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PREVIEWS FROM 14 APRIL· OPENS 17 APRIL -97 ------NOW BOOKING! ----- Editor's Letter
or [he las[ fif[\, years or so [he cinema's deb[ [Q [he srage has been incalculable A celebrared Broadway or Wes[ End hi[ was ins Broadway musicals were particularly vulnerable (0 [hese warHon ac[s of vandalism and "lmoS[ as soon as H o ll ywood le and now i[ is [he [Urn of Broadway [Q ransack Holl ywood for irs class ic musicals radler [han dle o[he r way round . The li s[ of non-musica l films [ha[ have, in [he nor (00 dis[am pasr, become Broadway muslCa ls includes Pas sion (from [he film Passione dAmore), Vic wr/Vicwria (a cpmedy with songs), Some Like lr Hot (aka Sugar ), Nick and Nora (based on Th e Thin Man films), Big Deal (from Big Dea l On Madonna Stree t) , Nine (from Fellini', 8 1/2), Sunse t Boule vard , The Goodbye Girl, and , mosr recendy Big. O f [hese, only Nine found i[self in profi[ af[er irs 732 pe rformance run. With [he excep[ions of Victor/Vicro ria, which has so far had a ()mmercially successful run bur could still lose monel' when Raquel We lch rakes over from Julie A ndre ws, and 42nd Stree t, whICh had i[s score heavily augmemed by several Harry Warren -AI Dubin songs [ha[ weren 't in [he origina l fdm, the [rack record fo r H oll ywood musica ls [hat have been reinvem ed for Broadway and [he W es [ End is e ven worse. Think of G ig; , Singln' In The Rain , Seven Brides [or Seven Brothers, Meet Me in St LOllis, The Wizard o[ Oz, High Socie ty, and , mos[ recendy State Fair. Obviously, dle cinema's capaci[y w open out a play or a mus ical does nm work in reverse. The resources of [he smge are not as infini[e as [he screen. There is Simply no IVay [he [heau e can comfo rtabl y or convincingly replicare [he produC[io n va lu es of a film - especiall y a musical. The only case I can [ecall of a screen musical duplica[ing irs success on s[age is D isney's BeQl([), and th e Beast. By f1 eshing our a full -leng[h carroon, [he crea[i ve ream in volved have indefinite ly prolonged [he she lf-life of a show [hm J11i gh[ we ll e m er the hiswry books by making even more money in irs stage incarna[ion [ha n it has as a film. If [he London run repeal's dle success [he show is having in N ew York, i['s cerrainly possible. applause THE A PPLAUSE BUILDING · 68 LONG ACRE· LONDON WC2E 9JQ PUBLISHED BY APPLAUSE LTD ' MANAGING DIRECT O R PAUL BURNETT EDITOR CLIVE HIRSCHHORN EDITORIAL DEPUTY EDITOR PAUL RAVEN TElEPHONE01713128051 FAX 0171 312 8090 ART DIRECTOR TERRY SESSIONS ADVERTISING ASHLEY HERMAN ADVERTISING MARKETING APPLAUSE TELEPHONE 0171 312 8079 MARKETING DEPT. ISSN 1364·7636 FOUNDING EDITOR RAYNER BOURTON OI$lRIIU fON !l V CO ...... AG SPECi ALIS T DI VISI ON, MERCURY C: NTIi::. CtNH!.4. LWA Y f U itt A,'.\ . Mrt> DX. TW 1A OR X TeLE PH ON£ 01 !! 1 a 4~ 100 0 THEATRE BOOKINGS A f'I ~t;lU( l:" "'lit, ,,..: ;!,,, ImSJIICl I.:ti lt1dJ1 Wo1;"ril'" rmJ ph,*,pap/lS hili LONDON 01713121991 carm()f h-:- hdJ , o')/ \fIn'>lhlc rJf it ,, :> fo}J l1'f d.:l 1Til1, All Itt{orrruHio:1 Cl1nW /ll~J III A r rh ll~ (' m ,(, ~..;I~ i r \ ... is Il~ !fl<.' bt.) :10/ EVENTS BOOKINGS " :0 ~1I;' " !~JJ: l!" .m.:! bdlL'j t"UfW(: (U :}:•• rill!.! ,"I{ ~MTJ. !{ W 1m" T f..I: . 'tln ~XF' I "c:~ .1 tn Lil I< lIla,t7d :;:IJ:t> (\Ii ,.,1l ~r"- l'l\(!r'l r~ UJrut" /.If ST ALBANS 01727 841115 {hI' o;Jl/('rr r~ r(,J;.j!dw ' applause OFFSTAGE 6 News and gossip fTOm aTOund the West End 8 THE MOUSE MUSCLES IN Matt Wolf looks at Disney's Broadway and West End ventures NEW FACES 12 Disney's Beauty and the Beast's Julie-Alanah Brighten 14 JOHN BARROWMAN wlking to Martin Stirling ONSTAGE 17 Clive HiTSchhorn reviews the West End's latest offerings 22 ACT OF COMPLICITE Clare Colvin wlks to Simon McBurne y about the work of Theatre de Co mplicite John [larrowman. p.14 APPLAUSE THEATRE CLUB 23 C hristopher Biggi ns brings you more g-reat money-saving offers on top West End shows 31 NED SHERRIN HAUNTED HOUSES 32 Linn Branson goes ghost-hunting in London's theatres 34 TERRENCE MCNALLY Patrick Pacheco on the American pla)"wright hoping to make his mark here wi th Master C Ia(; HAT TRICKS 36 San Francisco's cult caper Beach Blanket Babylon hits town. Sasha de Suinn goes shopping for hats 39 SUMMER FARE Michae l Coveney w/ 43 SPECTRUM Boolo. ".41 Opera, Dance, and TV reviews and previews by Max Loppert, Jeffer), Ta ylor and Ronald Bergan PEOPLE WHO MAKE 47 A DIFFERENCE Designer John Napier wlks to Nick Smurthwaite 49 OFFSTAGE BROADWAY Michae l Riedel with news and gossip from the Big Apple Some lhlllg gne s bltmp. 1'.32 QUIZ 50 50 SHOWS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE .. , Roy Hattersley, MP Mr Producer' ".A MAY 1997 A P/AUSE 5 stage AUSTRl\lIAN DIRECTOR Gale Edwards is going to ••• accus tomed [0 avoiding certain drinking dens he drafted in (0 direcr Whisrle Down th e Wind in populated by the theatre crowd - he has previously London this wimer. The initial American THE LONDON INTERNAT IONAL Festi va l of Theatre. found himself mer by a volley of redious ve rbal production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim which in rhe past has introduced Brirish aud iences assaulrs from less successful actors and writers, Steinman's new musical, directed by none other [0 the likes of Robert Lepage and the Mall' than Harold Prince, rece ived a critical roasting in Theatre of St Petersburg, promises to be more • •• Washington and a planned Broadway run had to eccentric than ever this year. It gets underway on RENT, WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY scheduled for this be abandoned. However, Lloyd Webber still has June 3 with Oracu/os, in which each member of Autumn, will now open in London next March, falrh in rhe show and belleves rhat Edwards may be the audience is invired to go alone into the unlit Plans to br ing the new Broadway tuner here had ro able ro do what Prince couldn't. She's no stranger basement of the Roundhouse for what is described be postponed partly because of the continued ro rrumping some of rhe world' s greatest directors as a 'sensuous assau lt', Other highlighrs include success of Smoke)' Joe's Cafe at the Prince of Wales Lloyd Webber is sa id to have preferred her Fair of [h e Five Senses in which Alicia Rios, J world - the venue being eyed by Rent's producers, Australian prodUCtion of Aspects of Love ove r the expert on olive oil, promises [0 entertain us with a origi nal show directed by Trevor Nunn. range of vegetables, • • • THE PRODUCERS OF DAMN YANKEE S, the Faustian • • • musical about baseball, have taken advantage of STEPHEN FRY 'S INFAMOUS EXIT from Simon Gray's OSCAR the closure of Srmsct Boulevard and plumped for an Cell Mates and the subsequent furore a few years WILDE'S CLASSIC ope ning ar the Adelphi rather than the Savoy, The ago would have made many playwrights crawl back al) 2 theatres are virtually opposite each other but the inro their shell. Not so Mr Gray. He wrote a play Of;/£ 'J COMEDY latter suffers from a complete absence of passing and a book immediately afterwards and is now trade. The venue was beautifully restored in 1990 ready ro venture into the West End once again. -JItd!Jdermeres bur has failed to have a major hit since it His latest play, Ufe SuPPOrt, will be directed by reopened , She Loves Me ran there for a year but losr Harold Pinter and star Alan Bates, an actor who (ffan . several million pounds, while Commu nicating Doors is not only sublimely talented but has never been struggled through six months playing to weekday known to abscond from the country halfway matinee audiences of just 20·30. Howeve r, I would through a run. 'AN IRRESISTIBLY have been surprised if Damn Yankees had turned GLAMOUROUS OUt [0 be the type of sholl' [0 break the thearre's PRODUCTION • • • STUDDED WITH run of bad luck - passing trade or no passing trade, AT THE LABATT'S ApOLLO HAMMERSMITH, Summer IRRESISTIBLY baseball seems [0 be the only Ame ri ca n invention Holida y srarring Darren Day will be followed by CLAMOUROUS thar has never intetested the British. yer another 'final' London season of Riverdance, PERFORMANCES'. The show is threatening to have more comebacks /ji)/'II .rt!eln·. • •• •};'lu/'f9 F71,,/w than Frank Sinatra and Sugar Ray Leonard put THE ALMEIDA'S AUTUM PRODUCTI ON of George together. Those that rake no pleasure from Irish 'INCISIVE, Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak Housc is al ready being dancing will be pleased to hear that the run will ENTERTAININC talked up for a West End transfer. Penelope Wilton AND HANDSOMELY nor be endless - the new musica l version of Dr and Richard Griffiths are se t [0 star in the DRESSED. Dolittle is scheduled to open at the venue in DON'T MISS IT, Chekhovian drama which will be directed by March, David Hare, Contrary [0 rumours spread by some ~ I/;-c!u({'/ ('hue/ '~'9' (96se/cye,· members of the press, Hare will not be adapting • • • the play - rhe very thoughr would be enough [0 THE TOURING PRODUCTI ON of Michael Cooney's THEATRE ROYAL send the rather conservative executors of rhe Shaw The Dark Side, starring Paul Nicholas and Jen ny HAYMARKET estare in[O a collecti ve se izure. Seagrove, is being lin ed up for a West End transfer. Cooney is the son of Ray - the ultimare farceur and graced the West End last year with his OIV n first attempt at a farce, Cash On Delivery. Howe ver, • + + The Dark Side is likely to prove thar Cooney fils is more at home with thrillers than con1edy. Paul YOUNG PLAY\'(IRIGHT Martin McDonagb's stunning Nicholas recums to the West End stage for the fIrSt success seems [0 JU St grow and grow, The National time since he played Barnum five years ago at the Theatre's production of The Cripple of Inishmaan is Dominion. Since then he has acquired a fortune as to step lip from a sell·ollt run at the Conesloe to a producer of Grease and is se t to top th at with the the 900·seater Lynelton, while the Royal Court is first stage production of Sa turda y Night Fever which [0 perform his entire Connemara Trilog)' in July. opens at the London Palladium on April 28, 1998. Howe ve r, McDonagh is al so having to become 6 APPLAUSE MAY 1997 With Disney flexing its commercial muscle on Broadway, people are getting worried. Matt Wolf looks at the impact a multi#million dollar extravaganza, based on a cartoon, is having on theatre in America and worldwide. roadway at its best l Tell the by itself sustain), and it is reall y that topic 1V0rl.d I ' sc reams a quote in the that commands interest fa r beyond anything brochure for the forthcoming Disney has so far put on stage, It's no London premiere of Disney's accid ent that of the musical' s multiple To ny Beaut )' ana the Beast, W ell, you nominations, Beaut)' and the Beast wo n only don't have to be a cynic to wonder whether one for Ann Hould -Ward's costumes, there still exists anyone in the world who purchased with enough money to wipe out has n't been told, Eve r si nce Disney made its third world debt, O ne w,1Sn't a t Beaw)' and maid en entry on to the N ew York stage in the Beas t for high art; for that, the same 1994 with the show, a $14 million stage Broadway season offered up S tephen version of the 1991 animated film that itse lf Sondheim and James Lapine's Pa5sion and has grossed some $350 million, Beauty and the New York versIOn of the Royal Natio na l the Beast (the 'Disney' possessive applies only Theatre's Caroll sel. whose director, Nicholas in London) has become an international Hytne r, has been among Bemfty and rhe stage behemoth to match anything yet Beast 's fiercest detractors, (,It's horrific; it is, devised by Cameron Mackintosh and it reall y is', he told me at the time,) The Andrew Ll oyd Webber. show was a pre-rackaged (many would argue Just think what you get for your money: impersonal) e vent that C Broodway reviv a l of Chicago, Beallt\' of a street which had generally been happy [0 and the Bea5t gives family audiences a let movies go their own way, except on those story and songs they know (composer occasions when film companies went Alan Menken's Oscar-winning work shopping for product in search of another augmented by seven new numbers co Oscar-winner to follow Driving Miss Daisy wri((en with Tim Rice, replacing film and Amadeus, (The New York Times' Frank lyricist Ho ward Ashman, who died of Rich h there can be no do ubt that the force, <1S rhey BemlL,' and the Beas t. But whereas the S returns [0 Brl,.lJII'ay for the first time since re Illl a (,nce-hlighted stretch lOf 42nd S treet, Its the stage 1\ ill be se t fm a rn arri MAY 1997 ~i'PL.l,U~E 9 Disney, of course, bridles at che becomes a franchise; 111 any case, Bricish suggescio n char che ir inren([ons are anyching Airways should be happy, as che creacive le ss rhan artisric. ]c' s significanr, chough, ch ac Ceil n1 jets busily back and forth. Skip M"lone, VP of business ope r .~h(J1 ·c : \IIam Sr - the neu' [3rOMH :I ~! Righr: The liull Kmg - lhe Hexi hi,~ thing. 10 APPLA.U5E MAY 1997 JULIE-ALANAH BRIGHTEN by Sally taples Julie Alanah Bnghten I a mil. fanned blonde with an elegant Igure. an easy smile and a neat row 0 whit teeth. A. a prcuy jobbinf/ actres: her name is not familiar and [0 date she has [Our~d with Rebecca , Me ana My Girl nd played th~ n)' - db In the We t End hit ( litler! GUlldforu Jmma hool and enrolleJ (or In Bur her relative anonymity i abom to acting ()urst:.' ill appe r~aLly could Olak~ a career 01 acting '1) I \\'('nl t .omethmg III OIm r. )1'. ' 12 . PPl4U5: MAY 1997 I would like to subscribe to applause magazine. £25 a year - UK subsc ription fo r 12 issues (in cl. p&p) 3 DIRECT DEBIT APPLICATION FORM £39 a year - Overseas subscription (inc l. p&p) (Originators Identification N o.8J0768) Name ...... , ...... Instruction to your Bank or Building Society to pay Direct Debi t. Address ...... , ...... Send to: Applause Magazine (Subscriptions), Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JQ Name and full postal address of your Bank or Building Society: Post Code ...... " ...... Daytime tel ...... Name ...... pl ease send a Gift Subsc ription to: Address ...... , ...... Name ...... Post Code ...... Address ...... Name(s) of account holder(s) ...... ...... Post Code ...... Branch sort code ...... METHOD OF PAYMENT - choose from the following . Account no : ...... 1 I enclose a cheque made payable to Applause Ltd . please pay Applause Ltd Direct Debits from the account 2 please debit my credit card: Type ...... detailed on this instruction, subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Deb it Guarantee. Card no: ...... Expi ry ...... Signature ...... Date ...... Signature ...... Date ...... In an unprepossessing n),)m in C lapham, the 'the boy from now here' after Mawdor's most s ~)e ll presenting the BBC's Live And Kicking anu cas t of Th e Fix, a nell' American musical that memorabl e anthem, was ri ghtly h8ilecl as a major The Movie Game considerably broade ned his opens a t the [)o nm81' o n 12 May, have been discovery at 22 . fan -b8se and he returned triumphantly to (he rehearsing with director Sam Menues. Set Unlike many new stars who fade as quickl y West End in 1994 as Joe Gillis opposite Betty against the b8ckdwp of mouern U S po litics. as they are acclaimed, Barrowman has haruly BLlckl ey's N o rma Desmond in Sunsel Boulevard. Tile Fi x, presented in assoCi ation A fr er Srtnset came a with Cameron 'v[<1ckinw,h, is the starring role in the C BS Donmar's first ~'remi e re of,) drama series Cemral Park contemporary musicdl. This Wes t and then a btief seems [Q inspire the company reprise of Joe G illis nn who, <1S they break (,)[ lunch, ,1fe Broadway, ag"in opposite palpably exc itd h the project. PUTATION Betty Buc kl ey's N orma, And no-one', more enth",u'[I c which had New Yo rk than Jo hn Barrowman II'h,) peels ANAGEMENTS applmlding him as much as away from h i;: C<1l leJ2ues anu, Lo ndon had. lI' ith a cheerl' n,.ld to Mendes, COMMITTED, It's an impress ive CV, greets me "'illl 1m cust MAY 1997 APPLAUSE 1 5 work ing on someching special. Thac's wha c appealed (0 me. Thac and ch e sc ripc, which I like enormous ly.' Ba rrow man is highly ambl cious bur one senses he considers carefully che qual iC y of work offe red and wou ld never lightly compromise h is scand ards. He confirms chis by revealing ho\\' he (LImed down ocher good work to do Th e Fix and ch en srressll1g chac his scri vi ng for qualicy app li es equall y (0 films. While he is eager co make movies - and has a couple of film projeccs in developmenc - he's been content to wa ic for ch e ri ghc offers. Ac 28, Barrowman is ex cr emely fic, a legacy from Matador ('when I had co spend cwo hours a day in ch e gy m for months') and refreshingly unchanged by success. He is as ag reeable as che firsc cime we mec in 1990, hi s modescy when I refer co him as che definicive Joe Gillis remains ge nuine. 'Thac' s subjeccive,' he says. 'Li ke stacing who was che besc Norma Desmond . I know who I li ked che besc (he gallanrly refuses co name names) , bur chen I didn'c see chem all. ' He confesses it's eas ier (0 creace a ro le in a musica l chan co cake ovec from an eswblished performer. 