Johnny Johnson
Lillian Baylis Studio Theatre,
Sadler’s Wells, Sunday 5 July 2009
review by
©July 2009
Going to see one of Ian
Marshall-Fisher’s Discovering Lost Musicals Charitable TrustTM
Shows always has a certain element of excitement and apprehension to it. What
undiscovered gems are there in the script? What familiar songs might we hear in
their unfamiliar original setting? Are the actors doing the piece going to be
ones who do musicals frequently, or ones who are usually known for turning up
on TV cop shows, in other words not known for singing. Will they be familiar
stalwarts, or new to the gang?
One thing we can be sure of,
is that whatever the piece is it will have been extensively researched (in some
cases painstakingly pieced back together), and performed to a generally high
standard. But sometimes we get shear brilliance, perfect casting, and
consistently excellent performances.
Having seen these shows for
nearly fifteen years sometimes I find myself thinking “Yes but they are not
as good as they were back in the old glory days at Barbican”. Then I
wonder, “Am I being fair?” And
yet occasionally, just occasionally a Lost Musicals production
will come along, where there is absolutely no doubt the standard is being
maintained. This surprising show is one of those occasions.
Johnny Johnson is a very unusual piece for the Discovering
Lost Musicals gang anyway, as Ian Marshall-Fisher makes very
clear in his fascinating pre-show talk. For a start it is more a Play with
Music (and songs), than a Musical. It was also originally written for and
produced by The American Group Theatre, which explains in part why this
bizarre anti-war satire is so refreshingly radically left-wing.
The show has a large number
of characters, one which will push even the Lost Musicals. Ian
Marshall-Fisher has assembled a cast of fourteen, playing over forty seven
characters, so a lot of the actors have to play several roles. Around half of
the actors have done Lost Musicals shows before, and these
trusted old hands, as one might expect, take the lions share of the principal
roles. They include among their number two of the Magic Quintet, whose
presence I think is usually guaranteed to raise the level. These two Myra
Sands and James Vaughan have been in more Lost Musicals
than anyone else.
So the cast come on stage to
take their places in a quiet orderly fashion, sitting at the back of the stage,
while Ian-Marshall-Fisher gives his talk, with no obvious shtik from the
performers. It hasn’t always been so at Lost Musicals pre-show
talks, I recall once only three years ago, when our producer-director got
upstaged by a pianist; as well as two or three incidences several years ago involving
a certain madcap muppet.
Act 1 opens with the whole company rising to play the
townsfolk of a small American town in 1917, who are gathered to unveil a
tombstone monument to peace. James Vaughan as His Honour The Mayor opens
the proceedings with Over In Europe, a song about how Europe is
being torn apart by war, but
Johnny is completely
bewildered by this suddenly change in the political atmosphere. The scene ends with our leading man
expressing his puzzlement with Johnny’s Song. Here Max Gold
demonstrates that he can sing nicely, and sing the lyrics with feeling as
though he means it. Vocally the Lost Musicals have many actors
who may be far more versatile and in many ways superior singers. However, for
this role more superior vocalising is not actually required. Sincerity and
simplicity are what is needed here, and both those qualities Max certainly has.
His puzzlement over having thought that Woodrow Wilson saw eye to eye with him
about peace (and keeping American out of European wars), for a moment also
reminded me of a true story I read in Colin Chambers’ book on Unity
Theatre; concerning one young lady who initially believed in Chamberlain’s
efforts to negotiate peace, and because of this did not appear in Living
Newspaper No 2 Crisis (about the Munich agreement). A coincidence to be
reminded of that story, perhaps.
Switching the action to
Minnie Belle’s house a few nights later, we find Gay Soper as Aggie
Minnie Belle’s mother singing Aggie’s (Sewing Machine) Song. I
was not exactly keen on this character, nevertheless versatile Gay Soper
plays her well. Interestingly although the character is not an easy one to
like, she is one of the kindest to our hero, she may not be too keen on him as
a potential son-in-law but at least she is pleasant to him. Perhaps also, in a
funny sort of way, she kind of respects his pacifist views.
