the 26- \ ear-old Austrian dancer Lotte Lenya Kurt Weill as a modest, meek and mild man, keeper of the Weill fl ame, disseminating his \ born Karoline Baumauer) in the first of the and Lotte Lenya as a forceful and work as widely as possible, making Known 393 extant letters they wrote to each other domineering woman, \X/eill comes out in the the German works (The Threepenny Opera, between 1924 and 1948. From the very letters as supremely self-confident, rather Mahagonny, Happy End) to Americans and beginning of this remarkable tough and shrewd, while Lenya seems more the American works (Street Scene, Lady in correspondence, Weill defines what was self-doubting, sensitive and dependent. But the Dark , Lost in the StaTS) to Europeans, to be the essence of their relationship they had an unceasing belief in each other's and becoming the most 'authentic' and candour and love. talent and in their superiority over others in inimitable interpreter of his songs. It is Throughout this superbly annotated the same field. For example, to Weill, thanks, in part, to her that we are famil iar collection, their affection and concern for George Gershwin is 'dumb' and a 'nebbish' with such evergreens as 'Mack the Knife', one another never waned for an instant, and 'seems to be shitting in his pants because The Alabama Song', 'Surabaya Johnny', despite their having various extra-marital of me'. Fritz Lang 'makes you want to puke', 'September Song' and 'Speak Low', the affairs along the way. Never is there anything Marlene Dietrich is 'a stupid cow, conceited gorgeous ballad that gives this col.lection its but a genuine sharing in the joy or pain of like all those Germans', the Lunts 'are apt title: the other's successes or failures. Hardly con awful fakers', and BenoIt Brecht is 'swinish' 'Speak low when you speak of love; ventionally attractive, Lenya was even and a 'dried-up herring'. Lenya often con Our moment is swift, beautiful in Weill's eyes. siders their colleagues a 'disgusting bunch' Like ships adrift. When they were apart - she touring with and hopes the producer Cheryl We're swept apart too soon.' a show, or he off working somewhere - they Crawford 'has a good solid flop next year and would write an average of two letters a week disappears from Broadway'. Ronald Bergan to each other, as well as making telephone Aside from the portrait of an intimate calls, and sending telegrams. 'I believe we're relationship, the correspondence provides the only married couple without problems,' insights into life in the Weimar Republic, Weill writes to Lenya in 1938, after 12 years and the petty politics, backbiting and jeal of having been married, divorced and remar ousies of Broadway and Hollywood ('the ried. Six years later, Weill signs a letter, most bourgeois hick town I've ever seen'). It 'Goodbye darling. Thousand kisses from also details, like most letters by people in the your eternal husband. Knuti'. collaborative arts, the meetings with pro 'Knuti' was one of the constant stream ducers, directors, writers and performers, the of over-cute pet names they used for initial euphoria, the many aborted projects, themselves and each other. Among other and finally the birth pangs of a new work. nicknames, Weill was Bibi, Bibiboy, Frosch Like their careers, the correspondence is (Frog) , Glatzchen (Little Baldy), Weilili and divided into two parts: the German and the Boyly, while Lenya was Liner!, Blumchen American periods. After six years in the (Little Flower). Blute (Blossom) and Doffi USA, surviving the difficulties of adapting to (Little Dummy). another language and culture, Weill and Because Lenya treasured his letters from Lenya decided to write to each other in the start of their relationship, and Weill had English, a move towards assimilation and a little interest in the gaze of posterity, two touching gesture towards their adopted thirds of the letters are from him. In a way, country. These letters are published with all despite the imbalance, it is to the advantage the idiosyncratic phrases and spelling intact of the reader. Weill led a far more creatively ego payamas, 10 o'cklock, poeple. Speak Low (When You Speak Love) - The active life, and met a wider range of people Unfortunately, some of the translations by Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya. Edited ,han Lenya, especially after they emigrated Symonette and Kowalke of the German and Translated by Lys S)'monerce and Kim H. to America in 1935. He was busy on one letters contain rather too many anachronistic Kowalke (Hamish Hamilton. pp 553. £30.00). :~.)ject after the other, whether it was a film Americanisms. In the 1930s, Lenya writes OCTOBER 1996 APPlAUSE 47 NED SHERRIN'S ...... THEATRICAL ANECDOTES Sir John Gielgud is almost as the plot of Julius Caesar,' says Richard Clowes. Gielgud met C lement A ttlee and his I shall sign Jack Buchanan.' He did and the famous for his gaffes as he is daughter at Stratford when Attlee was Prime waitress was ecstatic. for his dis tinc tive voice . Here Minister. At dinner after a performance, he Peter Ustinov had only one play is a selection of 'Gielgoodies' sat next to the daughter and the conversa mounted by Binkie Beaumont; it was tion turned on where we li ved. 