'When you crea re a role, lik e Cal in Th e FLx, no-one has anyching co compare you wi ch ,' he says 'Buc when yo u cake over a role, you have co cake some ri1ing which people are fam il iar wirh and make ir seem fr esh. Thm can be excremely difficulc, panicul ariy if you'I'e been in che audience and lI'acched che person you're caking ovec from. This is only ch e second cime I've creaced a role in a musica l. He scops himself. 'Well, acrua ll y, chicd if yo u count Joe GilliS. When I did S~m se [ Boulevard rh e show had been clused down, rewricren and I'd had a six -week rehearsal peri od lI' ic h Trevor Nunn. Mos r people in che industry regacded me as having creared char role .' BJrrDw m,m bas rh e el1l'table repurarion amongsr man<1geme nrs of be ing a comlnicred, consummare rrofess ional and a positi ve member of an y company. lc ', a repucaci on he cheri shes. 'Sure, I like ic when people say chey 've enjoyed working 1I'1rh me, alrh ough I can ge c annoyed lIke anyone else. If somerhing's happened which affecrs me or someone', rude, I'll make a poine . Buc YOLI have ro be rOSllive as mu ch as possible in cheaue bec ause acricud es ca n become negacive very quickl y. I hace having had feelin gs in a company. I guess ic all comes down ro enjoy ing whac 1 do .' Ba rrow man clea rl y enj oys everyching he does and finds ir hard co single our anyone hig hli ghr from his caree r. When pressed, he admirs che opening night of Sunset Boulevard was one major highlighr, landing Cenrwl Pal·k Wes t anOt her. Was he bi[[erl y disappoineed, rh en, rhar rhe se ri es many ass umed would fi rmly escab lish him in rhe US, ran for jusr one season? 'In one se nse , no,' he admics. 'If ic had continued I'd ha ve been awa y fr om UK audi ences for ac leasr five years because I was commicred co it. Obv iously ch e money would have bee n grea c buc ic would have prevented me doing anyching in rhe chearre.' Barrowm an's commirment co che rh earce is ohv ious when he runs a hand rhroug h hi s hair and makes his nexc po int as rhough ir's jusr occurred [0 him: 'Do you realise I've been away fcom ch ea rre for cwo yearsl ( know I've been busy doing TV and coneerrs and orher rhings I've wa nted co do, Bur it rea ll y is rime I was hack onsrage. Fi ve yems of nor being able co do rhearre would 've killed tn e. Barrowman's immediare furure afcer The Fix is as one of rhe main presenters of C hannelS's afternoon sched ules. Bur whar about ch e longer ceern! 'I imend [0 do some good film s. I'd also lik e ro do anorher show wh ich cakes me co Broadway. And I'd love anorher TV series eirher here or in rh e Srares, buc as an acror, nor a presente r. And, if ir's nor asking [00 much, I'd rea lly like [0 find one projecr which combines all my interesrs.' John Barrow n1 an believes any rhing's poss ible if you work ar ir. And he does so rel ish a challenge. • Marrin Stirling is a l<"'jrer and broadcaster. He is Eric Morccambe's official biographer, and has co-wrincn, with Gar)' Morecambe . th e forr hcomll1g /Jla y Eric Morecambe: BehlOd the Sunshine. 16 APPL4USE MAY 1997 LADY IN THE DARK LyMelton Theatre X Charles Spencer, Telegraph Despite an excellent cast, Lady in the Dark seems like an exercise in theatrical archeology. .. Whot scuppers (itL is the lack of warmth and oudience The latest productions reviewed involvement. Maria Friedman .. . never comes close to moving you.. it' s slick , sty li sh and by Clive Hirschhorn. depressingly soulless. ./' Shaun Usher, Daily Mail he cr"J tl lT rcam l)t Lad)' in the Dark - Moss confusion. Maria Friedman ... is on engagi ng Lizc .. . here's Han, Kurt \Vei ll and If,l Gershwin - in sisted For rh e fir;! time Li za cannot m8ke ur her mind on urban fairy tale wit h hindsight sp in and music Ton 0 11111 2 rheir 1941 Broadway hit a musica l about anyrhmg - fr om choos ing a COITr for the Eas ter of substance. rial' rath er th,m ,I musica l comed y. Similar claims ed ition ll( [he m;1g1tz ine to choosing a man . ./' Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard were made, rhat I'e rl sam e season, for Cabin in {he Sh For rhe nex r three hour, I)r so, \IT Tourn ey, \'Ia a Miss Friedman ... is in sweet voice and artfully and Pa!)oc' trio o( l'l\'\d dream sequences, into Li:/, r ast - wal' hold s the balance between drama and music, But IInhke those other t\\'o landmark mu sicals, hack ro her chddhood - \\·here we d"coI'er that most which Lady in the Dark so cleverly celebrates. Lad" in {h~ Dar!, bloke new ground loy dis rensing \\, Ith of her problems spring from the (acr th8t she \\'aS a It is a most rousing occasion. rhe obilg VAY 1997 ~p l';U~= 17 a sma ll er space IS essenna l. Bam' Hannan's book and II' tics and Keith Hermann's musi c wilt in the harsh What the paper say. glate of Sha(tesnury A\'enue. ROMANCE, ROMANCE For rhe second piece, based 00" srory ny Jul es Gielgud Theatre Rena rd, bu r Ameflcanl seci and reloca ted rll a beach house in Long Isbnd , New Yotk, the authors pal' .I Benedict Nightingale, The Times wlrh Quinn" Sacks' choreograrhy. Whar she lacks homage ro Stephen Sondheim in gen eral and The show hasn't the informal , intimate feel it "nd II'hot rhis show rtbsolutely demond, - IS an Cornpan)' in particular as they introduce US to two reportedly hod when it received its British incanJesc enr sra r quality to se rve fl.S Insurance again:-it married coupl es whose ma rriages aren't all they premiere at the tiny Bridewell. But as Adams and the hole, in rhe bOllk. O'Connor swished or podded round the stage .. ~ppear to ne. Of rhe ' urrorring pe rfm mance; James Dteyfus I found myself succumbing to their spell. has his momenrs JS Russell Paxton. a stereoty picall l' .I Charles Spencer, Telegraph gay fas hIon phorogw"he r. though he fa iled to ;tOr the Tuneful , intelligent, unpretentious and touching, sholl' with Tchaikm'sky, the rongue-tlllste r tha t qualities that are not to be mocked and which are o\'t' rnighr nl ch..ie a star of Danny Kaye whn llriglndreJ too rarely seen. the rol e. .I Sarah Hemming, Financial Times Adri"n Dun bm and P8ul Shellel' do \\'e ll with A witty, if cynical, reflection on the games people rhei r underwritten marena!; ,md there's an ploy in the nome of romance ... O'Connor and appea lingly nashy turn fr om Ste"en Ed\\'drd Mome as Adams are tremendous. Rand,' Curtis, " Holly wood marinee idol who asks .I Shaun Usher, Daily Mail Li za to marry him. Be;t o( the ,mailer roles, th () u ~ h , is Charming and tuneful. .. There is plenty to enjoy Charlotte C" nwell's M<1gg ie , Li: d' , de pu ty-c um and approve of in a tiddler elevated to the big confiJanre. MO" ie huff, lI'il l kncm eXdctl y wha t I league, but at West End prices it does seem mean wh en I say she e\'o k t:'~ no:m~l g l ( memor ies l)( rhe worryingly fragile . great E"e Atden. .A.drienne Lonel's sets - it senes of m,wa nlc , X Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard Only on outbreak of late-winter madness could transluce nt ranels whose sa d-like sha" es take their have persuaded anyone to risk popping this stole cue (rom the song My Ship - are, in the main, ligh t marshmallow of a musical onto a West End a.nd attracri ve but «)ulJ ha "t' hcc n more srectacuhu stage ... Romance,Romance turns out to be sadly m the cl imacti c C ircus Dream as, indeed, could thar R{lmancc, Romance. free of anything to make the flesh quiver or the enti re selj uence, de d , surel y it's wrong to I ca n rhink of ook one good reason for see ing tlm add her polish to a shining cast, these playlets all ow Ms rrieLlm.1l1 to wed r the same outfit U1 her light- weight Joub le bill: Carohne O'Connor. about love and fidelity are even more charming. nu me rous p'::>\,chu,tn X Georgina Brown, Moil on Sunday With both lo\'e rs "wa re rhat theit alTai r is unlikely "rril'cJ ,l( the th eatre ea rl y, and if yo u actua ll y read The real problem is (Lipman's) moterial- safe r.o last. your progr"mme before the show began, the firsr ten textureless slop which she regurgitates and spoon Cynic is m fil te red through oodles of hitter-swee t minutes of LIl'e and Kidding would almosr certainly feeds into the open mouths of her audience .. charm is rhi s Iirrk ,,"eedute's most palpab le hrt\'e given you a SrTGng sense of deja vu. Bur th en) to Still, I enjoyed her outfits. ingredlenr, bur (or maximum im pact and i!1\ 'oil'emenr Jud ge from the anredelll"wn qu"li rv of man y > 18 APP!J>.US: M AY 1997 of the Jok es dusted off for (he occasion, Ms Lipm ~n clearly shares the late Tommy Cooper's belief rhat it' s nor rhe lake Ilself rhat matters, bur the way ,'ou rell What the l)Cl/)cr -say .. , 'em. And, it has ro be said, Lipman rells 'em lI'e ll. WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF HRT Trouble IS, instead of rellmg the m frum be hind a dinner Vaudeville Theotre rable MAY 1997 APPlAUSE 19 e:Jriy rial' h Even if you don't find it partculorly sympathetic, seeing, Bur rhere IS an oJd lI eakness cOl1l'inced me thac h'anov IS thc \\",)' he is b~c~use of WASTE a grearel sensiti Vity nf Splnt, com hned wi rh a (atal Old Vic lI'e~kne S\ of character, ex acerf,ared by lll'erwh eiming manic depre>silll1, He should be a kind of lI'alking St ./ Benedict Nightingale, The Times .Andreas Fault; yo u feel th ac runnrng all rhe way Jown If just a few of the ploys that find their way into John Gunter's dark-blue box set over the coming hi s coastlIne i, an earthquake walr ing ro happen, month s display 05 much elegance of mind , moral Whm he acruo lly is in thiSubsetl'er's I'i ell', is rather scope and politicol sharpness, then we will be Williams I' rerrifie as rh~ eccentnc youn gs ter stagey, There 1I",iS nel'er a n1l\menr when I Jidn'r hoiling Peter Hall's inaugural season " as a of"ess cd Wit h rhe ['Igeons in hi, artic and the knoll' he would be in the pub Ol the Iv y ten notable event, p05s ihili ry "f Illght; 50 is Ada m Gatci" .1S young Al. min utes after rhe end of the pl ay, His technlyue Brurali,ed f, y" \'Iolent farh er, 1\1 pia l'S along \I'ith h" ./ Paul Taylor, Independent rather th ,m h" cha"JCter shOll 'S and rh e I'retry face best t"uddle's nh:-.t'~"' lon in order to c:.'cape hi s own The Peter Hall Company's repertory season" , gets "'he'd to hi s key -li ght works against, rather than for, off to a stim ulating start." Michael Pennington is rroh lems, If th e lI'ar hds wk en Its roll- both the rerformance, excellent in the central role, rhYSIc all y anJ m ~ nt.1ll y - on these tll'O men, It has I 1I'0uid still argue th at el'e n a minor II'\1rk of a also sepa rated them from each othe r. \'Va lldee major r la)'lI'nght is still lI'ort!lIer of Cl Ur tim e rhan a ./ Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standord underrlns the Jramatic s[[ucru re of the pld)' by malar IImk by a lesse r IIT iter, e,['eclal" rn such a A for 100 loq uacious play. "But Peter Hall's concentr"tmg on the II'ay the olJer AI and Bi rdy pdlucld translatinn 20 APPU.. ['.' c MAY 1997 \VJwt (he pnpcrs sa'\' .. IVANOV Almeida Theatre .I Benedict Nightingale, The Times David Hare's refreshingly terse, punchy Keep an eye out for these productions opening in translation and Jonathan Kent's pacey, finely cast production prove the play a vivid portrait of a and around the West End this month, Russia in moral di sarray. Paul Taylor, Independent .I THE GONDOLIERS Fiennes' excellent performance piercingly brings Theatre at The G rand Temple, Freemasons Hall. hame... the fact that the hera's problem is what we would now call cl inical depressian ... Ke nt's fine STEAMING Love, laughter and mi staken id entities are the production. N ell Dunn's classic comedy set in a Turk ish themes of this charming G ilbert & Sullivan bath where si x very different women meet uperetta presented by British Youth O pera and Michael Billington, Guardian .I se t against the backdrop of Venice's canals, Ralp Fienne s... plays the title role in Jonathan and find compa l1lo nship, W hen their place Kent's breathtaking revival. .. Th is is a performance to relax and la ugh is threatened with closure, Performances: 4,5, and 7 June. packed with just the right emotional intensity, self· they do n't let it go without a fi ght. Starring HEN RY V loathing and excoriating candaur. Jenny Ec la ir and Julie T Wa ll ace , At the The first official productio n at the Piccadilly Theatre from 1 May. .I Robert Hewison, Sunday Times reconstruc ted Globe Theatre is Shakespeare's Fiennes is the perfect 19th century existential Hem)' V directed by Ri chard Oli vier and MARAT/SADE hera ... a powerful evening in the theatre with starring Mark Rylance in the title role, guaranteed audience satisfaction , Parr of the N ational Theatre's In The Performances from 27 May. Round season is Peter Weiss ' 1964 p lay Alastair Macauylay, Financial Times .I DAMN YANKEES Fiennes' acting style ... certainly gives you a mop' direcred by Je remy Sams (\.'V'i/d Oats, Pmsion ), like demonstration of the character, By contro st C orin Redgra\'e makes his N ational Theatre Legendary entertainer Jerry Lewis will make his W es t End debut in this smas h-hit the irritating minor characters ... have on debut as Marat. From 8 May. exaggerated liveliness.. , The best performance of Broad way musical comedy about a passionate all is by Harriet Walter. PRAYERS Of SHERKIN baseball fan who se lls his soul to the Dev il The Peter Ha ll season continues at the Old so his ream can fin all y beat the N ew York .I Georgina Brawn, Mail on Sunday The production is staged w ith tremendous Vic with the Briti sh premiere of Sebastian Yankees. A t the Ade lphi Theatre from panache and its star is outstanding , But one Barry's n ell' play se t in a strict religi ous 29 May. question mark still hovers over thi s intensely commun ity on rhe west coast of Ireland, moving actor. Can Rolph Fienneslaugh 2 Perfo rm ,l nces from 18 May. OPt!w .I Bill Hagerty, News of the World ALWAYS LA TRAVIATA Rolph Fiennes helps raise to greatness what has C li\'e Carter and Jan Hartley swr in a new The Coliseum hos ts a revival of Jonathan in the post not been considered the Russian musical b\· Willia m May and Jason Sprague Miller's no frills prod uction of Verdi's most moster's major woks ... has the heady impact of a large vodka, about the abdicati on of Edward VIlI and his romantic opera, Conducted by N oel Davies lo ve affa ir \\ith Wallace Simpson. From and starring S usan Patterson and Julian .I John Grass, Sunday Telegraph 20 May at the Victoria Palace, G avin as Violetta and A lfredo. The main thing about the production is that it From 8 May. has succeeded in bringing Jvanov out of the CLOSER shadow of later Chekhov pious and establishing A t the Royal Nati on3l Theatre from 22 ARIODANTE its claim os a fascinating and important work in May. this new pl ay, written and d irected Handel's opera is give n the Early Opera its own right. by award·\\" in ning Patrick Marber, is set in Company treatment at this year's BO C .I Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph contemporary Lo ndon, and is about four Covent Gard en Festival fo llowi ng their You leave the theatre in no doubt that you've seen strange rs \\'ho meet and fa ll in love. S tarr ing previo us successes with Handel's Agrippina a great production of a great and unfairly Sall y Dexter and C iaran Hinds. and Xerxes, A t S t Clement Danes. neglected ploy. Perform ances: 28, 3.0 and 31 May. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM .I Robert Butler, Independent on Sunday A roller'coaster ride, offering vertiginous shifts in T he New S hakespeare C ompan y's summer SIMON BOCCANEGRA (1881) mood and a series of crocking good scenes. se ason opens at Regent's Park O pen Air The third Verdi Fes ti val opens on 30 May Theatre with the a favourite, Directed by at the Royal O pera House wich a prestigious Rache l Kavenaugh and fea(llring Fasc inating production featuring Kiri Te Kanawa, Aid;) 's Iss y Van Randwyc k, this frolic is the Alexandru Agache, Marcell o Giordani perfec t complement to a fine summer's and Samuel Ramey, G eorg Solti conducts, evening. Performances from 23 May. BOC COVENT GARDEN fESTIVAL D(mce From 26 May· 7 June, the vari ed programme includes: CARMEN BEACH BLANKET BABYLON Sadler's We ll s at the Peacock Theatre, at the Unicorn Arts Theatre, Based on Merimees original 19th Century Beach Blanket Babylon makes its lo ng aW3ited novell a sec in Southern Spain and using European Premiere. The show is re nowned Bi zet's music, AntO nio Gades' company fo r irs camp humour, gre3t music and the present their speccacular flamenco dance biggest wigs and hats ever seen on swge. drama for a limited season, Performances Perfo rmances: 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 May; from 13 to 31 May. 3,4,5, 6,7, June, MAY 1997 APPlAUSE 21 Clare Colvin looks at the work of Pakistani. Simon has so me of the influences of Peter Brook, and there is a d[lve towards achieving the visual element through skill rather than through furniture.' the innovative Theatre de Complicite, Most people who know the work of Complicite think of the group as essentially a visual company. That is certainly how they started out in their first and talks to its artistic director show, Pur it on Your Head , about the English seaside, which I sa w in 1983. Ir Simon McBurney. re vealed a delightfully subversive and humorous element that, until then had been lacking in 'alternative' theatre. They had rrained 111 mime and movement with Jacques Lecoq and had taken a French name for the company, as they he sound of liturgical chanting emerged from the rehearsa l room in thought most of their work would be done 10 France. But they hit a chord in a Clapham High Street. In the green room rhe costume designer was hitherto mainly verbal tradition in England. In 1989 they produced their first discussing whether it would be cheaper to buy bondage masks from a re xtLIal piay, Durrenmart's The Visit which attracted packed houses during its sex shop rather than make them to measure. Theatre de Complicite season twO years later at the National Theatre. S ince then their work has always was in business again. This time applying its uniq ue vision to been based on text, using the physical energy and fle xibility that oflginated with Brecht's Th e Caucasian Chalk Circle which opens the Olivier Season in the Round the Lecoq rr aining. on ZI April. 