Gay Soper rather comes into her own when Aggie has an amusing
scene with Anguish Howington, played by Richard Stemp, during which, she
tells him how her various relatives, while supporting wars, dodged military
service on medical grounds, sometimes by doing themselves “accidental”
damage. She suggests Anguish’s eyesight is not good enough for a soldier,
especially if he has a spell of wearing her cross-eyed glasses. Anguish falls
in with the hypocritical idea.
Minnie Belle returning home,
promptly assumes Johnny has enlisted and will soon be off to Europe, and
launches into Come Back To Me. Lauren Ward sings well, but
what really makes this number is Max’s portrayal of Johnny reacting to it in
shock horror at Minnie’s warmongering attitude. Max Gold is one of those
actors who really can convey a lot with just a look or a gesture. Johnny has
finally received a locket he ordered for Minnie, he reaches into his pocket,
takes it out and gives it to her. I notice that Max and Lauren both mime so
well one could believe they were holding a locket. It also made me think of Oh
Kay, when the lovely likeable Kay dropped her locket, and spent a good
deal of that show crawling around on the floor looking for it (only on that
occasion the cast did have a piece of costume jewellery to represent Kay’s
locket). Of course in that show as in this the title character was portrayed by
a likeable performer with a strong stage presence too. Johnny and Minnie decide
to get engaged. The is a tenderness in Johnny’s face and manner as he kisses
Minnie. It could almost be soppy, and yet somehow Max manages to carry this
performance with conviction. The happy atmosphere does not last long, as Minnie
insists Johnny goes to fight.
I was momentarily reminded of certain moments
in Strike Up The Band, where a girl refuses to love a man she
perceives as “not a patriot”. Perhaps one inspired the other. However,
this satire has a slightly different message, Strike Up’s hero wouldn’t fight
in that war because he knew the grounds for it were incorrect. In this drama
Johnny is a pacifist, but he will fight if given a good reason, and just at
this moment the newspaper arrives. In it Woodrow Wilson explains that
In the Recruiting Office we
find Captain Valentine and Dr McBray,
Max’s command of the stage
really comes into it’s own in the next scene, set on board a ship a few nights
later at the entrance to New York Harbour. He well he presents his character’s
wonderment at travelling (to
The next scene, a few weeks
later, finds us in
For Scene 6, set In a Trench,
there are not enough men in this production to play all the roles, so four of
the women (Gay Soper, Valerie Cutko, Myra Sands, and Valda
Arvicks) have to pitch in too, playing male roles. A contrast to
Around The World In Eight Days (when there weren’t enough women, so
some of the men had to play women). The most notable of these is Gay Soper,
as a very convincing cockney male, and she doesn’t even get a credit in the
programme for it! The scene opens with
The Sniper is in a nearby
Churchyard, Johnny approaches softly. For an actor with such an abundance of stage
presence, Max is really astonishingly creepily good at slinking about the stage
with great subtly, so that you can be almost unaware of him until he is in
position, then suddenly, bang! He’ll turn that presence on full. It’s a
peculiar trick, I’ve only seen done by one other performer on stage, Phyllis in
the RFH production of Follies managed to creep up behind
Ben and Sally in a manner not dissimilar, but even then not down to as fine an
art as Max has it. On this occasion Max turns his stage presence on full with
something that might have been a karate move. Well this is the actor who got
singled out by the critics on not one but two productions of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream for his “Karate kicking Demetrius”.
Johnny, with his artiste’s
eye, is also quite horrified at finding the churchyard, with is beautiful
statuary being used as a sniper’s hideout. Max, excellent actor that he is
portrays this side of Johnny’s character so well, though given his mother’s
artistic family, perhaps that isn’t so surprising, maybe something rubbed off
there, who knows.
