Featured Post

A little less conversation: After Sex @Arcolatheatre

Image
According to research, millennials in rich countries are having sex less these days. But they were prepared to talk more about it. So, it is no surprise to see a story about what happens when a series of no-strings-attached encounters start to become attachments. And the conversations arising from it. Such is the premise of After Sex, Siofra Dromgoole’s two-hander of the conversations afterwards. It’s not particularly sexy or erotic, and the snappy pacing and short scenes sometimes make you wish they stayed longer to finish the conversation. Nevertheless, it is still a funny and, at times, bittersweet picture of single lives in the big city. It’s currently playing at the Arcola Theatre .  He is bi and works for her in an office job. She is neither ready for a commitment nor to let the office know what’s happening. He isn’t prepared to tell his mum there’s someone special in his life. He doesn’t speak to his dad, so his mum is his world. It’s a perfect relationship/arrangement. Or so it

Theatre: Crazy For You (and those legs)


After a successful run at Regents Park Open Air Theatre this summer, Crazy For You is now at the Novello Theatre. I saw it at Regents Park and was not so crazy about it then. Now in a theatre and away from evening chills, planes flying overhead and the occasional moth, it is a chance to ignore those distractions and focus on the vibrant singing and dancing, and spectacular costumes. There is so much energy on stage conveyed through a series of spectacular dances. Legs kick, flip and dance their way through nearly three hours of entertainment.  You will be exhausted just watching it.



The show with a book by Ken Ludwig is a "lets put on a show" story set between sophisticated New York and an old Nevada mining town. It is best described as something to hang twenty Gershwin songs off. What makes it work well is how the story and orchestrations make these songs so fresh and as if they were written for the piece. You will forget the near century of jazz and vocal interpretations and think that I Got Rhythm obviously needs a big dance number complete with drink trays and banging the set. Of course the likability of the characters and the charisma of the leads also means that they can get away with almost anything.

It is hard to leave the theatre without being impressed by some very spectacular dance numbers, in particular the closing number of the first act and the dancing with the follies girls. Sean Palmer (who appeared in a few Sex and The City episodes as Stanford Blatch's Broadway calibre dancer) is great in the lead as Bobby with his good looks and dreams of being in a Broadway show rather than going into the family business of banking. In this day and age who could blame him? Besides his singing and dancing are part of the charm of this show.

There is also a particularly strong supporting cast that includes Michael McKell as a rough hotelier and Kim Medcalf as Bobby's old girlfriend. Both provide some naughty laughs and give the show a bit of edge.

But this show is really about having fun and becoming reacquainted with some old Gershwin standards. And it is hard not to want to sit back and take it all in. Legs and all. If there is a quibble it is that it feels as if there is an awful lot of dialogue to get through at times and the timing of it could be picked up to dispense with it as quickly as possible. Particularly when there is all that good singing and dancing to get to. It is booking until July 2012 and look out for the new recording. Discounts should be available at the usual places.

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial security
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...