'It is an old chestnut to think of us as coming newly to words,' sa id It's not strictly accurate to call it a Complicite production, so much as a McBurney. 'We are contll1ually shifting and changing. I studied literature at National Theatre collaboration with Complicite. It is directed by Complicite's university and grew up with words and wirhout a television' (He was hrought up Simon McBurney, and there are a number of actors who have worked with the in an academic family in Cambridge). 'At the time we started I was very company before. But like an amoeba it tends to break up and re-form for new interested in making people laugh, which had a lot to do wirh the visual, hut we productio ns. The hard core production team comprises of artistic director have always spanned a very wide horizon.' McBurney, together with fellow director/actors Annabel Arden and Marcello Their tWO mOst WIdely seen productions recently were The Three Lives of Magni, but on the funds available it is impossible to keep a permanent ensemble. Lucie Cabral. adapted from a John Berger shOrt slO ry, which had a West End Simon McBurney has a beaky nose and an intense, slightly wild expression. transfer and played to packed houses ar the Shaftesbury, and The Street of This was heightened by his suffering ftom 'fl u, which had already btought down Crocodiles, another co-producrion with the National Thearre. Inspired by the most of the cast. Despite that, they had spent the morning exercising their lungs writings of the Polish surreali st Bruno Schulz, it brought in ItS own surrealistic by singing Georgian polyphony. Before embarking on rehearsa ls Simon had images - heginnlOg with an actor emergll1g from a wastepaper hasket, dripplOg VIsited Georgia with his brother Getard, who has composed the music. There he wet, then so meone magically walking up a wa ll. In Th e Caucasian Chalk CireiMacbeth. They WIll a lso be looking for thel[ own space in which time, and the play is a series of filmic cuts. A season will move from winter to to work rather than the present ad hoc arrangement of finding a corner wherever spring over the course of a speech. There are cutS, cross feeds, close-ups, lo ng they can. 'I would love us to be an ensemble, but there is no money at present to shots, designed, as Brecht intended, to make up a seamless whole.' support a full time acting company', says McBurney. He has dreams of achiev ing a McBurney sees the play's theme as being universal and contemporary. It lottery grant which would gi"e them the permanent space to develop. concerns the question of who owns a child - the blood mother who has given Meanwhile, it's back to tusslll1g with the prohlem of how you keep all your actors blfth to it or the foster mother who has looked after it. Thus it has links with on stage in the round and manage costume changes as well. today's debate over surrogacy. But the play is not only about the ownership of a McBurney, apologlSing for his 'fl u germs, returns to rehearsals. • child, it is, by extension, about ownership of the land, Brecht leaning towards the idea of natural justice as against imposed justice. Juliet Stevenson plays the kitchen-maid Grusha opposite McBurney's Sim on McBume\' and luli t' l SLet:enson Adzak. She has worked with McBurney before, in rehearsed readings of The in rehearsal for The Ca ll~asiar; Chalk Circle. Cherry Orehard and Macbeth. McBurney explained: 'r am constantly setting up little workshops for research. I am an actor first and foremost so everything only comes alive in the space of the stage. That's where I begin, and then I know if I want to go further. The workshop hrings people together to try a play in different forms, fool around with it, try it with musicians. I don't believe in the isolation of different parts of theatre, and I want directors to work closely with actors.' The difference between working with Simon and o ther directors is the eno rmous amount of physical work involved, says juliet Stevenson. 'The apptoach to the play is through the body', she said. 'We spend most of the time in rehearsals developing a physical language in which we are going to tell the story. The way we are working feels much more European than n aditional. and the company is made up of different nationalities - Bosnian, Swiss, Viemamese, Ac o • • , Com ICI 22 APPlAUSE MAY 1997 London Office: The ApplllU5e Building. 68 Long Acre. London WC2E 9JQ 5, Albans Office : PO Box J. 51 Albans ALI 4ED I am very excited at the prospect of seeing Barry Humphries (righrl play Fag in in Oliver! at the London Palladium. He was the ori ginal understudy ro Ron Moody's Fagin in 1960 and then performed, himself in various productions throughout the 60's and has always loved the role. The Fix at the Donmar is the next thing I'm ge((ing excited about. It stars Krysten Cummings who recently starred in Voyeurz making her more at home in the nude than her co-star John Barrowman who was so modest in Hair a couple of years ago. Stay ing on the theme of West End nudity keep your eyes peeled for Nell Dunn's modern classic Steaming set in a wo man's Turkish bath. Julie T Wallace (superb in The Life and Loves of a She-Devil- remember' ) stars alongs ide Lynne Mi ller who comes hot-foOt from six years in The Bill as WPc Cathy Marshall. Now's your chance ro see her out of uniform l And ro rop it all Phil ip Quast, who was marvello us in the titl e role of the Natio nal's Sunday in che Park With George, also stars in the show. I' m sorry, but I just can't wair. There could be soap-wars at dawn in the West End. The lovely Gabrielle Drake (left), currently starring in Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan at the Hay market, has pipped Stephanie Beacham to the post. Stephanie is currently performing the ro le in Chichester and had pl ans for the West End. Never mind. Patrick Marber's new play Closer at the National should be a treat. Following the enormous success of Dealer's Choice - which I loved - they have cast the gorgeous Sally Dexter (recently N ancy in Oliveri), Clive Owen (TV's Chancer) and Ciaran Hinds who has been busy covering all the classic TV dramas recently with his Mr Rochester in Jan e Eyre and Captain Wentworth in Persuasion. A lso you may have recently seen him play Richard III at the RSC. This month's offers are a box of theatrical delights ranging from a pass ionate Cannen at Sadler's Well s at the Peacock Theatre, to an exclusive chance to sample either Robert Lindsay or Barry Humphries as Fagin in Oliver! Happy Theatregoing' Cltrl4ttJjJkr B~/tt(y Club Host WIN! A GR AT ISN£Y DAY OUT IN I.ONDON £200 Disney Store Shopping Spree/ Dinner at Planet Hollywood and Tickets to see Disney/s Beauty and the Beast Disney's Beauty and the Beast will be the most expensive and spectacular musical ever staged in London. Already in its third year on Broadway, the show will open at the Dominion Theatre on 13 May featuring a huge cast of 40, an orchestra of 25, Tony® award-winning costumes, sumptuous sets and dazzling special effects . Applause is offering a lucky winner and a friend the opportunity to spend a day in London enjoying the whole Disney experience. To begin, a liHle light shopping. There are over 48 Disney Stores in the UK and the lucky winner will be treated to a £200 shopping spree at the Aagship Disney Store on Regent Street. Then stroll down to Piccadilly Circus and enjoy a delicious dinner at Planet Hollywood, the exciting movie-themed restaurant. Finally take your seats at the Dominion Theatre for a spectacular and unforgeHable evening at Disney's Beauty and the Beast. To win this fabulous prize, which is for two people and mu st be taken before 31 August 1997, answer the questions below and return your answers on a postcard along with your name, address and daytime telephone number to Disney'S Beauty and the Beast Competition, Applause Magazine, The Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JQ. Good luckl 1. Which aefor will ploy the port of Lumiere in the West End produefion of Disney's Beauty and the Beast;? 2. Which British composer collaborated on lyrics for the show? 3. In Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast, who was the voice of Mrs Potts? M AY 1997 APPLAUSE 23 @venrs diary EVENT * denotes a new event DATE & TIME PAGE * Oliver! SHOW 0' THE MONTH 1-29 May, Mon-Thu at 7.30pm, Wed Mats 2.30pm 26-27 * Victorian Music Hall & Dinner 6 - 30 May, Tue-Sun 6.30pm 26-27 Alan Ayckbourn Premiere (Things We Do For Love) in Scarborough 2-4 May see Mar issue The Goodbye Girl 7 May, Bpm see April issue Northern Italy - Mantova, Cremona & Sabbioneta 9-12 May see Mar issue Disney's Beauty and the Beast 10 May, 2.30pm & 7.30pm see April issue * Carmen 20 May, Bpm 26-27 Smokey Joe's Cafe & Dinner 20 May, Bpm * Steaming 26 May, Bpm 26-27 * Lady Windermere's Fan 29 May, Bpm 26-27 * Beach Blanket Babylon 3 June, Bpm 26-27 Globe Theatre: The Winter's Tale 3 June, 6pm/29 June, 1 .30pm see April issue Giverny/Rouen - Monet and his Garden (via a coach to Monet's garden full of summer Howers) 6-7 June see Feb iss ue * Old Father Thames Pub Tour 17 June, 7pm 25 * Short Art Break in Prague 20-23 June 25 Hampton Court Flower Show 12 July, 10.30am see April issue Globe Theatre: Henry V 20 July, 1.30pm/30 July, 6pm see April issue * Summer Holiday 26 July, 1pm 25 please address your letters to The Editor, Applause, The Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, ~rs London WC2E 9JQ. Each month we will give two tickets to a top West End show for the best letter published . Dea r Sir. seemed co couch on all my own annoyances but doccor's orders, and returned to Her Majesty's This is jusr a gripe m how "ften Jessica Lange was did omi[ one The sranding ovation. When in Thearre the follOw in g day, and performed borh indi sposed ar marinees of Srree rcar (alrhough we New York ir is miraring rhar ar every petformance rhe marinee and eve ning show. Michael sa id (ha( underswnd rhar she appcarcd ar mosr evening rh e aud ience rISes (() irs feer ar rh e curtain ca ll. Sreve Barton was a dancer, and if he cone inued to performances). Twice liT made ;lhonive nil'S to whereas in Bmain i[ would have just received ~'erfonn, he may never dance aga in. London (() see her performance. and narurally we pol ire app lause. However the standing ova ri an I slepr ou(side Her Majes ry's Theacre for were disappointed at her rwn-a ppt'arance. appears co he growing more comnlon tn London, nearly a week in order CO get a Cl cker for Michael's Marinee audiences are not seconcl-class thea n e is rhis due w rhe many Amencan tourtsrs in rhe farewell performance in Phan tO m and was even goers. The days of tinkling tea ClIr' and audiences here i ln my opinion there are ve ry few offered £1,000 for my ticket. Mi chae l's lasr nighr chattering. inattcnti\'c aud ience, at afternoon perform~nces which dese rve the stand ing ova ri on. in London made thea tre h iscory, and I hope and performances arc over. A rypicalm w~s grea[ and I reall y think it should be given [0 leg fa lling through the stage trap door. When put into the article. eve ryone, everywhere who buys theatre ticke(s. h Michael heard this, he left the hosp iral aga ins( his Bill Kenwright, London 24 4 PPLA,~St MAY 1997 -~ent-- &trav OLD FATHER THAMES PUB TOUR Enj oy a jl'urney rhrough sinisrer SHeets ;1I1d dark alleyways, where ri verside [;lverns hide rales of smul!lI: ler:, and ghosts lurk alongsid e lirerary memori es. This wa lk conrains a jot of scandal, gal lon> ot" pub lore and caverns thar litcrally hang over the River Thames, ba lanced so precariously that ir 's a wonder just one whiff of the scandals rhey have wimessed havcn't se nr them toppling into rhe murky warers. SUMMER HOLIDAY Lunch and matinee performance Darren Day [; lkes on rhe C liff Ri chard role in rhis srage ve rsion of the popular film. Enj oy lunch at Dea ls Res taurant before rhe sh ow. We have best sea ts for the matinee performance at 2 .30 ~' m . SHORT ART BREAK IN PRAGUE Prague is probably Eastern Europe's most beautiful ci ty with a wea lrh of medieval and baroque MAY 1997 APi'L USE 25 hea LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN 101, The Manchester Royal Exchange's sparkli ng production of Oscar Wilde's witty comedy starr ing G abrielle Drake. Thursday 29 ,y,aAll Yat 8pm LHAYMARKEt tHEAtRE ROYA SWI Haymarket, London VICTORIAN MUSIC HALL Experience a night at the world famous Players' Theatre Vi ctorian Music Hall , London 's best kept secret. Following a deli cious three course meal at the theatre you will enjoy the traditional and unique atmosphere of a Victorian Music Hall . eat~ for £25.00 JVICTORIAN . . . '. .. . MUSIC HALL 6 -30M. Tuesd. ay 1997 Includes i'. ays - S, .3- se ,showstarts ~n1days 6. 30PIn cour . SPin) Meal PLAYERS' The Arches f"'.EAfRE Strand, W Q ' Villiers Stre et, 26 APPLAUSE MAY 1997 'e offer 312 1991 BEACH BLANKET BABYLON Stil l packing them in 2J years after it opened in San Francisco, Beac h Blanket Babylon makes its Europea n premiere as part of this yea r's BOC Cove nt Garden Fes ti va l. It's ou trageous, witty, energetic and Joaded with 0 hllW of th M nth non-stop fun . OLIVER! Enj oy Robert Lindsay's final performances as Fag in (winner of this year's Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical) until 9 May and then re vel in Barry Humphries' unique portrayal for the rest of the month. Now in its third glorious year O li ve ri is a guaranteed delight l TueSday 3} une at8pm UNICORN A Great New RTS THEATRE part St Land OLIVER! ' on W1 1 - 29 May 1997 Monday ....L. d. ",urs ayat 730 Wednesday mat' ''Pm, mees at 2.30pm CARMEN LONDON PALLADIUM Antonio Gades' spectacular flamenc o dance drama returns after last Argyll Street, London W1 yea r's sel l-out season. This is a stunnin g theatric al adaptation fe aturing Bize t's passionate and powerfu l score. ')'MING Eclair and Julie T Wallace (left) star ell Dunn's rousing, cutting comedy set -:-urkish baths. vely play suffused with affection" I The Times AMING 26 May 1997, 8pm LLY THEATRE Street, London Wl tv,AY 1997 APPlAUSE 27 THE OFFICIAL LONDON THEATRE GUIDE I OF THE SOCIETY OF LONDON THEATRE ADELPHI D~U~Y lANE LY~IC PRINCE OF WAU:S Damn Yankees Miss Saigon Marlene Smokey Joe's Cafe JackO'Brien's Broadway produc~on of Jerry Boublll 8< Schonberg's musical aboul a G.I. Sian Phillips ploys the drink-sodden divo The Broadway revue inspired by the songs Ross and Richard Adle(s musical will feature who falls In love wflh a Vietnamese gin Manena Dietrich In Pam Gems' mu~col of Leiber and Stoller gets ~s West End Jerry Lew~ as the Devil In on update of the continues ~s arnazlng run. Now In ~s eighth ploy aboul the German ~nger. Sean premiere. Song' include Hearlbreak Hofel lale of Dr Faustus. Opens June 4. year. the show ~ booking to December. Mathias directs. and Hound Dog. Star.; members of the Performance times unavailable at ffme of Man-Sot 7.45. Man-Sot 7.45. original American cast. press. Mots Wed & Sot 3.00 Mats Wed. Sot 3.00 Mon-Sot 8.00. Mots Thur. Sot 3.00 ALBE~Y DUCHESS NATIONAL THEAT1I£t QUEENS The Goodbye Girl The Herbal Bed In repertOire. Master Class OUVIER: THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIOCU: Gory Wilmot star.; as a would-be actor Shakespeare's daughter is a ccused of Patli Lupone (Sunset Boulevard) returns to Simon McBumey directs Juliet Stevenson in who ends up shoring on apartment with a leading a married man astray in Peter the West End to ploy opera singer Moria Berta~ Brecht's tragic tole. MARAT/SADE Whelan's drama. bosed on a true court Callos. spending her lost years teaching dancer aHer confusion over its lease. Carin Redgrave ployS Morat In Peter Weiss' hopefuls in a Paris flat MUSical by Neil Si mon. Morvin Hamlisch case. asylum-set drama. and David Zippel. Mon-Sot 7.30. Mon-Sot 8.00. LYTTELTON: THE C~IPPLE OF tNlSHMAAN Mots Wed. Sot 3.00 