Having floored the terrified
sniper, played surprisingly well by Christian Walker, we see just how
quickly Max can change his character’s manner, literally in the blink of an
eyelid (what an accomplished actor)., as Johnny suddenly realises that the
German sniper is “nothing but a boy”, he’s quite horrified that someone
so young has been sent to war. Suddenly he becomes very gentle, we see just how
kind and moved Johnny is. Slipping his right hand into his trouser pocket he
mimes pulling out a packet of chewing-gum, and offers one to the sniper (whose
name is Johan). During the conversation he learns that the sniper’s commander
was once his schoolmaster, and that some of the German middle commanders really
want peace. At this Johnny pulls out a bunch of papers from his jacket (again
miming), a number of press cuttings of Woodrow Wilson’s speeches about peace,
and some of his own articles on the subject, which he claims are better. With
what conviction Max delivers those lines, like someone who really knows what
it’s like to take pride in their own writing. Letting the boy go, with
instructions to spread the message of peace, Johnny returns to the trench, to
everyone’s astonishment. Just as everyone is wondering what to do with him
(over him letting the sniper go), he gets hit in the backside by a stray bullet.
“Ain’t that a hell of a place to get hit” And thus our leading man
concludes the first act, with a memorable line. However good a line is, when
performed it is only as good as the actor delivering it. But Max is a terrific
actor, who really knows how to make a great line memorable. What a leading man
this show has!
The second act opens with yet
another unusual departure for the Lost Musicals. The cast comes
on stage to take their places, but before starting the show, the pianist Chris
Walker, addresses the audience, to explain the meaning of the title of the
next song. Although I now can’t remember his explanation, it made sense at the
time.
The chairs have always been a
feature of Lost Musicals productions, often adapted to serve a
variety of purposes, some how or another positioned to represent a variety of
pieces of set. Two together side by side can represent a bed (DuBarry Was
A Lady), Two opposite each other represent a rowing boat (Sweet
Adeline), Two or three pairs
opposite each other A railway carriage compartment (Nymph Errant,
and Around The World In Eighty Days), or two pairs opposite each
other for a horse drawn carriage (Around The World In Eighty Days).
But usually the chairs remain upright. However, on this occasion one chair is
positioned upside down, with it’s back sloping towards the audience, Max, again
down on the floor of the stage, leans against it, to represent the hero lying
in bed. A second chair is positioned next to it (stage right) representing a
table. Valerie Cutko, as a French Nurse, stands beside this, talking to
her patient, she sings a romantic song to him Mon Ami My Friend.
trying to be seductive, the character does not entirely succeed. It’s a good
little part for Valerie Cutko, one which suits her talents well. The
scene also involved James Vaughan as a hospital orderly, and Tim
Thomas as a doctor, examining the soldier’s wound. The doctor initially
tries to give him laughing gas, but later orders him “not to touch the gas”.
Then another character, played by Valda Arviks enters. Billed as a Ward
Sister, she is really more of a lady do-gooder, offering to put on an entertainment
for the wounded soldiers. She is quite horrified by Johnny’s wound, on the
basis that it is a coward’s place to get hit. She is even more appalled by his
account of letting the sniper go. This comes out, after he hears it said there
is to be a big battle tomorrow, as German prisoners have revealed there is
discontent among their ranks. Johnny has
to do something quickly or he will be in trouble. He accidentally-on-purpose
turns on the laughing gas. This sets the characters laughing and gives him a
chance to make his escape. He concludes the scene, by more or less addressing
the audience directly (how like Shakespeare can you get) “Think I’d
better take the laughing gas, just in case” he says, his distinctive brown
eyes sparkling almost with glee as he speaks. As an actor Max really does have
an amazing stage charisma.
The next scene is set in a
French Chateau, during a meeting of The Allied High Command. Again with there not
really being quite enough men, some of the roles here are played by women, most
notably Myra Sands as The American Commander. We also have Valda
Aviks as the Belgian King, and Gay Soper as the French Major
General. Among the men we have
The next scene takes place on
the edge of the Great Battlefield, at Dawn. A Captain and his Lieutenant, Rafe
Beckley and Myra Sands respectively are busy telephoning orders,
first orders to stop the battle, and then after two other commanders rush in
and explain about a Private who stole a general’s uniform, they have to ring
round giving orders to commence the battle, its a sharp contrast. An American
Priest and a German Priest, played by Fabian Hartwell and Richard
Stemp respectively, then give us a narration about the appalling results of
the battle, the numbers killed, they also mention the young sniper (from
earlier) who was killed. The scene ends with our hero taking centre stage,
“I had this battle stopped once” he remarks sadly, and then he gets
apprehended and arrested.
