THE LOST MUSICALS 1998
At The Barbican
Reviewed by Emma Shane
© 1998
With rumours of a new venue for the next season of Lost Musicals, it
seems like an ideal time to reflect on the last year at Barbican Cinema 1. 1998
found one of
The season got off to a rousing start with Irving Berlin’s As
Thousands Cheer. Eight talented performers did it proud, two really
stood out. Mandy More at last getting a chance to really star, and ever
versatile James Vaughan. The Show’s was book by the amazingly underrated
Moss Hart. He had a real talent to amuse. It is very sad that in heyday
of 1980’s satire, no one paid tribute to their real forefather.
The Revue’s theme
is it is a Newspaper! It kicked off in A Dinning Room In Park Avenue
with A Man Biting a dog, starring James Vaughan as the Man. Followed by
Editor’s Office, where Man Bites Dog brilliantly
sung by Mandy More and reporters John
Berlyne and Danielle Carson.
Frankiln D Roosevelt Inaugurated
Tomorrow - Ex-President Hoover And first Lady Prepare To Leave White House.
Had the President suitably played by John Rogan, the real star was Vivienne
Martin as Mrs Hoover, I truly began to appreciate her comic talent.
Barbara
Hutton To Wed Prince Mdivani featured How’s Chances
charmingly dueted by John Berlyne and Danielle Carson.
Heatwave Hits
New York brought us Earlene Bentley giving the weather report in
Heatwave. Her diction is truly excellent. But it served as an
example of one thing really lacking from 1998’s Lost Musicals. Earlene
Bentley sings well, but is no Merman.
Joan Crawford
To Divorce Douglas Fairbanks Jr fine performances by Paula Wilcox and James
Vaughan as the couple, an even
better one by John Rogan as Will Hays supervising it, so it had to be clean, and done for publicity. Then it was announced Mary
Pickford and Douglass Fairbanks Snr are also divorcing, everyone
went rushing after that story.
The
International Debts Conference Ends, with Debts, sung by Danielle
Carson, Mandy More and John Berlyne as representatives of
various countries, saluting Vivienne Martin’s Statue Of Liberty
Lonely Heart
Column had John Berlyne’s pleasant rendering of Lonely
Heart.
John D
Rockefeller Sr, World’s Wealthiest Man, Celebrates 94th Birthday was
much more interesting. Involving a very different performance from James
Vaughan as Rockerfella Sr, attempting to stab spendthrift, John D Rockefeller
Jnr and wife, John Rogan and Vivienne Martin,
who made him presant of
The Funnies
had Mandy More in the fore. A
truly delightful number, hilariously performed. Until now Mandy More has
always been in the shadows of such Lost Musicals stars as Kathryn
Evans and Louise Gold, at last she proves she’d be capable of
leading a Lost Musical herself and should be given a chance to.
To Be Or Not
To Be sung well but unremarkably by Earlene Bentley
Easter Parade,
concluded Act 1. Vivianne Martin’s performance was over the top. The
other mishap was Mandy More flying across the stage, landing with a
thud.
Metropolitan Opening opened
Act 2. An amusing number sung by John Berlyne, Danielle Carson
and Mandy More; Continuing with Rigaletto, sponsored by
Muller’s Miracle Mustard Sauce For Steak, a hilarious combination of Rigaletto,
a radio soap-opera and an advertisement for Mustard Sauce, with rousing
performances from comic talents: Vivianne Martin, John Rogan and Danielle
Carson as a Soap family, Paula Wilcox, as an announcer, and James
Vaughan as a French Waiter, it could well have been a forunner to Sesame
Street’s Nestrapolitan Opera skits
Unknown
Negro Lynched By Frenzied Mob, consisted of Earlene Bentley
singing Supper Time, this reminded me of Gershwin’s Summertime!