Mon-Fri 8.00, Sol 5.00 & 8.30. Mot Wed 3.00 Mots Wed, Sot 3.00 Martin McDonagh's new ploy directed b y Nic holas Hytner. THE HOMECOMING ~OYAL COU~T THEATIIE DOWNSTAtRS ALDWYCH FO~TUNE Roger Micheli revives Pinte(s tole of Tom and Clem The Woman In Black jealousy. LADY IN THE DARK Rarely East Is East Alec McGowen and Mic hael Gambon Ewan Hooper and James Simmons ploy performed Hart. Gershwin and Weill Ayub Khan-Din's comic exploration 01 ploy Clemenl Atlee and Tom Driberg in the two men embroiled in this extraordi musical. Asian family life in 19705' Salford comes Slephen Churchetl's new palilical drama nary ghost story. Writ1en by Stephen COmSLOE: CLOSE~ Patrick Mart>er delves West aHer success at the Theotre Upstairs in which a ~ngle MP Ihreatens the Prime Mallotratl from Susan Hill's novel. into reloffonships in his new ploy. KING and Stratford East. Minister's plans in post-war Europe. Man-Sot 8.00. LEA~ ton Holm follows the regal descent Man-Sol 7.30. Man-Sot 7.30, Mots Wed. Sot 3.00 Mots Tue 3.00. Sot at 4.00 into madness. Mat Sot 3.30 APOLLO GA~~tCK NEW LONDON ST.MA~TlN'S Popcorn An Inspector Calls Cats The Mousetrap Ben E~on 's comic ploy deals w~h SCreen Stephen Daldry's hugely successful revival Andrew Uoyd Webber's musical inspired Murder in a remote hotel IS the sourc e of violence through the story of a film of J. B. Priestley's ploy in which a by T S EliOt's Old Possum's Book of Practicol the wand's longest run. It's now the 45th director. played by Donny Webb. who is mysterious inspector disrupts a celebration Cotscontinues into its 16th yeor. Booking year for the Agatha Christie thriller and held at gunpoint by two tons of his tilms. at the BiMing residence. through 10 December 13. people are stililrying to find out who did it. Mon·Sot 8.00. Man-Fn 7.45. Sot 5.00 & 8.15. Man-Soi 7.45. Man-Sof 8.00. Mots Wed 3.00. Sot 4.00 Mots Wed 2.30 Mots Tue & Sot 3.00 Mots Tue 2.45, Sol 5.00 APOLLO VICTO~IA GIElGUD THE OLD VIC SAVOY Starlight Express Romance Romance The Peter Hall Company in repertOire. The Importance of Being Oscar HU~LYBURLY British premiere of American The 2nd longest running mu~cal in theatre West End premiere for Borry Horman and S4mo n Callow stars in Micheol MacLiammoir's writer Dovid Robe's darkly comic portrayal one-man biagro phlcal ploy. subtitled The history is Andrew Uoyd Webber's roller-skat Keith Herrmann's two one-oct musicals of four men chasing dreams in Hollywood. Wil. Triumph and Tragedy of Oscar Wilde. ing extravaganza, inspired by the move entitled The Liffle Comedy and Summer The cost includes Stephen Dillane. Rupert limited season until May 10. ment of troins. Directed by Trevor Nunn. Share. Love is in the air. Graves and Andy Serkis. Man-Sot 7.45. Mon-Sol 8.00. THE SEAGULL Peter Hall revives Chekhov's Man-Sot B.oo. Mots Tue & Sot 3.00 Mals Thur. Sot 3.00 Mots Wed. Sot 3.00 ploy with Victoria Hamilton. Felic~y Kendal and Michael Pennington. CAMB~IDGE GLOBE SHAFTESBU~Y PRAYE~S OF SHERKIN Brilish premiere of Grease In repertoire from May 27 : Sebastian Barry's ploy set in a strict Sinderelia Comes Again The major revival of the first stage version HEN~Y V Richard Olivier directs religious community in Ireland. Entertainer Jim Davidson makes another to include the famous songs from the film Shakespeare's patriotiC history ploy with WAtliNG FO~ GODOT Peter Hall dlfects foray into the world of adult panlomime. has now been running for three and a half Mark Rylance as the young warrior-king. 8en Kingsley. Alan Howord and Greg Hicks rework ing the c lassic fairy-tole ofC,nderelio years. David Gilmore directs. THE WINTE~'S TAU: David Freemon directs in Becketl's mast erwork. into a frenzy ot innuendo. Unlil May 3. Man-Sol 7.30. the Bard's tole of LeONe's misp laced THE P~OVOK'D WIFE Victoria Hamilton and Tue·Frr. Sun 8 00. Mots Wed. Sot 3.00 sexual jealousy. Michael Pennington Of odds in marriage. So t 500 & 8.30 COMEDY HAYMA~KET OPEN At~ ST~AND Birdy lady Windermere's Fan In repertOire from May 27. Buddy A MIDSUMME~ NIGHT'S D~EAM The Rob Morrow (Norlhem Exposure) stars in Lady Windermere's reputation is at stake The Buddy Holly Story. His life story is the story of two friends affected by when her fan is fo und in the aportments of Regent's Park. favourite returns. fhreaded amongst the songs that fighfing in the second work1 wor. William Lord Darlington. Braham Murray directs All'S WElL THAT ENDS WElL Dillie Keane influenced a generation before his Whorton's novel is adopted by Noami Oscor Wilde's 1892 comedy. star.; in Shokespeare's tragi-comedy. unlimely death. Over 3000 performances. Wallace Man-Sot 8.00. KISS ME KATE Cole Porter's musical toke on Tue-Thur 8.00. Frr 5.30 & 8.30. Mon·Sot 8.00. Mots Thur 3.00. Sol 5.00 Mots Thur 3.00. Sot 5.00 The Taming of the Shrew. 5015.00 & 8.30. Sun at 4.00 C~ITE~ION HE~ MAJESTY'S PALACE VAUDEVILLE Reduced Shakespeare Co The Phantom of the Opera les Miserables Women on the Verge of HRT The Reduced Shakespeare Company Andrew lloyd Webbefs musical follows Boublil. Schonberg & Kretzmer musica l Pam Snghton directs Marie Jones' new Irish present The Complete Works o f William fhe tole of the masked man who haunts evoking the tragedy of the French comedy aboul gynaecological frouble. Shakespeare (Abridged) and The the Paris Opera House. Now booking 10 Revolution. A few seats ore available fo r Limited season perlarmed by Dubbeljoint Complele History of America (Abridged). December 1997. this long-nJ nner. Theatre Company. rue-Sot 8.00. Mon·Sot 7. 45. Man-Sot 7.30. Mon·Sot 7.45. Mots Thur 3.00. Sot 5.00. Sun 4.00 Mots Wed & Sot 3.00 Mots Thur & Sot 2.30 Mals Thur. Sot 3.00 DOMINION LABATT'S APOLLO HAMME~SMITH PHOENIX VtCTO~tA PALACE Beauty and the Beast Heathcliff Blood Brothers Always A beauliful gin falls in love with 0 beast Cliff Richard fulfills his lifetime ombitian by Willy Russell's award winning mUSical William May and Joson Sprogue's musicol who lives in a bewitched costle. Disney's playing the dork and brooding lead in Tim follows the plight of two liverpudlian obout Ihe relationship between Edward musical version of Ihe c lassic fairy-tole Rice ond John Forrar's musical adaptation brothers seporated at birth but destined to VIII and Mrs Simpson tokes rls Wesl End features lyrics by Tim Rice. of Emily Branle's novel. limited season until meelogoin. bow. Previews from May 20. Man-Sot 7 30. May 3. Man-Sot 7.45. Mon-Sol 7.30. Mots Wed & Sot 3.00 Man-Sot 8.00 Mots Thur 3.00. Sot 4.00 Mots Wed. Sot 3.00 DONMA~ WA~EHOUSE LONDON PALLADIUM PICCADILLY WYNDHAM'S The Fix Oliveri Steaming Art Sam Mendes directs the world premiere of lionel Barfs claSSIC tunes return to the west Jenny Ecl air stars in Nell Gunn's 1981 ploy David Haig. Anton Le sser and MOrk on American mUSical about the rise and End in Sam Mendes' major revival of the obout the relationships between women .....Villioms ploy three friends whose fall of a charismatic politician played by musical version ot Dickens' lole. Robert who meet in a Turkish both. Direcfed by relationship is turned upside down when John Borrowman. Until June 14 Lindsay stars as Fagin Ian Brown. one of them buys a work of modern art . Man-So t 7 30. Man-Sot 7.30. Man-Fri 8.00. Sot 5.00 & 8.30 Man-Sot 8.00. Mals Wed. Sot 3.00 Mots Wed. Sot 2.30 Mots Wed 2.30 Mots Wed 3.00. Sol 5.00 DONMA~ WA~EHOUSE LYCEUM P~INCE EDWA~D Please note: All information in d!~ The Maids Jesus Christ Superstar Martin Guerre Ihis guide is subject to change I~ John Crowley direcls Jean Genet's Gale Edwards directs Andrew lloyd The lalest from Baublil ond Schonberg. without prior notice. Please ritualistIc drama in which two sisters act Webber and Tim Rice's musical based on writers of Miss Soigon and Les Miserobl6s, is check all details before making , out the murder of their employer. limited the adult hfe of Christ. Songs include I based on the folk story of a man who your booking. season June 19-August 9. Don't Know How to Love Him. retums from a war and c laims ta be a t =Registered c harrly. Man-Sot 8.00. Man-Sol 7 45. woman's long lost husbond This information is prepared by Mals Thur. Sot 4.00 Mots Wed. Sot 2.30 Mon-Sot 7.45. Mots Thur. Sot 3.00 The Society of London Theatre THE ABOVE SHOWS CAN BE BOOKED THROUGH THE TICKETLINE ON 0171 312 1991, SUBJECT TO THE USUAL AGENa BOOKING FEE NO BOOKING FEE ON Slarlight, Grease, Miss Saigon, Blrdy, The Goodbye Girl, The Mousetrap, Woman In Black, Buddy, An Inspector Calls, Oliveri, Manin Guerre, Sadlers Wells at the Peacock Theatre, BOe Covent Garden Festival 28 ;.c,' IJ, i.- '~f MAY 199 7 ..... ompendi Cf).of the month I ,.... r..,~ " '1 D '(lV:-LYi ;~, R'a2 I 2 THE 3 GONDOLIERS A Double CD SAVE £6 Applause price £20 5 (norma~ly £26) 6 7 8 To celebra te the Bri tish Youth Ope ra's prod uction of G ilbert 9 and Sulli van's The Gondoliers, a highlight of this yea r's BOC 10 Covent Garden Festiva l, App lause are offe ring a classic record ing of the operetta. II I This offic ial D'Oyly Carte O pera recording features Jil l Pe rc, Richard Stuart and Elizabeth Woo ll en and the D'Oyly Carte NAME GAME chorus and orchestra, and includes a bonus track of the When you've filled in the names across the puzzle from the clues, Di Ballo Overture recorded comple te for the first time. you will find a hidden celebrity running down through your answers. 1. Writer of Volpone 7. Theatre Jesus returned to 2. House in Verona 8. Write on Separate Table Call now on 0171 312 1991 3. Beauty Queen writer 9. Award-winner has Secrets (Please note there will be a £ 1.50 charge fo r p&p. 4. Makes a fine Ivanov and Lies Pl ease allow 28 days for delivery.) 5. Playwright gives up Loot 10. Prince's mad lover 6. Major star in opera 11 . Art has it , so does Margeret WORDLINKS ANAGRAMS seating fax serVice Find a word which can be added These three phrases are after one word and before the other anagram s of three top N For a West End theatre seating plan, simply dial the number of the theatre word to make two new words e.g . performers who have recently lis ted be low from the handset of your fax mac hine. Helpli ne Ot 7t 41 2 3795. WAll (PAPER) WEIGHT. (or currentlyl had stage hits . Presenred by Applause magazme in assoc iation wit h Teleco m Ex press Lt d, Westminster Tower, LonJon SEI 7S P. Call, cosr £1. 50/mll1 (du ra tion of fa x approx. 2 mmu te,). GREEN ( ) PLANT A BONNY RELIC Ade lphi 099 t 992 301 Lyr ic 099 t 992 324 CART ( ) BARROW Albery 099 1 992 302 WilY MR GOAT Na tional- O liv ier 099 t 992 325 CAT ( ) KIN Aldw yc h 099 1 992 303 N ati onal-Lytrl eton 099 1 992 326 BURST BOATS FRUIT ( ) CREAM Apollo 0991 992305 Ne w London 099 1992 328 Apo ll o Vic to ria 099 1 992 307 O ld Vic 099 1 992 329 I L 4 IJ I.) MINI CROSSWORD Ba rbican 099 1 992308 Open Air 0991 992 330 The answers to the five clues Cambri dge 099 1992 309 Palace 099 1 99 233 1 2 below read down as well as Colise um 099 1 992 310 Peacoc k 0991992 341 across. Comedy 0991 9923 11 Phoenix 099 1 992 332 3 Criteri on 099 1 992 312 Piccadi ll y 099 1 992 33 3 1. Sides Dominion 099 1 992 31 3 Pla yhouse 0991 992334 4 2. Registe r Donmar 0991 992 3 14 Pri nce Edwa rd 0991 99233 5 3. Row Drury Lan e 099 1 992 315 Pri nc e of Wales 099 1 992 336 S 4. Rodent Duchess 099 1 992316 Queens 099 1 992 337 5. Smooth Duke of York's 0991 992 3 17 Roya l Opera House 099 1 992340 Fortune 099 1 992 318 Savoy 099 1 992 343 Garrick 099 1 9923 19 Shaftesbury 0991 992 344 TEASER Gielgud 099 1992 320 St Mart in's 099 1 992 34 5 What links Ghana; ladies Day; ulster and mackintosh; Hay marke t 099 L 992 32 1 Strand 099 1 992 346 San Jose; Puccini . Her Ma jesty's 0991 992 322 Vaudeville 099 1992 347 Lond on Palladiu m 099 1 992 323 Victori a Pa lace 099 1 992 348 Answers on page 50. Lyce um 099 1 992 358 Whiteha ll 0991 9923 49 MAY 1997 APPlAUS E 29 @,atingout ,almon 'with block treacle, ju niper and ,herry dreiling' CITY RHODES (on on unadverti,ed bed of rocket). He wa, taking the New Street Square, EC4 Tel : 0171 583 131 3 adventurous role that evening. The treacle drelling to,t ed, he ,aid thoughtfull y, 'like Chri,tmas mincemeat, only FOR GREAr NIGHrS our You have to admire Gary Rhodes. Nat only does he ,avoury: and then braced him,elf for ,tuffed brai,ed IN lONDON happen to have a name which can be multiplied in pig', trotter. 'It', a sou ,age with toenail" really: he endless puns to farm the titles of his TV shows, his cook munched, topping ,aid toenails greedily with the end of No visit to London is complete unless you've books, his magazine interviews and, now, his restaurant his kn ife to ,ee if there could pollibly be any more experienced a great night out at one of the - he also has the chutzpoh to situate that gastronomic meat on them . Continuing the theme of knocker's yard capital's premier cabaret dinner venues! temple in the middle of a car pork. haute cuisine, I hod the grilled calves liver (also recom Enjoy a brilliant evening of stunning Well, nat quite in the middle, but next door. The mended by my neighbour, and by the waiter, and by cabaret enlertainment and fun , good food the only other person I know who had"already been to other surrounding buildings ore blank, modern office and drink, for an all-inclusive price I blocks and the view is of somebody's waste disposal City Rhode,) with foie gras and a swooningly bitter chute. Yet Rhodes' fans are Rocking there. Only eight sweet onion tort, which I th ink I liked be,t of everything for more information and booleing, weeks aher the opening of City Rhodes, the man at the on the plate, even if the liver wm perfectly cooked. call 0171 724 J 106 table next to mine revealed that he had been there three The wine was a bargain - delicious oaky quoting bookmg code VOOB times already. (We struck up a conversation because I Chilean Valdivie,o Chardonnay for £17.50 instead of was eyeing his olives.) He made me a present of them, the li,ted price of £23.50, becau,e the vintage was 96 and advi,ed me to try the spiced tuna. In fact he said I instead of 95, and all credit to the management for should de~nitely have the tuna, and that if I didn't like it retailing it more cheaply when many re,tauront, would he would pay for it. We were just canciuding thi, ,imply have kept mum. unlikely borgain when my companion and his came Puddings were a mixed bog . We enquired aher back from their re,pective millions of nature. They were the 'Jaffa Coke' pudding, but it, combination of a little surprised, but it just goes to show that a) some ,ponge, choco la te gonoche, chocolate gloze etc sound posh restaurant, can be very friend ly place, and b) you ed too sickly. Bread and butter pudding wm more in ,hould always get a ,ide table with banquette ,eating my frie nd's li ne - ,weet and eggy - de,pite his being so that your neighbour, are within speaking di,tance. allergic to eggs ('but only according 10 the per>on who The only drawback to this gregoriou, impul,e wm analy,ed my hair') I hod the be,t dellert: a huge, but FOOD FOR THOUGHT that, when I decided against th e spiced tuna in favou r ' Ires, Ires fine' a,the French ,ay, apple lart, with apple Vegetarian Restaurant of the ,eared scallop, with hot mu,tard shallot ,auce, IOrbet in its own little ,ide dish . Sweet and ,our. which I had glimpsed at the table on my other ,ide, it For ,uch a fea,l, expect to pay around £40 each. felt emborrm,ingly like a defection. I can't mi slead you : Gory Rhodes doe, not perambulate Pre,Theatre Offer I didn 't regret the choice. The scallop, (a ta,ty trio, about the dining room , glad-handing hi, fans , since he 3-course Meal Only £6.50 inc. and for be it from me to critici,e the portions, since discovered he could never get bock into the kitchen, so Va lid on presentation of this ad Rhodes major> on heavy dishe, and you never come ,lor-gazer> may be disappointed. Gmtronome" howev away feel ing hungry) were divine, and accompanied er, wi ll be delighted ; he i, that rare thing, a big nome by a sort of petrified tornado of smooth mmhed potato. chef who actually cooks you r dinner. Meanwhile my companion wm enjoying escolope of 31 NEAL STREET, COVENT GARDEN WC2 30 APPLAUSE MAY 1997 ouring around Britain doing one-night A ttenborough after Coward had looked up at , tand5 of Th ea trical Anecdotes has heen him and whispered, 'You look so ve ry pretty.' - 15 bell1g - a mixture of discovery and I was late getting to Arc at the Wyndhams, Peter Whelan deservedly won the £25 ,000 prize nostalgia. I 'discovered' The Wolsey having to do a platfo rm at the National on the with Harold Pinter and Ronald Harwood as in Ipswi ch , the C orn Exchange in first night. When 1did see it I enjoyed it runners up. The play was The Herbal Bed , Newbury dnd the Strode Theatre in Street enormoll sly, hut I was struck hI' a comparison directed by Michael Attenhorough. ' I've " a few miles from my Somerset home. My first with the light wi tty comedies of Sacha Guitry received from the Father', said Whelan pointing theatrical experi ence happened a couple of delicately playing with love between the sexes, to Dickie, and been directed by the Son', hundred yards away at the Playhouse cinema. "ften with only three or four ac tors. Here the indicating Michael. 