A brief scene back in
In a Psychiatrist’s Office in
a State Hospital, we find the psychiatrist Dr Mohodan, and his secretary Miss
Newro, played by James Vaughan and Valerie Cutko respectively.
While neither role is particularly great, both actors do their very best to
make something of the parts, and are very good choices to act those characters.
The running joke of the scene is that the psychiatrist himself evidently has
mental health problems. But is more concerned about trying to cure his patients
than himself. He relies heavily on Miss Newro to give him his medicine and
prompt him whenever he forgets things, such as the names of his patients. It’s
certainly a comic character, very much the “very silly” sort of role we
usually expect to find James Vaughan playing in these shows. He even
gets to sing a silly song The Psychiatry Song. By this point,
their new patient, our leading man is also present, and sitting on a chair,
head cast down, with those sparkling brown eyes closed, magnificent stage
presence switched off, so that our attention is pretty much focused on the
comic actor singing the song, who is also dancing around trying to turn this
song into a comedy classic, making particularly good use (as usual) of his
little moveable eyebrows trick. I think James Vaughan has sung far
better comedy songs in the Lost Musicals. Nevertheless he is
absolutely the right person to sing this song. It also helps that Ian
Marshall-Fisher has directed this scene well, while Max Gold clearly
understands when to make his tremendous stage presence felt, and when not to;
and somehow manages to momentarily turn his stage presence off without doing
his own character any disservice. That in itself is quite a feat. I recall a
few years ago watching an RSC production of The Cherry Orchard
during which a usually vivacious actress (with a similar kind of stage
presence) had impressively managed to tone her stage presence down, the effect
was surprisingly dull, and did not do her characterisation justice. Apart from
that song, during the rest of the scene Max does make his presence felt.
Fortunately James Vaughan is adept at standing up to that and not being
overshadowed. But then he is particularly well acquainted with that sort of
charisma. The scene also includes
Minnie-Belle, played by Lauren Ward putting in an appearance, and
learning that her fiancée is supposedly mentally ill, this does bring out an
undercurrent of just how conscience objection and things like that were rarely
understood back in those days. I was also kind of amused by the way the Doctor
referred to his patient as “left-handed” (at least I think that is what
he said), he presumably meant “Left-Wing”. I found this funny. mainly
because our leading actor is actually right-handed, but the actor playing the
doctor in question happens to be a sinestral. Talk about irony.
The penultimate scene is set
some years later, by now our hero has been in the asylum for a number of years,
and become rather a fixture, though as the scene progresses we learn the
authorities are planning to let him out soon. There is a meeting of the asylum
debating society. This finds most of the company playing the inmates. Myra
Sands is playing Dr Frewd who is running the debate, while Christine
Walker plays both an inmate and then later a new young doctor showing a
benefactor around. Despite two songs Asylum Chorus, and later Hymn
To Peace, this is the most slow moving and dullest of the scenes.
Fortunately it’s one saving grace is our leading man. Max Gold is
evidently one of those actors who can make even a boring scene worth paying
attention to. He manages to make the dialogue sound interesting, and certainly
there is a kind of amusement in how these apparent lunatics have actually more
or less come to a sane agreement on political matters, with ideas that are
probably a lot more sensible than many politicians. Which perhaps prompts the
question, what do we really mean by insanity?
Making the audience ask these searching questions are exactly what any
good political satire (from Unity Theatre’s Babes In The Wood,
to Central Television’s Spitting Image) should do.
The finale scene finds our
hero out of the asylum, basically a broken man (probably looking older than his
years), once a stone mason, he is now reduced to making and selling children’s
toys. A boy, played by Richard Linnell takes pity on him, and asks
mother, played by Lauren Ward, if he can have some money to buy a toy.