To Be Or Not
To Be gave the brilliant James Vaughan a shining acting turn, as
an American, acting Hamlet, very badly, interrupted by Mandy
More. It had a smattering of Graeme Henderson’s Lucentio, and his
voice was unrecognisable! Followed by Mandy More’s super rendition of To Be Or Not To Be My Man,
ever so much better than the earlier one.
Gandhi Goes
On New Hunger Strike - in a restaurant was another hilarious performance
from James Vaughan, as Mahatma Gandhi, it featured Vivienne
Martin as Aimee Semple Macpherson. The pair team up, as a religious
duo, for publicity. Ms Macpherson’s
brassier strap brakes, so she borrows a
safety pin, from Gandhi - the one
holding his loin cloth in place. She decides he must add something more to his
act, and he suggests tap dancing. We had the brilliant spectacle of James
Vaughan and Vivienne Martin, trying to dance to the tune of Shuffle
Off To Buffalo - by Harry Warren and Al Dubin - in a
concert staging! James Vaughan
certainly has a few hidden talents. I had no idea miming a-man-tap
-dancing-while-holding-up his-loin-cloth was amongst them!
It was well nigh
impossible to follow that star turn with another, so Revolt in Cuba
was represented by Mark Warman playing The Rhumba.
Noel Coward, Noted Playwright Leaves Waldorf Astoria Hotel In New York
To Return To England, with the
company playing a hotel staff influenced by The Master’s visit, they talk in the style of him and his guests.
All the performances were accomplished. Two stand out: James Vaughan as
Henry Perlmutter a waiter, reading Mr
Coward’s diary takeing on his persona, and, Paula Wilcox as Aggie a
chambermaid - taking on Lynn Fontanne!
Society
Wedding Of The Season had John Berlyne, Danielle Carson
and company singing Our Wedding Day, a half forgotten gem of a Berlin
song, with sentiments so much his comic style.
Prince Of
Wales Rumoured Engaged is a truly amazing piece of writing from Moss
Hart., in which John Berlyne as The Prince Of Wales (Edward VIII)
is questioned by his Parents King George V and Queen Mary,
assisted by Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald, played by John Rogan,
Vivienne Martin and James Vaughan, about his love life. I am
amazed at how up to date Moss Hart’s comedy is. He was way ahead of his
time! I am surprised his work was never
rediscovered in the 1980’s, when, thanks to Spitting Image, such comedy was fashionable. Sadly we have
moved on, and that sort of biting cruel satire is no longer socially
acceptable.
Josephine
Baker Still The Rage Of Paris, had Earlene Bentley singing Harlem
On My Mind. Her performance was good, but not outstanding.
Supreme Court
Hands Down important Decision had Mandy More singing that the
Supreme Court decided we will have no reprise. Earlene Bentley and Vivienne
Martin attempting earlier numbers are told, “You can’t do that”.
Finally Danielle Carson sings “a simple little chorus that they
haven't heard before”, Not For All The Rice In China, with John
Berlyne, a sweet romantic song, very nice to hear. Followed by John
Rogan and Vivianne Martin’s, catchy Skate With Me. Next came Paula
Wilcox, as a midget in a publicity stunt singing The Midget Number,
all about sitting on JP Morgan’s knee, and not creating a sensation. This revue
could hardly have been complete without James Vaughan exercising his
flair for singing comic songs, and he finally did, with Through A Keyhole,
the opening line was used in You
Can’t Get A Man With A Gun . Mr
Vaughan sang excellently, as always, I would never have known he had a bad cold
at the time. Like all good concert performers he makes great use of body
movement; He had the audience in hysterics, by moving his eyebrows! A terrific
ending to a super show. The cast ended
with a quick reprise of Not for All The Rice In China. The Lost
Musicals first Revue was a runaway success, thanks to eight brilliant
performers and Mark Warman’s piano accompaniment.
The second Lost Musical followed
the first triumph most successfully, due mainly to its star, the
delightful, wonderfully talented Jessica Martin, as Daisy Gamble. The
show, music by Burton Lane, book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner,
was presented in its original form, the Lost Musicals have that
down to a fine art. The pre-show talk was by the librettists widow.