'All we need now is a touch It was here that 1sa w my first pantomime in mood and the economy seemed much the same of the Holy G host!' He went on to emphasise 1938. I was se ven, and the one thing that I can though the ball being tossed atound was not sex that banks 'will giv e you any su m of money as remember is that while they got on with the or betrayal hut more friendsh ip and loyalty. Not long as you can prove you don't need it.' magic and changed the pumpkin and the mice many people noticed that. into C inderella's cmriage and ponies, Dandin i came ou t in No 1's and did her paper-tearing act. It was great to have good houses on the Millicent Martin, Julia McKenzie and David Anecdote tour especially at G reenwich, which In the George after Loose Ends C hristopher Lee Kernan have been recording an album of was nor a discovery, bu t a nostalgia trip. In 1970 came up with a couple of fre sh stories. He was Sondheim songs written since we a ll did Side by d uring G reenwich's inaugu ral season , Ewan in Charlton HestOn's film version of}uli!i5 Side by Sondhe im over 20 years ago. They have Hooper who had been heroicallv res ponsibl e fo r Caesa r. Heswn played Antony, Gielgud was pondered calling it Zimmer h), Zimmer by bringing the house back into being, agreed to Caesar. and Lee was Artimednrus. Yea rs latet, in Zondheim. put on Sing A Rude Song. Caryl Brahms and I a grand Indian botellohby, he asked Gielgud if had written this musical with Ron Grainer he remembered. Sir John recalled the forum about Marie Lloyd and added some very funny scene wh ich Heston played in a sk impy jock scenes by Alan Bennett. There had heen some strap having apparently rushed in sweaty from Just a short walk ~ pretty thin houses in the opening weeks of the the G ym. 'ButtOcks would melt in my mouth', from the West [n~ ... . theatre but it looked as if a musical, backed hI' Sir John said nostalgica ll y. Robert Stigwood and starring Barbara Windsor, HestOn did well as the player-king in Denis Quilley and Mautice G ibb of the Bee Kenneth Branagh's excellent Hamlet. A far cry French's Theatre Gees, was going to halance the budget. from h IS Ahmanson Macbeth in LA. Cora l Di saster struck on the second night when Broll"l1e rang for first night tickets. The box Bookshop Barbara's voice went. It was a Friday and two offi ce sa id they'd all gone. She made herself full houses were booked for the Saturday. know n. They still said 'no se ats'. She re A veritable Aladdin's cave of books Because of short-handedness in the suhurban announced herself as 'Mrs Vincen t Price'. She about all aspects of theatre: scripts, company, the understudy was not adequately was turned down again. 'All right' she sa id, 'I'll set design, lighting, sound, audition rehearsed and an attempt to get her ready in have twO for immed iately after the intermiss ion'. material, and more' the small hours ended in tears. Chriswpher's other stOry spra ng from an I shall never forget the look of (ni xed fe ar encounter with Noel Coward after Coward had Our recent publications include: and horror in Denis's eyes next morning when I been inrcrviewed by Ri chard Attenhorough at Bad Company by Simon Bent called the casr and explained our plan. I would the National Film Theatre. Lee tl10ught the Cracks by Martin Sherman sit on the side of the stage and tell Marie Lloyd interviewer had been rather fulsome - spraying The Dearly Beloved and stories when the ac tion ground to a halt. Robin the word 'Master' laVishly. He sa id as muc h to What I Did In The Holidays Phillips the director dressed in sober black, Coward. 'Darling Dick ie' said the Master, 'he by Philip Osment would read Marie's lines. The understudy, rhe always was intoxicated by Cherry Bl ossom .' Killers by Adam Pernak hrave Pat Ashton, would sing her songs and I told the good Lord A this one at the Playhouse Creatures by April de Angelis Playing the Wife by Ronald Hayman Virgina Mason the choreographer would dance L1 0yds Private Banking Playwright of The Year If We Are Women her steps. There was no time to rehearse. Awards at BAFTA. H e recalled bestowing by Joanna McLelland Glass That's how we did it, twice. Irving Wardle Coward's only Doctorate on him at Sussex who reviewed the matinee for the Christian University - Dickie arrayed in elaborate Black French's Theatre Bookshop Science Monitor said it was lik e the most and Yellow hat and robes. His son, Michael, and Samuel French Ltd perfectly Brechtian production he had ever later asked him why he bent over Coward for so 52 Fitzroy Street, London WIP 6JR witnessed. long. '\Ve couldn't stop giggling', said Tel 0171 387 9373 Fax 0171 387 2161 MAY 1997 APPLAUSE 31 It's common knowledge that a Phantom haunts Her Majesty's every evening (matinees on Wednesday and Saturday), but a few people have witnessed the real thing in London's theatres, Linn Branson has been ghost~hunting around the West End, n actor's petform ance on stage Anyone with tickets fo r a matinee performance theatre manager who was knIghted by Edward VII in may, if you're lucky, stir and of the theatre's cu rrent prod ucti on Ivliss Saigon, 1909. While relati\'e ly few have seen Tree 's ghost haunt yo u, and leave you should look·out for a gentleman in froc k coa t and although In 1977 the enme cast of a production of possessed by rhe experience. But knee breaches of the 17th century: his fav ourite time Terence Ratti ga n' s Cau se Celebre witnessed hi s if the man y spooky tal es told by for appeanng is be tween the hours of lOam and 6pm, clearl y recognisable, albeit shadowy, fi gure wa lk theatre folk are to be believed, your nex t viSIt to a with an oc casional rest in a seat in the fou rth row of ac r05s the back of the stalls - many more ha\'e playhouse could in volve the haunting enc ounter you the Upper CII·cl e. admitted feelin g a presence and an accompanyi ng had n't bargained for. Other gh os ts of the theatre are thought to be drop in temperature. An appropriate ,'enue for The The Theatre Royal Drury Lane certain Iv lives up the clown Joel' Grimaldi (who seems to take grea t Phan tom of the Opera. to its reputation of being the wo rld 's most haunted delight in kIcking bad actors in the behind), the At the Hay market Theatre the regular thea tre with a full supporting cast of spectres. One is ac tor· manager Charles Keen, and Dan Leno. A top theatregoe rs include Da\'id Morri s and John widely belie ved to be that of the Shakespearean ac tor comedian of hi s day, Leno has mad e several Buckstone, two forme r man agers, and an elderly Charl es Mack lin, who in the theatre's Green Room ap pearances around the thearre. After the actor unidentified ge ntleman. It is said that Bu ckstone, one night in 1735 atr ac ked and killed fe ll ow thespian Tony Britton heard foo tsteps during h,s run in No, wh o after 25 yea rs as manage r died in 1879, at rhe Thomas Hallam during a jealous rage. When a No Nanette, in 1973, he ca lled in a medium whose age of 77, has been heard whi spering in one of the skele ton was unearthed during rebuilding work in description of 'a little man \\'1(h big boots ' accurat· dress ing rooms. Some years ago the figure of a man 1921, wi th a dagger rlunged between the ribs and ely fitted Leno, famous for hISclog dance ro utme. we aring a long froc k coat was seen Sitting In a chair threads of grey cloth st ill attached, it herald ed the The spint of Arthur Collins (1897· 1923), a in one of the dress ing rooms. The door was locked beginning of the 'Man in Grey' slghtings. fo rm er director of the Theatre Roya l, IS reputed to but whe n re·opened a short time afterwards it was Rec koned to be Thomas Hallam himself, the be the culprit be hi nd the sudden movement of small empty - but the face of a man was staring in through Man in Grey was seen on one occasion, in 1939, deskto p obj ects like pens, pencils and paper, wh ich one of the windows. cross ing the Uppe r Circle by man y of the cast of the would suddenly jump as if moved by a human hand, One pe rson in no doubt that Mr Bucksrone's rroduction assembled on stage for a photocall. The surpri smg late working members of staff. The gh ost still hovers around the thea tre is actor Donald figure always fo llows the same route: from the room conclusion was that it was Collins making known Sinden. It was at the Haymarket, where he was whi ch is now a bar on one SIde of the Upper C ircl e, his annoyance that business had nO( been completed making hIS West End debU( in The Heiress, oppos ire ac ross the auditorium, then left and down a fli ght of during the prescribed working hours. Sir Ralph Richardson and Gillian Howell, thilt he stairs and ~r o und the back of the Urrer Circle, Her Majesty's Theatre was built in 189 7 for Sit had a first·hand spectral encounrer, th at convinced before disappea ring th rough a wa ll. Beerbohm Tree, a profess iona l actor and successful him of the existence of ghos ts. ~ 32 APPt.AU_E MAY 1997 'I cnn ;[l ll rememhcr It \'ery cle"rly,' he say; A 'rheatre angel' with a J!fferen ce \I",,, "hsen 'eel and the ['lIh he h,,,'C \I irne>;ed lilt, figure ,,( a \\',1In,1I1 no\\', elmu;t 50 ,"ear; Idter, 'Gdlian 8nd I h",1 In the lntnguing account o( the my ~te r y \'oicc heard dressed in " ld -fashi,meJ C\lstume on sner;" r~ c el\' e d Oll[ cedl,m ,] ,' l;meJ to wa lk duw n the stairs persistently prompting the (lefors nn :-;tnge from the UCClSII.) n ~ lWer rhe Illq (ew yea r::;. r()gt' rhe L lln rhl:' (dI1lling ulltslJe R~ l p h ' S drc))ll1g \\' ing, edrly nn during the ru n of De1lC h Trap ,1[ rhe IThc (ir:-t :'ighnng \\'a' .1 (e\\ ~'C8r ;; ,lgl l, Juring " room we ,--{l\\" R:llph "(,lndl11g \\"1rh hi:' hack to U ~ Carrick The,me, (:Innng Cws, Ro"J, m 1980, i\ p<:do rJllatlce', " III 191), DUrLng her llieCim e , he cOlild f'r cquently be a ,pcclal onJn"" (,)r tbe theatre, The R,)yalty pi" I" seen in her ten tlur ite hux watching rhe action 0 n h,1;t 1'0 rhe m,;rre's of the tbeatre', hllilde r, Oscar S[ (ormer hom e, L clim to he ing haunreel, hut horb mernhtrs "f sraff ", 'l n~ lI /td n r, MAY 1997 j>PPL4USE 33 lnrer!ll(,\\· . TERRENCE McNALLY Patrick Pacheco meets one of Broadway 's most successful playwrights whose work is largely unknown in Britain. Will Master Class change that? tone poinr in Terrence McNa lly 's who hIde wha t they're rea ll y feelin g,' says McNall y. wrme the boo k, was no more successfu l in London MOSier Class, Patti Lu Pone, 3> the 'In opera you usually know when somehody hates than it had heen in New York in the ea rl y '80s, and, impenous opera diva Maria Callas, you or loves you, or whar somehody's thinking, and although there hav e been a numher of small studio admonishes a timid srudenr ,'This is rh ar's also true of my plays. Orherwise, I don'r know producri ons of his plays in England, much of his rh e rheatre, darltng, where we wea r wh y I would bother.' work has gone unproduced at the wider venues. A Aour hearts on our slee\'es! ' Bur borher he has. Celebraring rhree decades Perfw Ganesh was recently produced at the Leeds 'La Dlv,na', as she was called, cl ose ly followed of wriri ng for rhe rhearre, the prolific 57-year·old Playhouse wirh Prunella Scales and El ea nor Bton, that dicrum herse lf in a career packed with triumph playwrl ghr has reached a respec red plarea u as 'rhe bur a hoped· for transfer to rhe Wesr End never and tragedy until her death tn 1977 - and so , for rhat quintessentIal man of the theatre' , which is how Zoe materia I,sed. matter, has McNally, ",ho summoned her legendary Caldwell, who created the role of Maria Call as in 'I'm not exac tly batting 1000 with rhe British ghos t for a drama ",hich wo n him the Tony Award Mas ler CUrss on Broadway, puts it. Following a fallow public,' says McNa ll y, 'so I'd rather like to snea k for Best Pl ay last year on Broadway and which ",ill pe ri od in the late '70s, Mc Na ll y has had a into tO wn qlllet iY. I was really very pleased With Jude bring LuPone b cllJoles her charges into 'subjuga ting' appeal to make McNally a house hold themselves to art , there are flashbacks to name, the playwright is enjoying the the tempestuous expenences grea test succ ess of his career. Impoverished childhood in war· torn A ga laxy of noted actresses have Athens, glory days at La Scala, a hea rt· lined up to play Callas: LuPone in breaking affair with a brutall y sadistic London, Dixie Carter in New York, Aristotle Onass is - which shaped the Faye Dunaway on th e road, Fanny voice that so captivated the world. Given Ardant in Paris, Rosella Falk in Rome. the playw right's penchant for outsized Ragume shows every indication of emotions, it seemed almost Inevitahle that being a smash hit, and the film of > he would one day team up With a woman who in th e pl ay is described as 'hurltng notes like thunderbolts.' 'I don't write about repressed people 34 APPL,l,USf MAY 1997 Love' Valow'! C UI11!){1ssun' has been we ll -received ar I'VE SPENT York ro attend Columbia Un iver;i ry. As a freshman, vorio us film fesri"~1s prior [0 irs ['ublic release. he camped out for three days at Ihe box-office to Nor bad fe)r 8 gll\ whosc firsr show, Thin gs That MY WHOLE buy a standing room ricket fot Callas's New York Go Bump in eh e .\· I~h e in 1965 ""as a dismal failu re, debut in Bellini 's Norma, in 1956. His devotion to and who 14 "ears I" rer h"d to wa lk pase a darkened LIFE PREPAR IN G the soprano, whi ch was unsrrnrmg, had accua ll y Broad wo\" marquee promorlng a McNa ll y ploy which begun years earii er, when he firsr hea rd her haunring had ignomln i(lIl Greenwich \ ' Iil , l ~e aparrment. The unabashed emotion and theatricality of 'l' rn rt \·en" sh\"per son in many wa ys, ' he Ca ll as, i'.'lerman and Lawrence led McN ally [0 ackn l)\\' k J~ c- . ':\nd" major self-flagellaror. It 's my beli eve theatre was the avenue in which he could Iri sh-Calh,)lic backgrounJ. I can alm ost always find express similar feelings. In parr, this was became he someeh in~ \\Tong wllh everything.' and Edward Albee were lovers, at a time when the '\ "'ell-known opera aficl onacio, Mc Nall y says Piaf records, the OCGlsional tnp to New York to see playwright of I):I)I(); Afraid of Virgin ia Woolf was thar he accu ally otrended some of the master classes musical theatre, and a fIfth -grade ~'aroc h131 teacher enj oy ing his greatest success. (They subseq uently fell which Ca ll as ga ve at Juilliard nor long before her who pl ayed Puccini IMe duets in class. Both parents our bitteriy but are now close friends). But mos tly, death, in 1977, but that is nel l what II1 splrcJ him to were originally from New York; his farher had ~ says McNally, it was a case of naively going IntO an write the pla y. The idea clicked at a benefIt tribute ,pecial fondn ess for P,af, the French street arena rhat held some rewards (his first hIt was 1969's to the playwright, presenreJ in 1994 al the chanteu se who dcfi nitely wore he r emotions on her Nen, foll owed by Bad Ha biC5 and The Riez) but quite Manhattan Theatre Club, McNally's nurturer and slee'·e. Though McNally refus es to characteri ze his a few landmines as well. home base for tb e past nll1e years. Nathan Lane, childhooJ as either happy or unhappy, he will say That he 's been able to make a I"'ing as a who rose to s(t-trdom as th e outrageous opera queen that hIS tendency [0 idolize >ingers with eccentric pla ywright since 1967 is no small ilchlee'ement to In Th e Lisbon Tlm'IQw , did a monologue from the "oices stemmed from his father', unusual musical McNally - pimiculariy as he almost quit in the late 1989 dra ma and was followeJ by Zoe Caldwell, who taste. 'I was a sD;·year.- oIJ gomg around Th e hOllse '70s, followin g the debacle of [JTOadWlI)" BToadwa)' re-c reated a scene irom A Perfece Ganesh , NIcNa ll y's SIng ing La Vi e En Rose,' he re ca ll s. (later re cycled a> Je 's Only a Play) . Biner and burnt 1993 drama which teamed the ve teran actress with The seeds for a life in the theatre were planre,1 ou t, he sulked and drank. The price of being an Frances Sternhage n as twO suburban wo men who when hi s p",enrs took him . al the age of six, to New artlsr had become roo high. make" prlgrimage to Indi a. York ro see Eth el Merman in Annie Gel YULIT G ILTI. 'The way ,'ou pi ck up the piec es is simply to 'It struck me at that moment that I cou ld Six year, l"ter, he saw Gertrude Lawrence in The stO p fee ling sorry for yo urself,' McNall y says. 