It turns out he wants a soldier “I don’t make toys like that” says our hero
simply and gently, still true to himself after all that has happened. The boy
gives him the money anyway. There is a tenderness in this scene, it is very
moving, especially when Johnny asks the boy’s name and learns it is Anguish
Howington Junior, he is of course Minnie-Belle’s son. Our hero really has lost
everything, including the girl. In sadness, frustration, anger, he expresses
all his emotions in Johnny’s Song. This is a far more noticeable
performance of the song than that at the end of the opening scene. Max begins
softly, and singing with simply sincerity in a voice and style not dissimilar
to several cute Muppets, and very like one of the voices a certain notable lady
puppeteer uses for the encore number in her cabaret act. Not that this is in
any way a criticism. Because it is a voice that absolutely fits the character.
Max sings with feeling and integrity, like he means it. For the finale verse he
works up almost to a partial crescendo, I’ve heard louder in the Lost
Musicals, but this is a good and fitting finale. Max after all is an
accomplished Shakespearian actor, and therefore used to projecting lines. Also
growing up around his mother (who triumphed in a striking shouting performance
in the film Withanil And I) and his sister (who might be
described as An English Ethel Merman), one would guess he’d have to be
able to project to make himself heard, sometimes! And so ends one of the Lost
Musicals’ more unusual pieces. A moving thought provoking piece of
music theatre, given a first rate performance.
This piece is quite unlike
anything the Discovering Lost Musicals Charitable TrustTM
have done before. For a start it was written for the American Group Theatre,
a venerable left-wing organisation, as a piece of political satire. Well there
is evidently nothing quite like great left-wing political satire. Now if only
someone could bring back to life some of the long forgotten British equivalents
(preferably with some appropriate contemporary performers). The political
nature of the piece makes it not only especially interesting historically, but
also very deep, in terms of human nature, it is quite Brechtian in nature.
However while a serious piece it is also funny, with some moments of shear
bizzarity, such as singing statues (of course The Lost Musicals
has previously done a statue that came to life, in One Touch Of Venus),
and singing guns! I thought I’d come across everything from tomatoes to
termites, that could be personified to sing, but I’ve certainly not come across
singing guns before!
Generally the writing is
good. While few songs of the score are what one might call “catchy” they are
all well written music and fit the piece well. Kurt Weill after all was
already used to writing with Brecht.
New to the Lost Musicals
Richard Linnell, Fabian Hartwell, Rafe Beckley, Tim
Thomas,
We then have four supporting
players who have all appeared, mostly in supporting roles, in previous Lost
Musicals: Valda Arvicks, Richard Stemp, Valerie Cutko,
and, Gay Soper. All five are generally well cast, and live up to their
already earned reputations as Lost Musicals performers. Valda
Avicks’s performance, though not as good as her stellar turn in
Around The World In Eighty Days which seemed to suit her so
particularly well, generally gives a satisfactory performance. Though her
singing as the Statue Of Liberty was not quite to the standard one would expect
in the Lost Musicals. But it wasn’t terrible. The rest of the
time she made a generally good supporting player. A far better performance is
that of Valerie Cutko, doing exactly what she does best in Lost
Musicals, play some strong supporting roles (but not a lead). Her performance
this afternoon is up there with her contributions to Around The World In
Eighty Days, and Park Avenue. I also thought her costume
was generally good. Her skirt suited her very well, while her top was just
about alright, because it thankfully covered up most of her shoulders (and her
appearance is always so improved by covering her shoulders). As the French Nurse she is good, but her best
performance is as the asylum secretary Miss Newro. She also pitches in some
decent supporting roles as a soldier in the trenches and an asylum inmate. In
only his second Lost Musical Richard Stemp has the uncomfortable
task of playing quite a major role, that of the hero’s love rival. This is a
fairly unlikeable character, but then it is meant to be. His performance is
generally satisfactory. He also pitches in with several bit parts, thereby
making himself useful to the piece. Of these four the person who stands out the
most is that ever reliably excellent British actress Gay Soper. She has
done Lost Musicals before, most notably Nymph Errant
where she played four parts. This afternoon she is again in excellent form. I
didn’t necessarily like the character of Aggie Tompkins, but I was nevertheless
impressed by Gay’s performance of the role. She is one of those actresses with
a rare ability for playing something ridiculous, and possibly unpleasant
without ever going too far. Over the years the Lost Musicals has
been fortunate in including among it’s actresses no fewer than three brilliant
voice-artistes. All three ladies are people whose work turns up time and time
again on television, so most people will have heard their work, even if they
are less familiar with the women themselves. One of these ladies is Gay. Here
she puts her impressive vocal range to good use playing a variety of
characters. The best of which a cockney soldier in the trenches was actually
uncredited in the programme!