The Show opens in
the clinic of Dr Mark Bruckner, played to perfection by David Firth, a
hypnosis session is in place. While hypnotising someone else, Dr Bruckner
accidentally hypnotises Daisy Gamble, she has an unusually high ESP.
Fortunately he realises what happened and wakes her up. Daisy stays behind to speak to Dr Bruckner, during which he
discovers she is very good at making flowers grow, by singing to them Hurry!
It’s Lovely Up Here.
After the session
Daisy is meeting her fiancée, the very proper, conventional, Warren. He does
not like her smoking habit, she asks Dr Bruckner if hypnosis can be used to
cure it. He attempts this. While hypnotised he asks when she started talking to
flowers, she names a date impossibly long ago, she is remembering a past life,
in which she was an English lady named Melinda. She sings two delightful
numbers I’ll Not Marry and Tosy And Cosh,
excellently as one might expect from Jessica Martin. Before waking her
up Dr Bruckner instructs her to remember nothing of this. He, curious to find out more, sings On
A Clear Day, very pleasantly.
He arranges to take
her out, when asked where she has been she replies On The S S Bernard
Cohn. A brilliant number, superbly sung by Jessica Martin,
excellently supported by Rae Baker and Christopher Holt. It was
the only time, in this year’s entire season when somebody well and truly hit a
song right over the footlights taking FULL advantage of Barbican Cinema
1’s wonderful acoustics.
Each time Daisy
visits Mark, for help conquering her smoking habit (leading to an amusing line
about smoking on the telephone) he asks Melinda more about her life. This
involves the characters of her past singing. Most notably Sir Hubert Insdale
and Edward Monchrief, her husband, played by Bryan Torfeh and Rory
Campbell, sing Don’t Tamper With My Sister. I really enjoyed this song a lot, and feel
sure that it ought to have a life outside of this show!
Melinda loves Edward
very much, except, he is a dreadful womaniser, always having
affairs.(Melinda ‘met’ Edward when she
went to see him about a scullary
maid, he
impregnated). He loves Melinda above the others, She Wasn’t You.
To give him a new start, they, sail for America, but their ship, the Trelawney was wrecked and all
lives lost. A shocked
Mark sings Melinda.
Act 2 opens
with Mark’s nosy brother Dr Conrad Bruckner, played by Bryan Torfeh,
finding out about and dismissing Mark’s researches into “Melinda”. Mark,
convinced they are correct goes public, but does not name her. This attracts
the attention of wealthy Themistocles Kriakos, who offers to fund projects
continuation He thinks if it is possible to discover who someone was, it would
be possible to discover who they are going to be. When I’m Being Born
Again provided theatre veteran Harry Landis an admirable
opportunity to shine.
Daisy turns up, for
a session with Mark, who is out. In his office she finds a tape, plays it, and
stumbles upon the truth. She is Melinda!
Thinking Mark only loves Melinda and not Daisy she wonders What
Did I Have That I don’t Have? another really excellent number from Jessica
Martin, What a talent!
Returning home she
finds Warren planning to work for a Baby food’s manufacturer, with a good
pension plan. Wait Till We’re Sixty Five a joyful comic number,
performed by excellent artistes Jessica Martin and Johnny Meyers.
Meanwhile, Mark has
arranged a press conference, but one person is missing, Daisy, even Warren does
not know where she is. Mark tries to get thought message to her, Come
Back To Me. Daisy hears him, tries to block him out, but
eventually comes.
Daisy trying to run
away, is about to get on a plane, called The Trelawney, she has an overwhelming
sense it will to crash. She kicks up a fuss, delaying it long enough for a
fault to be discovered. Daisy realises she and Mark are meant to be together,
and Mark reprises On A Clear Day.
All in all it was
hugely enjoyable. All the performers were excellent, as always. The cast
included: Barbara Young, and
With The Mikado, and Untitledfilm98, it is
appropriate to celebrate the work of Gilbert and Sullivan, with Hollywood
Pinafore, George S Kaufman’s affectionate adaptation of HMS
Pinafore. Set in Hollywood at Pinafore Pictures.