'I was combine my love for Call as with my love of and Kingalld I, Jusr weeb oefore the legendar\' srardied. lucky In that I had ve ry SUppOrtl ve frie nds and a admirarion for Zoe as an artI st,' says the wrirer, who McNally says that he 'cr ied bitterl y' when he home in th e Manhattan Theatre C lub - thar's very was first smItten with Caldwell when he saw her rn a learned of Lawrence's death because 'on some important to Zl. writer.' production at Stratford -upon-Avo n in the earl y '60s.' unconscious Iet'el I realized what had been lost In The Lisbon TrMw w, which begin s with a When the show, directed by Leonard Fog lia, thm larger- than- life presence which can onl y be heated dIscussion about a pirated recording of Callas ~'reml e r ed In Phi laJelphia ember this year, criti cs conve'::ed on the stage.' J one in Lisbon in 1958, McNally was "ble [0 re praised Caldwell's authority and conviction even Mc Na lly's road [0 a place in rhat traJition ca pture some of the fee lings he had for the di va. The though, as a non-singe r, she is caUeJ up ro rec ite the began when, at the age of 17, he moved to New first act featured ex tremely (unny banter between arias rat her than sing them. The moments of two gay opera -lovers. But the second act turn> ugly triumph, however. are re -c rea ted through her acrual when one of th e opera love rs returns home to recordings. But replrcarion IS not the point, says confront a faithles; boyftiend and ends up stobbing McNally. It's fICtion, not docu -drama. him to death. Su ch lightning shiits in mood are 'TI,is play is "ery much about my feelings of typical of Me N"lly's work, and he sees them as an whm rrice an artist P::IYs, ' he SZl YS, 'whether you're acc urate reflec ti on of life. 'There's no questIon that talklng about a singer, (\ writer, a poec, or a painter. we're laughing one minute anJ are se ized wirh There are those who say thar arrists who Jeal in intense jealousy the next,' he says . 'It's all ~'arr of emotlon mu sr protec t themselves by srnging only on what it means to be a li ve. therr interes t rather than their opita!. I wanred to '1do belrcve that life is basically mys terious,' explore what happens to those who srng on their he aJds. 'I t's wanting to kill your lover and jumping (" ,' ri ta!.' our of the closet to sca re yo ur fri end. You can be The actual writing of the first droh of Mas eer terrifi ed of JYing one minute and the next, there's a CI , ~ , '-'e, k only three months; but, the pla yw nght shootong star and it's so beautiful that you r mouth conceJe.'. 'I\'e s['ent my whole life preparing to fall s open. Humans make terrible mi stakes and hurt write thi S ~'1 l ay . · one another, and then there's that arm around your The son vI ~ t->cer distributor, Mc Na ll y was shoulder.' • rai sed in Corpu< ChrIStI. Texas. Salvation for the slender anJ i:-ook" h yout h came in the form oi Edith Par rick Pac/l eco is a freelnnce ans turlCeT based ill New YOTk, whose wOTk has apIJeared in The Los Angeles Patti L"Pone as ;vlana Ca /ws in lhe Fair, Premiere Arc Amiq'",s. BroadlVa~ [JrndllClioll of Masrer Cia". Tom es , Van le, and and MAY 1997 APPU1/JSE 35 Beach Blanket o t heard of Beach Blanket Babylon! Shame on you. In this ever-shrinking world where even the mos t outrageous producti o n is only an Imerne[ site away - this Babylon has been show should be screaming fr om yo ur screens. So what, and where, is it) Well, the 'must,see' show imagine a machine-gun-paced, highly topical, comic revue with performers wearing hats Gertrude Shilling would di e for. And having played [0 packed houses in San Francisco for over in San Francisco for 23 years, it's become the longest-running hit revue in American showbusiness. 23 years. Now this bizarre, Carefully nurtured since birth by creator Steve Silver, [he sho w's now about [0 clip a we in unfamiliar waters. Upcoming dates at Londo n' s Covem Garden Festiva l are the prelude to a spectacular and hilarious revue European [O ur. Following Silver's umimely death in 1995, the anistic torch has been passeJ to his hits London. Sasha de Suinn widow, )o S ilver, ably ass isted by leading Beach Blanket ac tor, Kenny Mazlow. So what inspired the show) The titie suggests A nnette Funicell o, earl y 60's star of the Beach listens to the Milliners' tale . Pan y mov ies, d ishing celebrities as if\autho r Kenneth A nge r's acid Hollywood Babylon. 'No,' says Jo S il ver, in a frenetic New York drawl. 'it's jusr ro tal alli[e ra[i o n. [s anything funnier than Kenneth A nger ' Steve loved that book. Sure. the show pokes fun a[ people , but It's not mean spirited at all . Somebody could come and see themse lves parod ied , a nd they'd laugh their heads off!' Not surprising. The show's signature note has al\\'ays been those outrageous hats, enormous slices of cityscape and towering wigs dwarfing their o\\ners - and [he stage. Evo lving from Steve S ilver's Rem -A-Freak street theatte in 1973, the first sho\\' \\'as sc ripted by future Tales of ~he Clt\· writer, Armistead Maupin. HAT TRICKS 'Steve started on a street corner \\' i[h two friends, dressed as a C hristmas tree, Sam a C laus and Carmen Miranda', says Sil ver. 'They made 20 do ll ars, then did i[ every night o n Holl ywood and Vine. Michael Do uglas saw them and used [hem in his show, Streets of San Francisco , and they became pa rt of [he cit\,. So Steve went to the Savoy Ti voli, asked [he owner to let him play there, ami never looked back.' The current premi se of the show is simple, but ingenious - an ongoing, open -ended narrati ve any sitcom writer wo uld trade blood fo r. 'Snow White [ravels the wo rl d looking fo r love, and she meets different people alo ng the way. Some of the American characters will translate here, some won't. We'll be changing thi ngs ever SO sligh[ly for Londo n, maybe inclu de the Royal Famil y, bur we don't ",ant to go toO far and hurt people's feelings " What makes the show so funny, says Maz low, 'is you have all these incongruities, like Sno w White meeting El vis, but when you watch it, it makes total sense.' He's right. A fter all , [he cross-llver principle having real and fi cti onal ch aracters meet and interact - has been an A me ri can comi c book staple for decades. 'You can't get bored with this show,' Maz low continues, ge[[ing into his stride. 'There's a boom boom immediacy - you have to ge t everything o n the first beat. [f you do n't, it doesn't work . See, Steve was a master edi tor. H e JUSt knew exactly how long something should be o n stage , and when to get i[ off. Part of that came from watchi ng [he audience closely. If they went wild, a number stayed . If not, it was out. Now, we JU St keep changing the vi suals until we get it right.' That's nor as ruthless as it sounds. Only la st year, Martin GueHe proved a turnaround success, due to a timely rewrite. Evidently Ro man arena-style theatre has its plus points. After all, why sh Ll uld dull, ill-conceived shows expect public mercy) But if S ilver and Mazlow are candid on pacing and technique, the show's main attraction - the hats - conceal strictly classified secrets. 'Ho,,' do our actors carry the weight of the hats)' Mazlow breaks in to an arch, beaming smile. 'Trade secret , because it's part of the mag ic of the show. T he headgear is heavy, bu[ you get used to it, and part of it is controlling the body fro m the sho ulders rarher than the neck, A nd yes, some hats - like the banana hat - do depend o n pins in the hair.' O uch . Scalp problems aside, how ducs this Dynamic Duo expect the Beach Blanket tour to be received I 'I hate to say we're co nfident,' )0 S il ve r admits, with just a ghost of nerves, 'because that kind' ve jinxes things, but o n [he who le, we think it'll go we ll." Still, fool s rush in whe re angels (theatrical o r o therwise) fear to tread. And S reve S ilver was certainly no fool. A shrewd , self-made man, his Beach Blanket Glmpaigns were m L)dels of N apoleonic efficiency. » .36 l>,PP!. l>, USE MAY 1997 'Steve loved negotiating. He was so excited that people wanted the show. But he had in-built intuirion - he wouldn't do somerhing unless it fetr right. And anmher reason we haven't {Ou red - with rhe exceprion of Las Vegas - is rhat San Francisco is so fiercely protective of the show. Tourists come {O see three things in town now: Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman's Wharf and Beach Blanket Babylon. See, Steve was the go lden boy of {Own. They loved him, and even changed the name of a sneet co Beach Blanker Boulevard!' That devmed loyalt\' extends co every aspect of Mr Silver' s anistic legacy. By all accounts a modest, self-effac ing man, he nevenheless inspired {Otal fairh in hi s vi sion. Every derail of the current show is prefaced bl' the consideration, 'What would Steve do.' Adminedly, ar times, this fixation borders on rhe macabre. Jo Silver breathlessly describes what can only be termed a creative seance. 'We brought a lo r of people over {O Steve's apanment, showed them all his sketches, played all his videos, and h "Li rhem soak lip Steve's personality. And this woman was amazing she staned skerching, and It \l'as eXilcdy like Sreve's work.' But there's more [0 Beach Blanket 's magic than metaphysics. Maz low is at paniclilar pa ins {O suess [he imponance of complete commitment. 'We never take anything for granted. We also cry and change the show a ll the rime, link it in co current events, so it always stays fresh and people keep coming back. And it's imponanc (O set high standards; the moment a costume scans looking tired, or a thread is frayed on a dress, it's repl aced.' .An enthusiastic Anglophile, Mazlow is looking for ward co his London dates. And considering rhe nJ[ure of his work, ir's no surprise [hat he admires manic Brircom Absolutely FabuiOLls. 'I['s hilarious - bur you couldn'r do i[ on American broadcas ting I Doing drugs and wishing [heir mmhers dead - it reminds me of performers who scaned out as comedians, and suddenly they're through that phase, and are Actors with a capital A. It happened co Bene Midler, The show', grea leS! hats include The C ity of San Francisco, always and Bat'bra Streisand, unfonunately. They've both lost that zany, off-the-wall quality.' Exacdy. pop ular with Ihe home crowd. They've become far coo f'recious. Which is something Beach Blanker Bab),lon will never be gu ilty of. Long may it run. • Sa slw de Swnn is a theatre critic, stage per{armer and """riter for Harpers and Queen, Plays And Players, and Thud magazine. Sasha's new stage show Jurass ic Tart , will pia )' In London [his coming summer. A 1'1 I r _ NELL DUNN'S CLASSIC COMEDY JEN NY ECLAI R DIANE LANGTON e LYNNE MILLER ~ ':1 ! f SHEILA REID CATHERINE SHIPTON ~ . 1 ~ JULIE T WALLACE )~ -..\. 'fUll of lively, ribald humour' Evenlrg Sta dard PICCADILLY THEATRE 01713691734 _~____ 2. MAY 1997 APPLAUSE 37 ' (1 i,:V LL\": LL La l(G' lU~l~~ LlJ.l L ~ Lt~ L~ LaU,--lLL (2 L l ~lLL ALSO CALLING AT BRISTOL, BIRMINGHAM, OXfORD & EDINBURGH SUMMER FA Summer festivals have been turning up exceptional productions of late. Michael Coveney takes a look at some possible highlights from this year's crop. ummer is a'comin'in. And so are Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whi stle, a the festivals. There is no hiding 1964 musical with a libre tto by Arthur place. From Chichester [0 Laurents, that boasts lovely songs and cult Scarborough, f[Om Belfast to status. There is also a camp American revue, Ludlow, our national arts activity is Beach Blanker Babylon. at the Arts. and abouts to be dressed up in bunting and packaged Handel's Ariodante in St Clement Dane's for culture vultures o r, as Ken Campbell would C hurch. dub them, sensation seekers, everywhere. The culture of fe sti vals has changed a lot Festivals have many guises and functions since the Feast of Fools in medieval times, these days. The National Student Drama though the ideas of misc reant revelry, and of a Festival in Scarborough (April), brainchild of a King riding on an ass, inform the global welter dedicated teacher and ideologue, Clive Woolf, of street carnivals from Ri o to Amsterdam. and sponsored by the Sunday Times , is a I once adj udicated a srreer rheatre festival showcase for student productions and a social in Hamburg in the late 1 970s. This happy flashpoint - and proven stomping ground - for event spilled around the inner city water of the the budding Bu zz Goodbodys and Ian Alster and fearured unforgertable companies Shunleworths of tomorrow. like Dog Troop of Holl and - pl angent hrassband Many of rhem meet up again in Edinburgh instruments and top class clowning - and o ur on the fringe in August. The festival own Natural Theatre of Bath, whose singul ar atmosphere is thus an important part of the comic invention could involve hundreds of Britis h theatre's evolutionary process. The innocent bysranders as they enacted hilarious camaraderie, and competitive spirit filters impromptu scenarios wherever they happened through from festi vals to key workshop to find themselves. enterprises such as the Royal National Theatre A coming together. or concentration of studio, the Royal Court's Young People's e vents for a dedicated audience. still underpins Theatre and community enterprises in every our best modem festivals. And the instincti ve [Own and borough. internationalism of the fr inge and avant garde The C ovent Garden Festival in London has re juvenated the fe stiv al id eals spawned (May/june), on the other hand, now in its sixth across Europe at the end of the las t war. In his year, is a promotional venture sponsored by the lectu re at the Edinburgh Festival last year. BOC group and Guardian Insurance, supported G eorge Steiner suggested that the festivalldeal by American Express, which almost was dead, and that new ways of creating incidentally, it seems, focuses on slightly offbeat festivals had to be found. ventures in unexpected locations. Professor Steiner, with all due respect. The trouble is, London is a city sounded hopelessly out of [Ouch. Brecht's permanently en fete throughout the yea r. You Berliner Ensemble and Giorgio Strehler's hal'e [0 be either fanatical or perverse ly Piccolo Theatre in Milan were indeed legaCies, dedicated to separate the festival activities from and expressions, of the new peace. The great the constant parade. If a man is tired of festivals of Aix-en-Provence and Edinburgh . London. he is tired of life, said Dr johnson. But too, we re speCifically designed to celehrate the if he lS tired of Ed lnburgh , he must be waiting newly integrated Europe. for the next festival to begin. But that spirit has re-emergeJ, almost of This year, the Covent Garden Festival necessity. in Brita in (as weil as in Europe) ol'er follows last year's scratch ptoduction of Dames t he past twenty ye ars as a group of at Sea with a Londo n premiere (single internationallv-minded impresari os have tuned performance only at the Savoy on 1 june) of into the festival circuit as a lVay of reflecting ~ MAY 1997 APP t,I$E 39 a cultural ambition renewed to combat the Theatre of Israel- a group of first wave Russ ian splintering alliance and dangerous rise of Jewish immigrants - in a new play by Joshua vindictive nationalism in political life. (Ghetto ) Soool; and the Deutsches Throughout the war in Bo nia, for instance, the Schauspielhaus of Berlin 111 Stunde Noll, a Belgrade International Theatre F tival, BITEF, brilliantly 'taged c mpi/ation of political post has continued to he a lifeline fo r it community Wa r peeches ironi all y threaded through and a rallying point of resisrance and self beautiful musical rendition of folk songs, determination. anrhems amI even oel Coward. Many of our festivals such as tho 'e a t T.hese event will or en our eye ' and Brighton (May), Glasgow (May), Edinburgh galvanise local effo rt. But LIFT also has (August/September) and Dublin (October) are firework display , discussions, indigenous fo lk populated by well-travelled direcrors with drama from Australia and Egypt, politically bulging address books. Chris Barron at Brighron correct circus (no animal . n clowns), and an and Brian McMaster in Edinburgh are festival educational initia tive marking the 50th directors with key contacts in Europe. Their anniversary of India' Independence and like-minded colleagues include the freelance mobilising two hundred ynung5ters from impresarios Neil W all ace and Mark Morris, and Hounslow, Newham and Tower Hamlets. In a the executive director of the Nottingham profound way, LIFT se ts out to recreate the city, Playhouse, Ruth McKemie or at least redefine it, in the politically Through such people, Britain has access to amoiti() u se n e that the drama fe stivals of the work of such influential festivaliers as the Ancient G reece embraced a ll citizens and Quebecois wunderkind Robert Lepage - whose reflected a new democracy. entire oeuvre is dedicated to the notion of Outings to Sussex en fete, whether to the historical synchronicity and integration across Chichester Festival Theatre, or Glyndebourne cultures and continents; the brilliant Romanian (both start in May), are more formal , and director Silviu Purcarete; and the new French star sedate, in comparison. Chichester has director Stephane Braunsc hweig, whose work will announced revivalls ofJM Barrie's The be seen at this year's Edinburgh Festival. Admirable Crichton ('For C richton out loud ,' This who le modern movement has several exclaimed an exasperated Walter Winche ll on gurus, chief among them the director Peter le aving the New York premiere in the early Brook, whose example of presenting theatre in ye'lrs of this century) and Somerset Maugham's a stripped down, unmodified old variety theatre, Our Betters. The Chichester highlight could the