Three performers stand out,
for amongst other things, actually standing up to our leading man’s stage
presence, interestingly while I don’t think any of them have acted opposite Max
before, they do all have some experience of his peculiar kind of stage
presence, not least because they have all appeared in Lost Musicals
with another certain performer who has that distinctive scene-grabbing acting
style, to an even greater extent! This afternoon’s leading lady Lauren Ward is one of
only three performers who plays only one part. She strikes a good balance
between making Minnie-Belle so dreadfully in favour of war, and yet somehow
making the character not unpleasant, we can still kind of be sympathetic to
her, and understand why Johnny would love her. Certainly this is a meatier than
her previous Lost Musicals role of Alice/Alisander De verney in DuBarry
Was A Lady. But perhaps her experiences of the latter adds to her
performance this afternoon, this time she knows what to expect with the Lost
Musicals. Myra Sands and James Vaughan are both
experienced old hands at Lost Musicals. Their work in these shows
is always excellent. Myra Sands has appeared in more Lost Musicals
than anyone else. It’s always nice to have her in the show. This afternoon is
particularly good, because she connects so well with the material. She is not
just acting a role, she is acting it with an instinctive feel for how it would
have been played by the original actors. Here she is playing a variety of bit
parts jolly well. As Dr Frewd she helps to make the penultimate scene a little
less tedious. She is also does a pretty good job as a battlefield Lieutenant.
But of all her parts by far the best is the American Commander. In that role
she does stand out, especially when she and our leading man are both standing
on their chairs. Her resume mentions that she has been in over thirty Lost
Musicals, as it happens at least eight of those happen to have involved
standing up to a certain leading lady with a lot of stage presence, that surely
helped her to come across this afternoon. Strangely her resume fails to mention
the major West End show she is currently employed in, this seems a startling,
and perhaps ironic, omission. The only actor in the Lost Musicals
gang who comes anywhere having appeared in as many of the shows as Myra has
done is James Vaughan. He is always an asset to any Lost Musical he
appears in, and usually plays several parts (just about the only occasions when
he did not play multiple roles were DuBarry Was A Lady and Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes). This afternoon he is playing seven roles. He also
manages to get the most solo performances as a singer, two numbers for which he
is credited, plus leading the company with The Allied High Command.
Of all his roles the one that shows off his talents the best is Dr Mohoden. It
is noticeable that in both that role and also as Sergeant Jackson he stands up
rather well to our leading man’s stage presence. Though given his experience of
Gentlemen and DuBarry as well as three other particular Lost Musicals productions,
perhaps that isn’t so surprising... . James
Vaughan, and, Myra Sands are of course two members of what I like to
call the Lost Musicals’ ‘Magic Quintet’. So far since the
shows came to The Wells, we’ve only had four members of the
quintet appear here. Most shows feature one or other of the five, many of the
better ones have two. To get three one show then you are on to a real winner.
This afternoon we have two. However, we also happen to have one other actor who
with his expressive face and magnificent stage presence gives us something of a
reminder of the missing member of the quintet.
Playing the title role of
Johnny Johnson our leading man Max Gold is truly amazing. To make the
whole piece work, it is necessary to have a particularly fine actor for this
part. Someone who can carry the show. Over the years The Lost Musicals
has had a number of splendid leading actors and actresses on whose shoulders
getting a show across could easily rest, performers such as: Elisabeth
Counsell, Anna Francolini, Peter Gale, Louise Gold,
and, Henry Goodman. As a commanding stage actor Max Gold is up
there with the best of them. And this show really does need one of the best. It
demands someone who can carry an audience with them, and quickly gain an
audience’s sympathy, even when all the other characters in the piece are
against him. After all our hero is a
true man of the people, a real mench, and as a result, although he appears
meshugge, he is in fact far wiser and sensible than the commanders and
politicians for declare him insane, when in actual fact he’s just a peacenik.