We are introduced,
by doorman, Will Harper, to the Simple Movie Folk Of The Wood
That’s Known As Holly. First film stars
Gloria Mundi and Beverly Wiltshire, played by Juliet Panter and Zoe
Ann Bown, followed by, child star,
Miss Peggy, played by Tiffany Edwards, a bit old for the role.
The show starts
with arrival of Gossip columnist Louhedda Hopsons,Louella Parsons and Hedda
Hopper combined, very well played by Paula Wilcox, emerging from the
shadows as one of this season’s stars. With a Press agent, Bob Becket, played
by Leon Berger, she shines in particular in Sweet Little Butter Up.
(Rosina Brandram was the original Buttercup).
Next comes the
villainy, Dick Live-Eye, an agent, who gets 10%, likes to scare people, wickedly played by Matt
Zimmerman. He is always trying to sell people things he does not own, like the rights to The Bible. Sometimes they
are owned by the people he is trying to sell them to, like Clark Gable
to MGM. He performs a truly excellent interpolated spoof, An
Agent’s Lot Is Not A Happy One. His singing made one forget the
excellent original in the film The Pirates Of Penzance!
We meet The
Writers, amongst them our hero, Ralph Rackstraw, excellent performance by Tim
Brierley He Loves Alas Above His Salary, Brenda Blossom, but “the
maidens of this town do not marry writers”.
We meet a Director,
Mike Corcoran, truly excellent performance from Frank Lazarus, he should
play more characters like this. He sings a funny song about being a good
director What Never? No Never!
Well Hardly Ever. We also meet
Corcoran’s daughter Brenda Blossom, an Academy Award Winning star, played by Liza
Pulman, one of the real surprises of the evening. I had no idea how capable
Liza Pulman is of playing a lead, when she appeared in Oh Kay she was very
overshadowed. She sang Here On The
Lot I am A Star very well. She tells her father that she is in love. He
is afraid it is a minor actor, it is
even worse, a writer! But she is a star
so he will never know it.
It is time to meet
studio head, Joseph W Porter. We are introduced to his secretary, Miss Hebe, a
fine performance from Judith Paris. Next in song his sisters, cousins
and aunts Gaily Tripping Lightly Skipping Relatives Are Always Skipping.
Finally Joe Porter himself, played by Ian Lavender, (Dad’s Army’s
Private Pike, “Stupid boy”). He is older, stouter, but a fine actor showing an
unexpected singing talent, performing Now I Am The Ruler Of The Studio
the original turned up in the Pinafore scene in that Pirates Of Penzance
film).
Mr Porter is always
discovering stars, like Sylvia Sin, gigglingly played by Heather Davis.
He wishes to be shown a writer. They are brought in, and Ralph makes a request,
for “Some more straw”-“ to stuff the characters with”. To “bring this miserable creature to his
senses” they perform the, well worth hearing Studio Writer’s Song.
Joe Porter decides to stay outside for a while. Dick Live-Eye enters and
persuades Mr Porter to hire him as his agent. Followed by a truly wonderful
song, This Is Hollywood And Therefore, which is hilariously
funny.
Ralph encounters
Brenda, she coldly rebuffs him, a writer. He contemplates suicide. Luckily she
declares her love and they decide to get married. Hearing their intentions, not
realising who they are Mr Porter raises Ralph’s salary. Dick Live-Eye tries to
put a spoke in, but is booed off stage by the chorus..
Act 2
commences with Frank Lazarus singing a sad song. Brenda’s refusal to
marry Joe Porter worries him. He is afraid Mr Porter will not let him direct Po’s
The Raven. He is cheered up by Louhedda, offering to marry him! With her
writing his praises in her columns he need not fear being out of work. The benefits to her include an exclusive on
covering The Wedding and “ if there was to be a baby, I would be the first to
know.”