Bouffes du Nord, in Paris has inspired well be Sandy Wilson's Divorce Me , Darling', a directors in Brussels, Barcelona and Glasgow to delightful musical sequel to Th e Boy Friend not seek out new audiences in non-theatrical staged professionally for 30 years. spaces: warehouses, floral markets, tramsheds. Glyndebourne's spectacular new theatre A new climate of collaboration and exchange opens its third season in May with a new has ensued; the resultant festi va l circuit has productio n of Manon Lescaut. The repertoire changed the face of international theatre. includes the magical reviva l of Handel's london This is a far cry from Peter Daubeny's Theodora and a new ve rsion of Rossini's Count Internatio nal Festival of ad mirable World Theatre Seasons at the Ory. The first is directed by Peter Sellars, the -"eatre Aldwych in the 1960s and 1970s, when at least controversial, intellectual firecracker star of one well known critic used to wait for the countless festivals from Los Angeles to programme announcement and then book his Avignon; and the second by Jerome Savary, holiday. We passively rece iv ed, and marvelled whose legendary G rand Mag ic Circus (seen in at, the work of Ingmar Bergman, Jean Louis London in the good old days at the Round Barrault, Nuria Espert and Andrej Wajda. House) was the very incarnation of the Likewise, today, the Edinburgh Festival presents liberated festival sp irit of the Parisian 1960s. the work of modern masters such as Petet Stein, Looming over a ll will be the 50th Mark Morris and Peter Sellars. annive rsa ry Edinburgh Festi va l in late August. But the London International Fe stival of Every year, I think, oh dear, here comes the Theatre, LIFT, this June presenting its ninth Edinburgh Fes tival. And every year I sa lly forth biennial programme, is narrowing the gap north and am enchanted: by the most beautiful between the latest in new work and the true and inexhaustibly intriguing city in Britain; by festival spirit of a recharged community. Past the sheer volume of enthusiastic work on the LIFT participants include Robert Lepage, the ever- coinciding fringe and official circuit; by Maly Theatre of St Petersburg (first seen in the the endless crack, and good company, in the UK at the Glasgow Mayfest) and the Market bars and restaurants; and, most movingly, by the Theatre ofJohannesburg. tangible se nse of renewal and celebration that This year's star LIFT attractions will invades all participants and, yes, e ve n critics. undoubtedly be the extraordinary Gesher Happy festi val-going! • 40 APPLAUS E MAY 1997 BOOK EVIE Rhoda Koenig finds little that's new in the latest biography of Henrik Ibsen, but the book is no less interesting for that . Ith unusual modesty (or instincts, then a strugg le aga inst the repress ion his line of work, Robert itself; the former was more successful. Ferguson offers Henrik Ihsen's theatrical rise was rapid, nO[ only Ibsen as 'an alternative because of his talent and originality but for lack look at one of the of competition: his fir st pl ay, Catiline (1 850), worl d's most famous writers,' since 'there is no was the fir st published by a Norwegian in seven such thing as a definitive biography, onl y as years. He was helped by influential friends and many diffe rent pictures as there are a post at a new theatre in Bergen - the old one, bi ographers.' Indeed his Life hardly challenges, a visitor wrote, stank intolerably of fish. The much less replaces, Michael Meye r' s far more Norwegian government also came to his aid, ambitious one of 1970, but neither should it be paying for his study of drama in Copenhage n, undervalued. Although Ibsen's wife burned Rome, and Berlin. This began Ibsen's long most of his le tters, other correspondence and ex il e. His son would grow up without a country, Henrik Ibsen by Robert Fergl.,son: relevant matertal have emetged since the and Ibsen and his wife would inhabit Norway Richard Coh en Boob, US . Meyer biography, including the diary kept by only in dream and myth, which, for him, was Emilie Batdac h, with whom, Ibsen later wrote, no hards hip: he call ed Norwegians 'plebeia ns' he spent ' the happiest, loveliest time of my and a 'spiritual lower class'. Ibsen rarely wrote whole life.' to his famtly ('It see med to me futile', he sa id, the man submits to them, as in The Master That time, sadly was a long way from 'when [ could not offer practical assistance') , B~lilder, o r re no unces them, as in When We I bsen's childhood, when the shy, booki sh boy but even when, much later, his bro ther wanted Dead Awaken. was di sliked (or his vanity and self.importance. only a visit ('My letter is probably not worth Fe rg uson is at times a bit casual, even sill y, The yo ung Ibsen's pride stemmed in part from much to you, dear brother, but you must be in hi s choice of words (saying that Ibsen' s wild defensiveness: the family business suddenly gentle and remember that I am no writer') , popularity made him 'like some Vic torian rock collapsed, and, when Ibsen was seven, his once the re was no reply. star'), but on the whole his biography provides prosperous father was an embarraSS ing failure. Ibsen's creed of rebellious individualism sat valuable insight into th is unhappy, brilliant That circumstance has provided the spur for aw kwardly with the years of state support, as man who made the stage an arena for debating many great men; in Ibsen's case, it p ro vided with his love of honours, official recognition of soc ial issues in plays that, he admitted, were all material as well : his mother, shattered by their his superiority to the bourgeoisie from which he about himse lf. • sudden poverty withdrew into her own silent had faIl en. (A woman he met on ho liday, who world , and pl ayed with doll s. invited him to a formal affa ir, was taken aback While only a teenager, Ibse n had a to see that he travelled with his medals.) His misfortune of his own . '[ cannot with any posturing sometimes seeped into his work : certainty deny the c harge that I am the father', Ferguson, happily, does not see An Enemy of the he wrote in answer to a court inquiry about a People as a great play, unlike A rthur Miller and Plays son he had had wi th a maid, 'since I have others who have imitated Ibsen's self· The Posiliw Huur by Aprtl de Aog<:k unfortunately had intercourse with he r, aggrandise ment. In Ibsen's best writing, as (Faber, £6.99) encouraged as I was by her flirtatious ways.' He Ferguson po ints o ut, he endows the main AaemptS On Her Life b , Martin rimp was ordered to pay maintenance. and several character with his own flaws such as the (Faber, £6.99) years later was nearl y sent to prison for failure 'conflict between will and ability' of Hedda The hallow End by Doug Lucie to do so. This earl y burden gave him, as Gabler, the insistence on virtue that turns out (Meci1uen,6.99) Ferguson puts It, 'the gifts of shame and guilt', to be cowardice. (Ferguson does not endorse the Cardlfj E,m by Pe.ter ill. (Faber, 6.99) but Ibsen was not gra teful: he apparently never popular, feminist misinterpretation which hCl s Bille Murder by Peter i hoi ' saw or wrote to the boy or his mother, and, plagued Hedda from the beginning. Ironic ally, (Methuen. £6.99) many years later, on being told that she was the sort of women who consider their own living in dire poverty, wasn't interested. opinio n sufficient proof of their superiority also Screenplays By then Ibsen had a legitimate child, his take Hedda at her word.) Ibsen's contro l of his The English Parient by Anth my Minghella last. After the birth of a son, his wife emotions wavered only after he was 60. Then (Methuen, £7.99) announced that she would have no more he met Emilie Bardach, who. along with orher Flirr by H a l Hardey (Faber, £7.99) children. Though she rema ined his professional women less than half his age, was flirtatious and S/ulle by Ian ardi (Bloomsbury, £7 . 9) helpmate, their re lationship, as Ibsen's with his flattering But, unlike the flirtations of the maid son, was formal to a degree that observers fo und of his youth, these led nowhere whether Others shocking. Since Ibsen was never known to have through timidity, impotence, or fear of scandal, The American Theatre: 1930·1969 a mistress, his sex life, as reflected in his plays, we do not know. In his late pl ays, though, the by Gera\J B, rdman. (Oxford Universiry seems to have been a struggle to repress his young, vital women bring destruction whether Pres. £6 ) iV\AY 1 997 APDlAUSE 41 BOOK EVIEW eggy Ashcroft, as you probably hol'e the author al'oiding the implications of what heard by now, had 0 sex life thot, in matenal he does hl'lVe. Ashcroft's insistence busy-ness and voriety, was ot odds that, whether she cheated on her husband or with the image of Shokespearean with someone else's, she never hurt anyone queen. But if you want to learn much sounds like the hallmark of the narcissistic more than the names ond dates supplied in personality as does O'Connor's 'sneaking newspaper items, The Secret Woman will prlwe suspicion' thm Ashcroft 'did not have much of disappointing. Garry O'Connor provides very a sense of humour as such.' Perhaps the wotst few facts about her involvemenes with Paul indictment is Noel Annan's praise of her as a Robeson, Walter Sicken, J B Priestley, Burgess 'wounded hird" to readers of Cold Comfon Meredith, et al. and, instead of interpretation, Farm, I need say no more. little essays and rhetorical questions on love, Trymg hard to make something out of love, love. like those of the fretful lady who not I'cry much. O'Connor lights on chance asked the Lord in heaven above just what is this expressions and trlvial incidents, asking thing anyway. questions that are not only rhetorical but O'Connor hammers away at the notion idiotic. 'Peggy at this time met Mrs. Thatcher: that Ashcroft's offstage passions fueled her the two women, apparently so opposite to one, onstage performances. But he frequentll' another chatted clway "'ith great animation. The Secret Woman, b)' Garn O'Connor. contradicts this poine by describing her acting, Was it just a publiC sholl', or was there lXIeidenfeld & Nlco/son: 236 PI' £20 especially in her early years, as bloodless, recognition, perha"s unconscious in both of insipid, and geneeei. If there was fire down them, of some deeper affinity I' It's a bit much helow, it was aPI'mentiy too far down to matter. to expect reople not only to huy your book but The portrait on the whole is thin and blurred, to write it for you.. • 42 AP,oLA.USE MAY 1997 SPECTRUM MAX LOPPERT 0 N The J995 ca., t Iwd been lVe<1kened by <1n tronslmion). When nelV, Graham V,ck's pr(lJUL'lIl)n , immmure Fi orJ ili gi; rim time she was the FinnISh (1 mixture n( ~righ(~p;.llnred , o hliqul' ~(1 n glc d Sc' lS alid MILLER'S MUCH-IMPROVED 5(1pta11n So ile [snkoski , II' ho In il >picnJ,J house perloe! costuml', h:t,1 m"de a hrilli,mr efkct of COS! FAN TUTTI. debut ::: uggestt'J (In impul sl\-e. rass ionate crt· ! ~ !l rc o( mudem Mo:arr-t1luminil[ion, which a su bsequent rhe seose'\, i.lnJ who Srtng her rW(')lllt)rainmely ~e rit'~ o( und er~ca~ t re\'l\' ~lh conrrl \'t;ll to dIm. Thi -; As an urera dirtc ,lr Jon,lrhan Miller is, as Rodgers difficult ari~ s II'lth ra l'i,hrn gly full, CITn, we ll -placed tim ~, ,, g(lod deal of the brtlh il nce was resroreJ; ()n ly rInd HammerSlt'in;) King o(Sia m woulJ sa )" a pll zzle~ tone, She anJ th e American Helene Sc hneiderman, nne singer - J"nice \X/(\t sI..1 n as tht' Countess, i?I more, ment. A ITIJ n of wlJe-rangtng inte llect. he issues ZI a lil'ei.y, funny Dorill'~ lIil , reall y seemed - ,md rhan~prornising (ir:,r shot at tln~) ther crut Hy ~tr e am of .Ipe rari c Ideas which in pre~o penin g night ,ounded - iLke sNero, a r,lre achie l'cment in this J~IH, tnJing M,,:art so prano role - could be dee mecl Inren'icws almost always sound plausihle and nre rfl.. The young tnen were the Gcnnall rcnnr 'intcrn:1t1nnCll ciJ .')S' , but rhe S t'n~t' of company fa.,c inating - because Miller is also" dazzling Railler Tl'l'st, a Ferrand" IV h",e cocky >elf-c onfidenct' en,cmblc , of characters frc,hly emb(, Jied by· young conversa tionalist - but which in perfonnance it was h.! "rillu , yet :l l,v painful to ,ee gmJually "lngers (such ~s RebL'ccCI Catnt' . the winIltng new frequently fail fl) be converteJ into thea rncal assers, undermined, ,111,1 the [n ,~ li s h haritone W,II ,am Susanna), sho\\'eJ thar the com pa ny h,ld sotncrhing Too ofren a new Miller production fa lls fl at, feel s Dazele y, a G IJ~I I C I IllL> unusuall y clear in ou rlrne; ill trcsh (lnJ \'iwl tl1 "'; ,IY (1bo ut rhe w'1rk. In err, fails ro fill our Its srage and musica l space; roo both roles ~H1e Ina) h d\·e hea rd Stnlh.)[her, more What a ,Il'ltne, then, [h,,, rn the hte't ne\\' often I've come away from a Miller first night wishing 'personal' )in g in~. l"' u[ nne h ;-I~ $c1Jom .,ten SL1ch I' wduction llf It; cll rrent sea,,,,, ENO see meJ to he'd had by his siJe a hard-heaJed, rractical-minded strong. confd t'nr charac rcr deli ncanon. Ltlli an 11, 1\ ·(' ab,,()lurdy n'll hing of . n\ \·Jl uL' tn ~ ( W :l. huu( a" istam ro rr,m slare the good doctor's operatic fanc ies Watso n, a Des!' ln a long-experi enced Jerails of the plot still got short-changed hI' the les; happy - was pHl\'ilkd hy the Engllsh Na[lon"l scre("Hlly on top, weflk (it the bpttOin. From thiS updating. For the rest o( us, th e freshness and charm Opera rel'il'al of its six-\,ea r-old N(); ~e di Figc".() mi'er:rble perfnrm ance, indeed, nnl y Lc, le y u,urett, of the interlocked characterisations il nd relationships th e title becomes Figaro's Wiedd ing, in Jerem\, Sams'; an urgently ir1\\,h-cd Eu rydice. t'men..!cd with was 8. mplt' compensation. ::; rn:Jrt, Stl" "y - ton smart, tOu >.;::\ ssy? - English an\, credit. MAY 1997 ;"PP0'.U5[ 43 SPECTRUM JEFFERY TAYLOR Hibernian, if wildly inappropriate, but at le [f 8 bomb 11ad dropped on Woking's New Sore l1 a En glund's fury as Madge, Vicwria Theatre on the second night of thar the sitghted witch ploning the Sylph's wwn's Dance Umbre lla '97, it would have gruesome death, was more magnificent wiped our the emire Brimh dance press corps. than malicious, threatening to About wne, WO, some may say, but there we transform the fantasy imo a PC parable; were, pens po ised, stretched from wa ll (0 wall Ms Rojo appeared w abandon fairyland across the audiwrlum (0 see Danish Royal for 'Coppelialand' while Koborg's Ballet dancer Johan Koborg dance one enthusiasm overcame his di scretion and performance as James in Sconish Ballet's led to a few roo many wobbly landings. La S)·[phide. A dlsappoiming Highland eve ning. L.l Sdf'hode : ;\ 'C,; Th m as ,he Sylph Q' After the opening (roli c, the lights dim and Guiseppe Plwne and Lisa Pavane slither into a mood indigo with The Man I Love: while Sarah McJlroy cl1mbs a S tairway To Paradise. Lisa Perego is dazzling in My One and Only, her co mm~ndi ng H omely is the keyword for Sconish's ••• technique never in doubt and her fee l for the production of the bailer nowadays seen as the mood and movement subtle and true. very embodimem of ephemeral 15th cemury English National Baller's new production o( For a dancer o( Picone', scope, hiS so lo Romant ici sm, though when the cunain rose, Balanchine's \'(Iho Cares', however, was pure joy number to Li:a seems lacking in steps, bur those Tamara Rojo appeared born W dance the in Southampton. Superbly mounted by (ormer he does are brilliant and his style an eponymous n ymph. Then she moved. In srire New York City Baller dancer, Nanette Glushak, unselfconscious delight. of her de licare build, dark beaury and truly Balanchine's tribute to George Gershwin opens Maybe the cosmo['olitan make·up of rhe glorious feet, Canadian ·born Rojo simrly could with fi ve Runyonesque couples in Central Park . cumpany allows ENS to get unde r rhe skin of nor cope wirh Bournonville's steps - a basic Balanchine's unique choreographic blend of Bal8lKhine so pleasingly or r e rhaps it is just qualific 44 A,oPL 4. li 5E MAY 1997 SPECTRUM J ~~...... --- RONALD BERGAN The first of this year's Screen One Cost effective, a euphemism for cheap, might presentations, Deacon Brodie - facr-fi in that it be tbe exptession (0 disctibe Theatreland REVIEWS A WO RK OF was based on the life of a real person - was an (around midnight on lTV on Sunday nights), 'FACTION', AND CATCHES impro vement o n some of the more recent Emma Freud sta nds around Piccadilly C ircus A FREUDIAN SLIP. period pieces sud, as the Spagheni-Western introdUC ing interviews and extracts from version of Joseph Conrad's Nosrromo, with the current plays in depressingly empty thearres, as Those \\'hose memory of television goes back a o ver-vaunted Colin Finh, even stiffer than he Sheridan Morley stands outside theatres in all few decades will remember a time when one was in Pride and PrejLldice, weather delivering his two cents worth. One of could recognise the difference between a TV Billy Connolly, in serious mode, was tbe show's big mo ments was an 'exclusive' pia\', a TV movie and a bona fide movie, TV