One of the reasons the character of the hero works so well, and gains our
sympathy, is the way Max portrays him, making the character ever so haimisher
(he’s got no side to him). His own mishpocheh could even help here. Max is not
only a terrifically capable actor, he appears to have such a genuine feel for
the material. It is always something extra special to watch a performer do
materiel that they really connect with. This piece after all was written for
the legendary American Group Theatre, one of the cornerstones of the Workers
Theatre Movement, and when you consider that one of the major British
cornerstone of that movement was the Unity Theatre (London), it seems
uncannily fitting. In fact we may have unintentionally had a little
demonstration of one trait much in evidence in some Unity shows. It has been said
that a certain Unity actress, who later went professional, “had an amazing
stage presence”. Now film and
television performances can only tell part of the story (even if that actress
did once act Anthony Booth off the screen in the opening scene of an
episode of Daziel And Pasco). Fortunately Max (as well as his
sister) seems to have something of his mother’s stage presence. His stage presence isn’t the only similarity
to his sister, there is also that gentle kind wide smile, and those sparkling
brown eyes that speak volumes more than mere words could do. In fact he is even
more proficient at making good use of his eyes possibly because classical drama
and fringe have given him many more opportunities to utilise that skill. Given
their stage presence it is surprising that both of them can, when required
slink on or about a stage quite subtly, so as to almost be not noticed. Max is
particularly good at this too, possibly because (Mutiny On The Bounty
excepted) he does not seem to be such an extrovert. His sister may be the more
versatile performer, but when Max is good at something he is seriously good
Both of them are very capable of playing extraordinary as if it is quite
ordinary, and making the ridiculous appear the norm. Another trait these two good
looking performers share is having a very wide playing-age range. This
afternoon Max is playing a character who is meant to be in mid twenties, around
half the actor’s actual age. Yet he is totally convincing, and one would not
guess his actual age from that performance. Max also has a wonderfully clear
speaking voice, even when he is speaking fast, such as during the riddles, he
speaks really clearly, so that every word can be heard perfectly, surely a
tribute to his training at The Central School Of Speech And Drama. Few
actors in musical theatre have quite such beautifully clear speaking voices.
Being musicals the Discovering Lost Musicals shows, tend to quite
rightly use actors with strong backgrounds in stage musicals. Max is a rather
unusual choice for a Lost Musicals leading man, in that he is
primarily an actor. Yes the Lost Musicals have had many far
greater singers (including a certain puppeteer) as leads, but for the demands
of this particular piece, Max sings more than well enough. This is a role that
demands to have a first rate actor, but one who can sing where required. It
would be hard indeed to find an actor who could play this complex role well,
yet Ian Marshall-Fisher has truly found Gold. In fact in the title role
in this musical Max Gold proves to be one of Ian Marshall-Fisher’s
astonishingly splendid pieces of perfect casting.
Fifteen years ago, when I
first saw one of Ian Marshall-Fisher’s
Discovering Lost Musicals shows (Red Hot And Blue),
I well remember being truly stunned, when an extraordinary leading lady, whom I
had never heard of before, delivered one of the most amazingly brilliant stage
performances I had ever seen, one that just made that show perfect. I remember
wondering “Who on earth is she? and why is isn’t she better known?” This
afternoon wasn’t quite like that, I had not only heard of our leading man
before, I had even seen him in a play, Dreyfus at The Tricycle
Theatre. Nevertheless, I didn’t know he was quite such a splendid leading
actor, and I do find myself wondering, why on earth isn’t his work better
known. He did make this extremely bizarre show something very special. Indeed,
how can I sum up this Lost Musicals production of Johnny
Johnson, well it’s a mechaieh.
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Off Site Links:
The Discover Lost Musicals Charitable TrustTM’s Official Site: http://www.lostmusicals.org/
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