'I have a very directed by Gielgud, of whom he was in awe. from Ned Sherrin's book convenient home in Westminster,' I It was Halfw ay Up a Tree, starring Robert Theatrical Anecdotes remarked. 'So easy to walk to the theatre. Morley and Ambrosi ne Philpom. During a And where do you live?' try-out at Oxford and the London opening, ~ a connoisseur's collection of Mi ss Attlee looked distinctly he was re luctant to insist on a stronger, legends, scaries and gossip. su rprised and replied curdy, "Number harder performance ftom Ms Phi lpotts, 10 Downing Street." although he felt she was unbalancing the Two actors, o ne of them Sir John, are Asked by Emlyn and Molly Williams to play. Finally he plucked up his courage sitting on a film ser, waiting for their ca ll. be godfather to their son, Gielgud sa id: and asked Sir John if he could make her Sir Jo hn is reading. The orher actor, doing 'Nor really my part, my dears, but I'll have a more unpleasa nt. his Times crossword , looks up. 'Is there shot at it.' 'Oh God l ' sa id his director. 'I knew I a character in Shakespeare called the Guinness was lunching with G ielgud in shou ld have made her we ar that hat.' Earl of Westmoreland?' Yor k when a waitress asked him to sign the There was no indecision about his ver S ir John, who does not even look up: 'Yes, table cloth. Gielgud saiu, 'I'm sure she dict on Ingrid Bergman - not delivered, to but it's a very poor part.' doesn't know me from Adam. She' ll be ter her face: 'Poor Ingrid - speaks five languages The nearest Jo hn's ever got to politics is ri bly disappointed if I sign my own name. and can't act in any of them.' 48 APPLAUSE OCTOBER 1996 Michael Riedel reports ofbstage on a glut of new shows circling Broadway, waiting to land, While the West End is taking a breathe r, to become avail able, and it looks as though, Julie Andrews come with it? 'We haven't Broadway is bursting with activity. as we go to press, that the one he will even guaranteed that Julie will be part of a There are 22 productions currently on the tua lly land is the Martin Beck, Lloyd Webber London production, but,'says Adams boards, and most are hits. They include a has been putting the finishing touches on 'I think it would be hard for her to resist glittering revival of The King and I starring Wlhistle _Sources who have heard the score, playing Drury Lane or the Pa lladium Lou Diamond Phillips and Donna Murphy; which has lyrics by Jim Steinman, describe places she grew up in. Unfo rtunately, A Funn y Thing Happened on the Way ro the it as a tuneful blend of pop-rock songs neither are available.' Forum with Nathan Lane in the Zero Mostel remimscenr ofJesus Chris t Su perstar. role; a critically acclaimed production of 'There are no numbers that sound like AIDA AND THE LION KI NG Cheered by the Edward A lbee's A Delicate Balance; Rem, a Puccini,' sa ys a member of the production success of the stage version of Beaut)' and the bohemian rock opera that has taken the team. Budgeted at $7.5 million, Whistle is Beast, the Walt Di sney Company is racing town by storm; and Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring cheap by Lloyd Webber standards (his last ahead with plans for Broadway adaptations o f in 'Da Funk, a musical that recounts the show, Sunset Boulevard, arrived o n Broadway Aida and The Lion King_ Disney executives history of black A mericans through tap, rap with a $13-millio n price-tag, and has ye t have seen readings of both shows, and are and hip-hop. In fact, Broadway is so crowded to recoup). sa id to be pleased with the results. that many producers are in a bind: they have shows lined up for the fall, but no place to put them in. WHI STLE DOWN THE WI ND 'A theatre, a theatre I My kingdom for a theatre!' Surely those words are racing through the mind of Andrew Lloyd Webber as he scours Broadway for a home for his forthcoming musical, Whistle Down the Wind. Based on the popular 1961 film starring Hayley Mills, 'Whistle, ' which is being directed by Harold Prince, is slated to become the first Lloyd Webber show to bypass the West End and open directly on Broadway. The only trouble is that most of New York's premiere musical houses are booked. Three, ironically, are home w uther Lloyd Webber shows - The Phanrom ()' rho! Opera. Sunset Boulevard , and Julie Andrews in a Kene from V ictor/Vicwri OCTOBE 1996 APPlAUSE 49 An occassional series in which people in the public eye recall the theatrical experience that left a lasting impression. Ashley Herman talks to Ken Livingstone, MP. believe you want to talk to me about and brilliantly performed. Its dramatic ten'. Are you aware that Camden Council the theatre,' sa id Ken Li vingstone, MP, impact was tremendous and I was very has increased single ye llow line pa rking I when I fin all y got him on the phone, moved. But generally plays don't appeal to restrictions and parking metres until 8.30 pm 'What can I do for you?'