Joe Porter is also
upset. Miss Hebe tries to get the girls to cheer him up by: Singing, Juggling,
or doing Card tricks, but they can’t, they are only in Hollywood because they
want to marry Clark Gable. Louhedda enters and teases him, with Hollywood’s
A Funny Place, another excellent performance from talented Paula
Wilcox, and Ian Lavender.
Dick Live-Eye
“scares the hell out of” Brenda Blossom, by telling her what will happen if she
refuses to wed Joe Porter. He will put her upon The Stage. “It’s a
living death.” “And one thing
more, On The stage you will have to act, and should you give a bad performance
upon the stage, the critics actually say so, in print!” She sings about The Life That I Embrace.
It is decided
Pinafore should make a prestige picture,- one that looses you money. They set
about this by trying to buy the rights to a Broadway play. This, along with
lines about stuffing characters , shows George
S Kaufman was a forunner to great TV
comedy writers, like Jerry Juhl.
They decide to make The Life And Times Of Joe Porter, because, He Is A
Movie Man.
Dick Live-Eye tells
Joe Porter some bad news. Incensed by the fact that either Darryl Zannuck
or Van Johnson have everything he wants, Mr Porter bans mention of their
names, anyone who does is sacked. Followed by Hey Veniculay, a
funny little duet by Ian Lavender and wonderful Matt Zimmerman.
Brenda and Ralph
decide to runaway. Hearing this, and fearful of his job, Corcoran decides to
stop them. We enter a Marx Brother’s style scene, in the dark, where
Brenda and Ralph keep bumping into something, that turns out to be her
father! Corcoran utters both forbidden
words, and sacked, waylaying the couple long enough to be discovered, and
Rackstraw is carted to the doghouse,
singing Light Of My Life Farewell.
To the rescue comes
Louhedda! When asked “what is your foul purpose”, Dick Live-Eye, replies
“ just messing things up. I’m an agent.”
In a stunning performance from Paula Wilcox with I’m
Slightly Off My Trolley, she reveals that while reporting on two appointments to the studio, one high and
one low, she made a terrible mistake!
Joe Porter was meant to be but a writer, the head of the studio should
have been Ralph Rackstraw! Now Brenda will marry the head of the studio. Ralph
hires Corcoran, who is marrying Louhedda, to direct Po’s The Raven. Everybody
is getting married, so Miss Hebe offers herself to Joe Porter. The show ends
with a triple wedding “But separate honeymoons”.
A thoroughly
enjoyable show, well performed, by the cast including: Arlene Coyle, Norman
Bowman, Darren Batten, Jacqueline Harben, Chris Vincent,
Timothy Walton, Musical direction by David Shrubsole “With apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan.”
The fourth Lost Musical of the season was a single act by Stephen
Sondheim and Burt Shevelove, based on a comedy by Aristophanes!
Concerns Dionysos the God of Wine and Theatre, brilliantly played by Rolf
Saxon, and peace-loving servant
Xanthias, played by Stewart Permutt journeying to Hades in quest of George
Bernard Shaw . It opens with these two, imploring the audience to behave
- it was written for Shevelove’s
old college, Yale, to perform in a swimming pool!
They Call on
Dionysos’s half brother, Herakles,
loudly played James Vaughan. Dionysos’s borrows his Lion skin, to journey disguised as him.
Herakles goes to clean out a stable.
Continuing, they
reach the River Sticks, and Charon the boat man, also played by ever
versatile James Vaughan. His entrance, sliding across the stage, sitting
on his script book, was one of the comic highlights of the entire season!
As Herakles,
Dionysos qualifies to ride to Hades, Xanthias has to walk. When asked how long
it will take Charon replies “All night if I row, no time at all if you row.” On querying this he is told “Well you did
the last time”, so he rows and Charon goes to sleep, woken when they
encounter The Frogs, who sing their chorus.Tthe boat carries on, to encounter
the Dyonysians, singing a tribute to Dionysos, who,cannot reveal himself.