impress ive as Brodie, a likable rogue in 1788 interview with AI Pacino, tho ugh the star had movies all looked the same (Dallas gloss), were Edinburgh, a master carpenter who builr a been questio ned o n Movie Watch only a few usually around 60 minutes, and featured newfangled ga llows in competition with a days previously, un heard-llf stars, TV plays rended to be cheap cenain Mo nsieur Guilll)tine, It was Actually, I've become rather an ardent look ing with dodgy sets, and the occasional Bowen (in the UK) to make their mark. If these stretched (0 the minimum requisite fearure-film schoo lboys called to the headm istress' offic e. names don't mean mllch these days, it is in the length of 90 n1inutes, They tried, unsuccessfull y, to justify their ephemeral narure ofTY. A couple of quibbles - the French trico lor existences, and methinks did protest tOO little Today, it is doubtful whether the majority lVas hung upSide down, and 'cost effeC ti ve' was when Emma quoted stage director Michael of viewers could come up with the name of one of the fell' obvious "erbal an8chro nisms in Bogdanov, who recently described an unnamed more than o ne TV playwright. In evitobly, thar S imon D onald's script. critic as a 'vicious, vituperative, vitriolic, o ne would be Dennis Poner, objectionable, abusive, arrogant, mainly because of his excretOry, disgruntled, cavilling, nororiously sexual rhemes small-minded, arse-licking, rather than his skills as <1 writer toadying sycophant.' H owevet, for the medIUm. Emma's great moment came One-off tele"ision plays when she giggled through her are now rea ll v made-fnr-TV entire interview witb Chuck movies, In o ther words, they W ood, ventriloqUist David contain few of the e lements Pressman's dummy. I could say that theatregoers would that it was the first time I\e recognise as a play, well-made ever seen a dummy interviewing o r l)[ hem'ise. Like the recent a dummy, that is if I were ;\fa Chi/, " . ''''(lne. on child 'vicious, vituper8[i ve, vi triolic. abuse, [he " on k seem to gather objectionable, abusive.,.', like any attention when the subjeCt most critics. • IS a contrm'ersial 0ne, This po werful T V ~' I a \"/fdm \\'as labelled by thaI dreadful " 'l) rd 'faction' (a dramati, atlon of a true stOry). If one is ro coin. a word then ir sh0uld nne already exist meaning something else, A s we have sci-fl, may I suggest facr·(;1) Billy Connoll y as Deacon Brodie. MAY 1997 APPL4. USE 45 rden of opera & music theatre PAT RON HRH THE DUKE OF K E N T 26 May - 7 June over 100 events including from San Francisco Steve Silver 's Beach Blan ket Babylo Unicorn Arts Theatre 27 May - 7 June Gilbert & Sullivan's The Gondoliers i".JB:~~;i~ w ith British Youth Opera Freemasons ' Hall 4, 5, 7 June Ensemble Si ngers, Minnesota raise the roof with their a capella concert of American Classics St Paul 's Church 3 June The Red Pri est - Vivaldi & the Golden Girl including The Four Seasons New Connaught Rooms 29 May Box office 0171 312 1992 For a f ree brochure 0171 405 7555 who make a dim:erence A helicopter landing on the stage of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is no mean feat) but then]ohn Napier is no mean designer. Nick Smurthwaite meets a fine) but frustrated artist. he tools of Joh n Napier' s trade are an HB pencil , a shee t of cartridge paper, and h is imagination . H e may be world-renowned fo r the technical accompli shments of h is stageT designs (S tarlight Express, Mi ss Saigon, Sunset Boulevard etc.) , but this is not a man in thrall to the wonders of techno logy. 'People think I'm a mechanic o r an engineer but [ have no knowledge of those th ings . 1 hardly know how to wo rk a computer. I rely very much on the expertise of o ther peo ple.' What makes John Napier special, by his own reckoning, is a 'curio us blend of imagination and an ability to pull d isparate ideas together in a concrete form.' But there are two other vital components to the N apier success story that, either through modesty or absent-mindedness, he omits to mention. The fi rs t is an innate understanding of what works in terms of des ign - the ki nd of intelligence that can only be acquired by years of hacking away at the coal face. Scores of modest, unremarkab le se ts we re undertaken before he started conjuring up helicopters, swimming pools, revolu tio nary ba rri cades and ro ller-skating locomotives. JOHN NAPIER The o ther is that everybody likes h im . H e distinct wh iff of mi d- life d ise nchantme nt in Miss Saigon and Sunse t around the world .. loves the camaraderie of a compan y, the cut h is C ity of London stud io the day I call. 'I've the man need never work aga in, for goodness and thrust of a shared experience. W ith his go t to stop for a wh ile and re appraise things, ' sake. [n the lottery of theatrical endeavour, thic k mane of straggly grey locks, ruggedly he says, it propos nothing in particular. 'I he's hit the jackpot. So why not take a handsome features and ge ntle, se lf sometimes fee l I' d like to do something else. [ sa bbatical, cut off from the neurotic wo rld of deprecating manner, Napier is in the Alan need to do my own thing.' showbi z, paint that long-awa ited masterpiece) Rickman league of middle-aged men who So why doesn't he' He reaps the He re's the dilemma. To be judged as a haven' t gone to seed. That said, there is a fi nancial rewards of Cats, Starlight , us Mis, fi ne a rtist when YOll are wo rld-renowned > MAY 1997 APPlAU 47 as a set designer is like a prime-time nobody goes up and down in it.' It was while Se< pieces: Na/Jicr'.l designs for ({rom top left) Jesus Christ SUpCrS(C1r, Lcs Mlserables and Starlight Express, scriptwriter aspiring to write the great novel. he was working on the Broadway production and (helow) for the recen' production of After so many successes and so much of Miss Saigon that he received a call from Who's Afraid ofVirgini" Wooll": acclaim, Napier can scarcely have doubts Steven Spielberg asking him to work as about his own ability to deliver the goods production designer on his Peter Pan movie, brilliantly. But would he attract comparable Hook. 'I'd met Steven eight years prior to mansion in Stmser Boulevard and, more accolades as the fine artist he once intended that, at the first night party for Cats in New recently, the dazzling transformation of the to be? An II-plus failure, Napier was packed York, and we got on really well. He wanted Lyceum into a Roman brick amphitheatre for off to art school where he showed a me to work on one of the 'Raiders' films with jesLt.I Christ SupeY.lwr. particular talent for sculpture. 'At the time I him, but I was committed to theatre work in Looking back over his 30-year career, didn't want to sit on my own in a studio the UK for a year or more. He told me he John Napier has no doubt about the staring at abstract objects in space, so J made planned to make a Peter Pan film one day happiest time of his life - his years with a conscious decision to apply my skills to and would I like to work on it? What I learnt Trevor Nunn at the RSC. 'I miss with a another art form, the theatre. was that theatre is much harder than movies, passion that idealism of being part of a 'But I definitely recall feeling that one much more disciplined. You have this vast company. There was a terrific feeling of day I would return to fine art when my empty back-up in movies, it's easier to dress it up, camaraderie: nearly all the people I worked vessel had filled up a bit.' Napier averages cover up your mistakes. You can't do that in with became lifelong friends.' two shows a year these days, but once it was the theatre.' So can we expect a resurgence of the anything between 15 and 20 ... 'a lot of Why didn't he go on to do other films) Nunn-Napier combo when Trevor ascends to Macbeth, po-faced classical stuff, as well as 'I've looked at other movie scripts over the the National throne this autumn) 'Yes, I've contemporary writers like Edward Bond and years, and most of them were rubbish. I don't talked to him, and I'd love to do something David Hare.' His best-remembered shows, want to do it just for the sake of doing it. I'd there if he wants me. I'm having a good time pre-mega musicals, were Nicholas Nickleby for only do it if it was interesting people and a at the moment, just enjoying some of the the RSC and the National's Equus, with its great script. My son wants to be a director. fruits of my success. If someone put a script sinister, shimmering, wire-frame horses. I've worked on short films with him.' The through my door tomorrow that was a really Like all genuinely creative people he is point about Napier's stage work, of course, is powerful piece of work, I'd probably do it. rarely satisfied yet hastily defensive. 'I usually that it already has a kind of cinematic sweep, But I hope they don't, at least not for three loathe things after I've done them,' he says when you consider Norma Desmond's rococo or four months.' • matter-of-factly. 'Six months later I'm embarrassed to admit I did them.' Of the big shows, he is least embarrassed to own up to Les Miserables. That was one of my best. It's a simple, eloquent device for telling an epic story. Basically I used the back walls of the stage, with two abstract wooden structures going round on a revolve. I thought it was in the best tradition of simple story-telling, yet it provoked such an outcry about high technology when it opened.' He feels equally protective of the helicopter sequence in Miss Saigon, often cited as the ultimate in designer trickery. Was it his idea? 'No, it was in the script. I laughed when I first read it. I thought, no way, but then I thought about it and realised it could be done quite easily. All it consists of is a big piece of aluminium moulded into a helicopter shape, and the rota blades are two pieces of string with rubber balls on the end, attached to a little motor. It's all an illusion, 48 APPlA USE MAY 1997 ofistage \XI\ X~ll' AT BRO/IOW/ly'5 DOOR unrave lling of Lloyd W ebber's theatrical empire songs on se veral popular T V c hat shows. Man y Diana Rigg, has decided nor to come to Broad· in stunned amazement. 'If you had told me that o n Broadway - including Rosie O'Donnell, way \I' ith Ed ward Albee's Wlho's Afraid of six mo nths ago I'd be watching the Fall of the Carol Channing, Andrea McArdle , the Virgin ia \'(/oolf' Elizabeth M cCann, who's House of Webber, I'd have said you were c razy.' origina l Annie, and Joan Rivers - rallied to her pruduc ing the reviva l, whic h will open in New o ne Broadway producer recently remarked. sid e. O n the legal front, Pacitti's lawyel'S talked Yo rk next spring, said Ri gg had 'reservations' Peo pl e fa mtliar with Lloyd Webber's about filing a $50 million wrongful terminati o n about do ing an American play on Broadway. currenr troubles sal' h e and the executives who suit aga inst the producers. Their legal went like 'S he could wind up a target fo r N ew Yo rk run his company sowed the seeds of their own this: Joanna won the role by participating in a critics, who might nor like seeing an Engli sh destruction years ago. The key problem, these n ati on -wide search sponsored by t-,'1acy' s itc tress doing an American play in this country,' sources say, is tha t Reall y Useful put all its eggs Department Store . The search, the lawye rs says McC ann. And so the search is o n fo r a in one basket: It prod uces o nl y Lloyd Webber contend, was no t an auditio n but a contest, we ll -known actress who can tac kle the ro le of musicals, so when he Stumbles, it stumbles. whose pri ze was a chance to play Annie o n the fo ul mouthed university wife made fa mo us With the collapse of Wlhistle Down the Wlind Broad way. Pacitti wo n the compe titio n fa ir and by Eliza beth Taylo r In the movie. McCann says (cost to Reall y U seful: $7 million) and the square a nd (he n was denied (he prize . 'We think her sho rtlist includes Kathy Bates, best known fa ilure of Sunset Boulevard produc ti o ns we have a good case here,' lawyers Albert fo r he r role in the Stephen King movie Misery, wo rldwide (losses a re said to exceed $25 Oehrle told me. So fa r, though, the suit h as not Christine Lahti, Stockard Channing and millio n), Really Useful appears to be bleeding been fil ed. And sources close to the Pacitti Elizabeth Ashley, wh" recently pl ayed the parr cash. It wasn't supposed to be that way, of family sa y the publicity generated by Joanna's in a productio n ar the Coconut Grewe course. Lloyd Webber' s origina l pl an was to firing has probably done more for her career Playhe) use in Miami. Bates appears to h ave the create a company thar would diversify its than starring in a Broadway show. • inside track; she met with Albee recently and interests. Over the years, Really Useful talked he is said to have been quite taken by h e r. about producing movies, p lays and musicals nor Meanwhile , McCann is also looking for a written by Lloyd W ebber. In the end, though, direc tO r and an ac tor to play George. The very few of those projects ever ma teri alised (a director, she sa id, will either be Howard stage version of A Sta r Is Born , by Larry Davies, who o versaw the Lo ndo n prodUCtio n , Gelbart and Cy Coleman, has been put o n SECONDHAND el r G erald Gutie rrez, who directed last year's hold) . Instead, say theatre sources, Reall y Bwad\\'ay revi va l o f Albee's A Delicate Balance. Useful became arroga nt, fi guring that Lloyd She declined to say who was in the running fel r W ebber would continue laying golden eggs, so FILM & George, although she acknowledged that David why bother with other projects) Suchet, who played it in London, will no t be A longtime New York associate of the coming tel Broadway. composer said: 'In fairness ro Andrew, I think THEATRE he realized he could have fl ops just like every REFERENCE BOOKS o ther Broadway composer. But I do no t think that the peo ple who run his com pany reali sed LLOYD W EimER UNR/IVE LS tha t.' Ll o yd Webber's New Yo rk spo kesman A few mo mhs ago, I wrore thar Andrew Lloyd declined to comment. OUR WIDE-RANGING \Vebber was ILloking fo rward to having fi ve CATALOGUES OF 1000s shows running o n Broadway at the same time by fall. Now it appears that he will have just OF DIFFERENT TITLES ARE one, Th e Phanto m oj" th e Opera. Plans to bring IT' S A H.A.RDKNOCK LIFE ISSUED REGULARLY B\· ./cCl'CS tLl N ell' York have been scrapped; What' s a Broadway season without a feud ) The \'Ousrl " D O\l'll the Wlind has been postponed la(est comretemps to rock the G reat White Way Il1 definitc k ; Sunse t BOI.devard folded in March, pi ts the producers of the revi va l of Annie and [here , l r ~ ru mors that Cats will c lose this aga inst the 12-year old actress they hired to summer aft er it surr;Nes A Chorus Line as the play the title c haracter. In March , afte r 12-year lo nges[ runni n!.! m u,ic.d to Broadway history. o ld Joanna Pacitti had (Oured n ~ ti o n a ll y in the Because he has no ne\l' sho \l's in (he pipeline, show for six mo nths, the producers decided to Lloyd W ebber has been forced to scale back his replace her with her understudy, e ight-year-old TO SUBSCRIBE, SEND £1.00 TO: production cLl mpan y, The Realk Useful Group. Brittny Kissinger. 'The actress and the part just In London, he reduced rhe staff by 'joo/". He didn't come together,' the producers said. But DECORUM BOOKS (TAP) will also close down his N ell" York production Pac itti was not to be dispensed with so easily. 24 CLOUDESLEY SQUARE office on I July. And there is talk in theatrical She and her parents hired a battery of publiCists circles that he is abe) ut pull the plug on Really and lawyers, and w o k their case to the press. LONDON N1 OHN Useful outpOS tS in EurLlpe and Australia. The little actress appeared o n the front pages of FAX (+44) 171 837 6424 Broadway insiders m e watching the most of (he New York dailies, and e ven sang MAY 199 7 APP USE 49 COMPILED BY NEIL STEVENS 'The Lusty Month of Moy' is celebroted in which Broadway musical? 2 The world's longest-running British theatrical comedy opened at the Strand Theatre on 5 June 1971 . What is its provocative title? 3 The title of Always - due at the Victoria Palace this month - is based on a popular Irving Berlin ballad (1925; originally written for The Coconuts). Name two other popular Berlin Broadway shows still being performed? here are t\\'o SOrtS of thedrri cd I 4 Cats at the Winter Garden; The Phantom of the Opera at the Mojestic; Julie ex peri ences that appedl ro me mos t - Sh Ll kesped re and Broad u'ay musicab. Andrews in Vic/or/ Vic/oria at the Marqui s Theatre; Stanley at the Circle in the Square. I knll\\' it may sound a terr ibl y pompous and What city am I in? (rite thing ro say, but of all Shakespea re's plays, Ha mlet has ak JY" meanr the most ro 5 Britain's first drama school opened in May, 1840. Name four such schools in London? me. More th an likely hecause I did Hamle t tWice at school. once for 0 lel'els and once 6 Summer Holiday breezes into the Labott's Apollo Hammersmith soon. Let's remind for A levels. If Y 50 APPL4U..,E MAY 1997