. There was no mis me much because they' re so small. Two and that this is a major deterre nt to would-be taking the familiar nasa l tones of 'Red Ken' people on a stage with a chair is hardly a theatregoers)' 'I don't think people should the 'scourge' of the right, the 'Bolshie' ex spectacle. That's why theatres with limited drive into London. They should take the leader of the GLC, newt keeper budgets like the Tricycle need decent grants'. tube,' he said. I reminded him that in the extraordinaire. 'Well,' I explained, 'our 'And why in\'estors in commercial produc last heady days of the G LC he had reduced magazine is doing a regular feature on tions shou ld be gi\'en decent tax breaks' I the price of a single tube ticket to lOp. shows that have made profound impressions suggested. 'Di,l you know that' Angels' Perhaps that incentive should be re-instated on people and I wondered if any such show (people \\·ho in vest in shows) can't claim and trains should run later, instead of closing comes to mind fo r YOll)' , relief If their investment fails? ' down in ti me for Book at Bedtime. 'No', he sa id. 1 was stumped. ' Are yo u sure)' 'No, I didn't know that,' he said, his political 'Certainly the public transport infrastructure 'I never got heav il y into theatre'. I lVas pecker beginning to rise. 'Anyway, as far as needs to be improved'. Then like a busy always far too busy - especially when I was l'm concerned, I have n't the mo ney to headmaster announcing double maths, he C hairing the G LC. But, if pushed, I suppose in\'est in shows'. info rmed me he had to go. 'I'm extremely I'd have to say that the best show 1 ever sa\\' ' Do you ever go to a West End theatre)' busy', he sa id . 'We're preparing for a Labour was Th e Great White Hope (by Howa rd I as ked. 'Not much. It needs so much Government'. Sackler) at the o ld Tricycle Theatre, before it planning and there's always a rush for tickets. burnt down. It was a really big production I prefer the cinema., a meal and home by fr om page 49/ Michael Eisner. 'Elton doe, n't Theatre last sp ring, where it played just four November 17 at the Walter Kerr. Langella understand how musicals are put together,' performances. It was such a hit, however, who wowed critics and audiences last season Disney told me. 'He doesn't understand that that producers Fran and Barry Weissler in Strindberg's The Father at the Roundabout even an Elton Jo hn so ng has to go if it snapped it up for Broadway, where the top Theatre, should have no trouble switching doesn't suit the dramatic moment.' ticket price will be $70 (.IAs). Which begs gears from red-hot Strindberg to the questio n: wi ll theatregoers flock to a vermouth-dry Coward. ELAINE WHO) Elaine Paige replaced concert when they can see a full-blown Betty Buckley in Sunset Boulevard o n production of Show Boat, or The King and 1, FROM LONOON comes Ronald Harwood's September 2. Some investors in the show or Sunset Boulevard for the sa me amount of Taking Sides. Starring Ed Harri s and Daniel worry that Paige won' t be much of a draw, money I My verdict: not bloody likely. Massey, it opens October 17 at the Brooks si nce, as ide from a handful of musical buffs, A revival of Once Upon a Mattress, Atkinson Theatre, and could be the snob hit no one this side of the Atlantic has ever starring Sarah Jessica Parker, opens of the season. heard of her ... Patti LuPone is back on November 24 at The Broadhurst Theatre. Michael Gambon makes his Broadway Broadway as Maria Callas in Terrence Parker proved herself a box-office draw this debut in David Hare's Skylight September 19 McNally's Tony-winning play, Master Class ... summer when she teamed up with her at the Royale Theatre. Though the play was Stephanie Powers, the popular star of the boyfriend Matthew Broderick to breathe new a hit in London, some Broadway producers American TV series Han to Hart, is se t to life into a sagging revival of How To Succeed fear it might be too English fo r American play Margo Channing in a revival of in Business Without Really Trying. The ac tress audiences. In addition, Hare has a lousy track Applause, with a largely rewritten score by will undoubtedly charm audiences as the record in New York . Though his last two C harles Strouse amd Lee Adams. Princess in Mary Rodgers' sl ight but tuneful shows - The Secret Rapture and Racing adaptatio n of The Princess and the Pea. Demon - received respectful reviews, they THE FALL S EASON Among the shows that did no business. Gambon, however, could be have found house room next season is a con SEX AN D LONG ING, a new co medy by a draw: N ew Yorkers loved him in cert version of the John Kander-Fred Ebb C hristopher Durang starring S igourney The Singing Detective. musical Chicago, starring Bebe Neuwirth, Weaver as a woman who has to have sex Ann Reinking and Joel Grey. It opens every 15 minutes, opens October 10 at the November 17 at the Richard Rodgers Cort Theatre. Frank Langella, who stars in a Michael Riedel is the Broadway reporter for Theatre. The concert began life at the City revival of Present Laughter , opening The New York Daily News. 50 APPL1l, USE COOBER 1996 f) (() (]I,I ( ~ ti0 () {ellJ .k ~ll bIodd .Jo;!~"'~