College Productions

Saw the matinee today, and agree with Dr. Tom that it's abstract but enjoyable.

A mixed bag, as the conception of the production works against the thrust of the narrative, in my opinion, resulting in a bit of a static feel, that stifles the exuberance of many individual and ensemble performances.

I saw the Illusion Cast, and felt that some performances were wonderful.

Some spoilers follow. . .

At one point, the entire ensemble whip out smartphones, and the idea is that social media makes you miserable, like many other things that are actually in the Pippin book.

Which would work in Pippin if we ever felt the allure of it in the first place, which then would allow us to feel the disappointment of it.

But the Leading Player here, Liberty Ashford, with a commanding voice to match Adele's (the most impressive and powerful and full voice to listen to, and who really needs to play Sally Bowles one day), is portrayed as a disaffected, alienated, sarcastic, miserable Emo from first to last. There is no way anyone could imagine that following this Leading Player about could be magical. So we really don't feel the magic or allure of much at all.

Consequently, the main Faustian conceit of Pippin the Musical, that Pippin is seduced by the Leading Player to try out all these alternative routes to happiness, feels false.

There is magic in individual performances, however, with Eve Humphrey being an obvious and invaluable recruit to the Mischief Comedy franchise, as her blustering bullying Charlemagne got a great laugh from every blunt bolshy gleeful pronouncement. Her tongue close enough to her cheek to border on camp, her comic timing her missed.

As Fastrada, Rosie Toolin had a mischievous comic breathiness redolent of Katherine Parkinson, and an exquisite singing voice, and in no apparent role at all, Chiara Ritchie had all the effusive infectious intelligent main character energy of a Lea Michele.

Anyway, every time the ensemble sings and dances, there is magic in it, even if it doesn't tell a coherent story.

3 stars from me.

I was also there this afternoon, and wholeheartedly agree that this was fantastic fun, and that Ben Fenwick is oven ready to step into the leads of Bat out of Hell, American Idiot or We will Rock you right now lol.

Some spoilers follow. . .

This is a really hard-hitting production in a couple of ways:-

(1) First, you can forget about the woke twenties, with demure sensitivities about what performers are asked to perform. This feels like it was made and conceived in the period in which it is set: the lurid nineties. At one point, I wondered if I had mistakenly teleported back in time into Raymond's Revuebar. Anyway, from an audience perspective, the jarring feeling of being transported back to a more overtly exploitative time actually works for the production, as it not only illustrates the capitalist exploitation that the heroes of the show are rebelling against, it also allows them to triumph over it with the sheer steel and passion of their performances: Sedona Skye's Mimi is utterly irrepressible, and her relationship with Ben Fenwick's Roger is pure fire;

(2) Second, there is a Jamie Lloyd-Sunset Boulevard cut-the-crap individualistic fierceness across the board, I felt. The lovey doveyness of the commune is sidelined a little to make more room for a ferocious volcanic battle for survival of the characters, naked emotions exposed on a bareish (ladder at the side, rolling props and chairs) stage, making their interactions even feistier and more electric than you'd expect.

In addition to the unsmiling roiling passion and perfectly modulated and powerful rock voice of Ben Fenwick, I thought that a charismatic Josh Latunji was superb in the thankless role of Benny (the capitalist villain), winning us over with a sweetness of pitch and glowing charm.

As Collins and Angel respectively, Hayden Cable and Asher Forth completely won me over with their interactions, their final scene devastating.

And the ensemble put tears in my eyes with their powerful choral renderings of the Larson classics.

All in all, I was moved and rocked to an easy 4 stars by this production.

Sounds like they have a great pair of ‘Roger’s - I saw the La Vie company this evening and Tom Major was the stand-out for me, so I’m looking forward to seeing Ben Fenwick’s take on Saturday after the previous comments.

Rent is the musical that got me in to musical theatre, roughly 17 years ago. I really liked this production - there were a couple of choices I wasn’t wholly on board with but I mostly thought it was a brilliant staging with some great performances.

Rent - ArtsEd

A five star student production that could easily grace a professional stage.

In a moment of either madness or expectation (or not being sure what dates I could make), I booked to see both casts twice. I say both casts, although only four roles are double cast, but these people do play things quite differently. Both groups are very good. I feel La Vie had a slight edge as to how they gelled as a group, but there were individual performances in Boheme that I loved (especially Taylor Morris).

What ArtsEd always do very well is they find ways to make sure that every ensemble member has their moment and is featured. One downside is you get some numbers that are very busy, but you can focus out the interpretative dance going on in the background. I remember Rent doing rather well in the Other Palace a few years ago and this version could fit right in, just slimming down the ensemble (and set).