On arrival in
Hades, the disguise is a mixed blessing. The questers encounter Pluto’s servant, half-dead Aekos, a
reasonably convincing performance from Barry Martin. He is angry because
Herakles slew Cerberus, last time, so
must get his comuppance. Aekos goes to tell Pluto. Afraid Dionysos swaps clothes with Xanthias. They
meet a delightful Handmaiden to Persephone, played by Morag Brownlie,
with loving designs on Herakles, persuading Dionysos to swap back. We welcome
the return of delightfully wicked Myra Sands, in one of her customary
annoying roles, as A Handmaiden to Hippolyte. In this case demanding the return
of her lady’s sacred girdle, who is not the same without it. Vowing vengeance
she goes to “tell the girls” and Dionysos attempts to swap back.
Pluto enters and
realises neither man is Dionysos, because they are both too short. Pluto,
charmingly played by veteran Harry Landis is a
firm but benevolent ruler. It was not nice of Herakles to slay Cerberus,
but wants no revenge. Dionysos says he has come in search of Shaw, who is
coming to dinner, Pluto invites the two travellers. The residents of Hades,
lead by Hierophantes, James Vaughan again,
sing a song about the state of the
world. Followed by a drunk after party scene, with Xanthias and Aeakos, comparing notes, a
delightful piece of double entendre, at the expense of various deceased
playwrights.
Dionysosy tries to
persuade Shaw, a bitingly cruel performance from Shay Gorman, to come
back to Earth to write again for the theatre. A very flamboyant William
Shakespeare, excellently, likeably played by talented Peter Gale
enters, with followers. Shaw clearly dislikes Shakespeare and they soon find
themselves in a quarrel. It looks like it will come to fisticuffs, but Dionysos persuades them to make it a battle of words,
and organises a duel. Thus we come to the climax of the show, a duel of words,
between Shaw and Shakespeare, quoting from their writings, refereed by
Dionysos, who reluctantly declares Shakespeare the victor, and asks to take him
back to earth. Pluto doesn’t want to let him go, but relents. With the funny Charon they make their way to Earth through The Frogs.
The other Frogs and
Dionysians were: Zoe Ann Bown, Verona Chard, Rupert Fawcett,
Catherine Hamilton, Sam Kenyon, Steven Mann, Daisy Moon,
Andrew Weale, Musical direction by
STRIKE UP THE BAND
The final Lost Musical at The Barbican was an even bigger
departure. For the first time in their entire history
It opens in Horace J Fletcher’s cheese factory, with Timothy Harper and G. Edgar Slone,
brilliantly portrayed by two of the Company’s finest men, Michael Winsor and James Vaughan
, and a chorus of factory workers singing Fletcher’s American Cheese.
The head of the factory, wonderful portrayal by another versatile performer, David
De Keyser enters, and confers with Slone.
The next
development brings in Mrs Draper, played by Thelma Ruby, who deserves a
better role! and her daughter Anne Draper, a touching performance by Claire
Carrie. Anne and Timothy are in love alone they sing the romantic 17
and 21. Anne is determined to get Timothy.
Slone suggests
that, for the publicity it will generate, he marry Fletcher’s daughter
Joan. We meet Joan, a convincing
performance from Iren Bartok,
clearly not interested in Slone. She is preoccupied with a dairyman
turned newspaper reporter Jim Townsend, played to perfection by another
talented man, John Capes, who wrote things about her. She demands her
father do something about this. He is more concerned with keeping the tariff on
foreign cheese high. He calls the
President’s silent aide Colonel Holmes, a super performance from Barry Cryer.
Fletcher is a Typical Self-Made American according to himself,
and his Yes Men, Jim disagrees. Jim meets Joan, alone, he only wrote those
things to get her to notice. They share their feelings in Meadow Serenade
Fletcher joins
Holmes and chorus in Unofficial Spokesman, a very funny song
referring to Holmes, who got a lot of laughs, that George S Kaufman had
not intended, for his lines about The President. I am extremely surprised that
The Barbican Centre’s management permitted this!
