College Productions

ANYONE CAN WHISTLE - London College Of Music

My first visit to a LCM show, and well worth it to get another look at this Sondheim oddity. I last saw it at the Union Theatre in 2017, but missed the more recent version at Southwark Playhouse.

The 3 largest roles - Mayor, Nurse Apple, and mysterious arrival Hapgood - were all well played and excellently sung by Holly Herbert, Yara Fabricante, and Grace O'Donoghue. With apparently only 3 males across the cohort (2 appearing in 'Cast One' that I saw at the Saturday matinee) casting Hapgood female brought something refreshing in the same-sex attraction of Hapgood and Nurse Apple.

There are so many song gems in the score, though few move the story forward. Songs often do the same function a dialogue scene did, and that makes it feel as long as it is. You could pick up 'Everybody Says Don't' and put it in 'Company'; same goes for the title song really. But I think you can really hear Sondheim hitting his stride and finding his own style here, even though it was a flop disaster on first outing. All very intriguing.

We were at the same performance Dr Tom . I thought I'd wait and see if I got one of those feedback emails after the show, and keep it private - but in the absence of that....

Nothing at all to do with the students' achievements, but I think the LCM should lift up the public presentation of their performances.  There were no notices at the entrance to assure you you're in the right place, no sense of welcome or occasion; let through by security I then wandered around and had to ask students where the Lawrence Hall was - none of them had heard of it which makes it seem low status (which it shouldn't be - it's a good facility; they probably know it as the theatre or studio - rename it!). People scanning ticket bookings were friendly and efficient, but there was no sense of turning up to a final year show, or someone owning front of house. Could have done with notices or announcements about not filming/photographing. The cast board was paltry. Take a leaf out of other drama school books and give the different casts themed names rather than 'Cast 1' and 'Cast 2' which can be construed as hierarchical.

These facets left it teetering towards feeling like an internal 'sharing' rather than a public 'show' - though in the main it achieved the latter, as the students deserved it to. Perhaps the trappings of public presentation were better handled at the evening performances.

Looking forward to seeing it on Saturday - my first time seeing Into the Woods live.

As a huge Spring Awakening fan, ArtsEd’s production just didn’t do it for me. They had a tough battle, coming after the West End Spring reunion concert and also the brilliant production of Rent as my most recent visit to ArtsEd, but sadly I wasn’t a fan of many of the production choices.

Into The Woods (ArtsEd)

My fourth student Into The Woods of 2024 (with a fifth coming up at Mountview later this month!) and this production was arguably up there with the best. Under Tania Azevedo’s direction, the ‘crunch company’ third-years dug deep to give every human emotion this Sondheim piece is supposed to deliver - courage, loss, love and humour.

I’ve now seen The Witch played in so many different styles and found Imogen Craig’s portrayal fascinating, spellbinding some might say. Vocally, she provides the highlight with Last Midnight but is so consistently brilliant throughout.

Lara Grace totally understood the assignment with Little Red. The character is meant to be playful and hilarious and she certainly delivered on both scores. Meanwhile, Rose Burn Hughes is standout as Cinderella, I could listen to her sing for days.

The reason so many colleges are doing Into The Woods, I presume, is it is such a great ensemble piece; every performer gets their moment in the spotlight. Deshawn Gordon gives a moving performance as Jack, while Ben Quigley and Zak Devlin nail the pompous humour of the prince’s during Agony.

Special mentions go to Beau Jackson and Tori Monaghan as the Baker and his wife, for Lara Wollington, who gives a wild performance as Rapunzel (I’ve never seen her played like that before but I loved it!), Foxy Valentine as Jack’s put-upon mother and Joseph Lennox as the Mysterious Man. Vieve Hamilton made for a unique Narrator also - usually the role is one of pure humour and while she retains that aspect, she somehow manages to add a believable vulnerability to the performance.

There is clearly so much talent in this ArtsEd grad year, not just high up the cast list but within the ensemble too. For that reason, I cannot wait to see everyone shining in the upcoming productions of High Society and Sister Act next year. As for Into The Woods? To quite another Sondheim number, “it’s a hit!”.