I did mentally slot a lot of the cast into other shows, even the ensemble members (especially where I'd seen them in other roles). The next tour of Heathers is covered. I do have Hayes Nolan as a perfect Beleaguered Geek (and cover JD). Jesse Chidera must never leave the gym (as so often happens in ArtsEd productions, they do manage to find a way to show his body off). I've mentally cast him as Jack in Newsies. Nkara Stephenson really stood out to me with presence in the ensemble as well.

In the lead roles, the characters are written in such a way that anything other than an excellent performance would be a let-down. Sedona Sky was the total standout as Mimi. Olivia Bella commanded the stage as Joanne as well, not overshadowed by the actors playing Maureen as can happen. Max Mulrenan must be destined for a role in Hamilton, a very believable Collins, beautiful voice, and outside this production I know he can rap too. Hayden Cable as the other Collins, totally charming, sings well, I see him with the potential to be a good comedy actor, or a possible Jamie, anything where he doesn't have to bow in time. His Gordon did tear me up.

This was 2 hours 50 minutes on Tuesday, by the matinee today it was down to 2 hours 35 minutes. The matinee today was the perfect performance. The crowd was respectful but not too loud. They'd cut down the pre-show. The microphones held up. I didn't hear anyone laughing at inappropriate moments (this isn't The Book of Mormon where having AIDS is a punchline).

They added an extra dimension to Mark, which everyone handled well, but without being able to change the book, this had to be acted out in the background. Taylor Morris as Mark, really likeable, didn't overact. Reece McGowan, memorable, very active eyes, a Mark that demanded more attention. The Rogers, Tom Major and Ben Fenwick, well that has to be a dream part for any trainee musical theatre actor. Tom Francis in the Hope Mill version really showed off the vocals for Roger, then went on to great heights, but otherwise this version was superior to Hope Mill. That is not forgetting the other leads. I could write something nice about everyone.

I almost wish I could go tomorrow. This sold out within minutes, unsurprisingly. If ArtsEd set up a commercial arm to run professional shows, they most definitively have the talent and expertise. Well done to everyone involved. You may not get a better student production this year.

I saw Rent on Friday afternoon at ArtsEd and enjoyed it very much. La Vie cast. Great ensemble numbers and some beautiful harmonies. Very talented cast, many of them quite ready to be in professional productions, a couple of them are not quite there yet though. The actress playing Mimi did an excellent job and Out Tonight was one the highlights.

Mark Shenton and his massive backpack were in the audience. Thanks goodness the loud music drowned the the sound of his rummaging.

Mark has always been a blank before this, neutral, a eunuch other than his past links to Maureen. Making him a sexual being was quite distracting and somewhat of a surprise, but it worked.

I saw Carousel at the Royal Academy of Music last summer. It was very cheap for over 60s and it was a wonderful performance. Does anyone know if they are doing a musical this summer?

Saw the first ArtsEds performance of Pippin last evening and had a great time. The cast is very talented, for sure we'll be seeing some of them in the West End in a couple of years.

I also saw the Dior Cast and thought Hannah Murdoch had great timing and oodles of charm as Amalia.

She was, however, cheated out of one of the funniest songs written for her character, "Where's my shoe?" This made no sense for the production but makes a lot of sense if the purpose is to share the limelight between the students lol, where Amalia gets "Vanilla Ice Cream," Georg gets "She Loves Me," and Ilona gets "A Trip to the Library."

The bare stage and dark backdrop didn't make for a very inviting Perfumerie, but was suitably atmospheric for the most excitingly staged scene, where the ensemble were all secretive lovers swanning and swooning around moodily, making shapes, behind Aiden Carson's humorously indignant waiter's back.

As the villainous Kodaly, I thought Zak Craig sang magnificently and showed a lot of panache. I thought Billy Marsden's Sipos was moment-to-moment superbly acted, his every emotion coming through, and the charm of Harry Laidlaw's Arpad rivalled that of Callum Scott Howells, though he was less loveably awkward and more Peter Lorre smooth talker.

Nothing can dim my memory of the perfect Menier production, though, where Scarlett Strallen and Mark Umbers genuinely seemed to hate-love each other to the absolute romantic maximum.

I'd give this classy production 3 and a half stars.

Out of interest, when is the next wave of college productions? The summer?

I’ve seen a Mountview third year saying their final show is Sunday in the Park, which is exciting.

Went to see Merrily We Roll Along at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. I'd never seen the show before and I'm so glad this production was my first: although I'm not sure how it differs from the original since it was famously reworked so many times, I can see why Sondheim believed it a vehicle for young performers. The cast was just right for this: Daisy-May Hinde as Mary, Calum Isaacs as Charley and Christian Wood as Frank - so much talent and vulnerability to their performances! The supporting cast was brilliant too.

It's honestly making me question Richard's Linklater vision for wanting to film his adaptation over 20 years, can't imagine what it would add. I suppose he's doing it just because he can...

Catch it until Saturday!