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No country for old women: Old Ladies - at Finborough Theatre

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The day after seeing The Old Ladies at the Finborough Theatre , I was describing the play to someone in great detail: about three old ladies who lived in a rickety house in southern England in 1935. Based on Hugh Walpole’s novel and adapted by Rodney Ackland, it is the sort of story with enough believability, humour and mild thriller to stick in your mind. Perhaps it is the lure of this dark, forboding tale of a life without money, to be alone and to be old, that makes you feel attracted to this poverty porn. But then again, given the state of the world, the cost of living, an ageing population, or just the fact that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, it might as well be an every little old lady-for-herself, too. It’s a well-acted and staged piece that moves at a brisk pace, so there isn’t much time to think about it too much. And in the intimate (or should that be claustrophobic?) space of the Finborough, there’s nowhere to avert your eyes. Even if you wanted to.  The scene is a grim Cathe...

Theatre: Musical of Musicals

Tuesday night I caught The Musical of Musicals which is playing at the Sound Theatre (part of that Swiss Building where those hideous chiming things happen on the hour in Leicester Square). I understand that at some point the building will be demolished, which will be a victory for decent architecture. Having said all that, the theatre is not a bad space. Even better was this production.

If you like your musical theatre (and hey who doesn't as what's there not to like??) then this show offers the same story about a girl who can't pay the rent, in the five different styles: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim, Jerry Hermann, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Kander and Ebb.

The great thing about the show is even if the in-jokes sail over your head, the songs and the performances were good enough to stand on their own. While the Lloyd Webber segment managed to show how much the composer loves / copies / borrows from other composers, my favourite was the Kander and Ebb segment where everyone spoke in a foreign language and had dirty sex (a la Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spiderwoman).

Jerry Hermann's parody seemed particularly apt after seeing his show "Mack and Mabel"… Now there's a composer who writes for dopey showgirls in gooey gowns… It reinforced that making your cast look less glamorous by playing their own instruments is probably not a good idea in a Hermann show.

It finishes this week and deserves to have another run…

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