A Marx Brothers
style meeting in Mr Fletcher’s office concludes that the only course of action
is War, with Switzerland, it introduced a bizarre character, George Spelvin,
charismatic portrayal by talented Sam Kelly (also in Untitledfilm98).
He first appears as a Salesman, turns into a telegram messenger, and other
things, we unsure exactly what he is!
A few weeks later
the country is on the brink of the Horace J Fletcher Memorial War, he is
financing it. The chorus sing a Patriotic Rally. Romance is in
the air. Joan and Jim declare their love in The Man I Love, a
beautiful interpretation in its original setting. They run into a big problem,
Jim does not agree with this War. However he reluctantly goes along with it,
for Joan’s sake. Anne is desperate to marry Timothy, before war is declared,
she does not want to wait until after the war to get married, she might have to
wait a long time. Spelvin and chorus try to cheer her up with the hilarious,
patriotic Yankee Doodle Rhythm, a super performance
from the comical Sam Kelly.
With the
declaration of War Mrs Draper and Mr Fletcher celebrate by, a reprise of 17
and 21, and, drinking milk, the same milk used to make the cheese. Jim
enters, and is invited to join them. Being a dairyman he “knows about milk”
so on tasting it he realises the dreadful truth, it is grade B milk! He refuses
to fight, tells Joan this, who promptly walks out on him.
The patriotism
theme continues with a meeting of “the very patriotic league”: Mr
Fletcher, Colonel Holmes, Mrs Draper and Mr Slone, wearing pointed hoods. Amongst
the problems is Townsend, who refuses to fight.
In Finaletto Act 1 he protests he will not fight for
cheese made with grade B milk. Slone, who “is a bit arrogant”, dismisses
this preposterous claim, with a convincing performance from James Vaughan,
who is rather good at acting arrogant
(as his role in a BBC Courtroom-drama proved). Townsend is lead off, the
soldiers, headed by Timothy lead the company into the rousing title song Strike
Up The Band.
Act 2
opens ‘Somewhere In
Meanwhile Anne,
still trying to get married, meets Timothy, but he is too busy, right now it is
time for Military Dancing Drill. Anne’s mother will not let her
get married until after she does. Anne, trying to help, tells Holmes and
Fletcher her mother has shares in the cheese business. They romance Mrs Draper,
in the amusing How About A Man, but lose interest, on finding she
is not wealthy.
Fletcher cannot finance the war much more.
Spelvin wants to be a General. Fletcher makes him one sends him to find the
army, who cannot find the enemy. Spelvin
takes charge, asking if they have problems. They do, Buttons missing from their
uniforms, more are cut off every day. a traitor’s work, but who?
Spelvin encounters
Townsend, with an idea on how to win the War, he also suspects who the traitor
is, but no one will listen to him, Spelvin, does. Everyday the Swiss army goes to lunch, after
which their General calls them together by yodelling. Townsend’s suggestion is
Spelvin assemble his men, just before this time, and yodel. The Swiss will
think it is their General and coming running in that direction, and then can be
licked. Finaletto Act II finds this idea put into practice, by
the company, and the war won.
On the boat home,
seasick Mrs Draper and Mr Fletcher discovering
they have a lot in common, decide
to marry. Dominic Natoli. The
male chorus sing Homeward Bound, and reprise The Girl I
Love.
At a big homecoming
in Flecture's Ballroom. Townsend is a hero, Spelvin enters. Now, he can reveal
all. That arrogant Mr Slone tries to
stop him, and no wonder, the traitor is G. Edgar Slone, really a Swiss secret
agent. It was he who cut the buttons off the American soldiers uniforms, so
they could not button their jackets in the mountains, so freeze to death. For
years he worked in the factory adulterating the cheese with Grade B milk.
Spelvin is an American secret agent. Fletcher begs this will not get out.
Townsend promises on two conditions First there will be an international league
of cheeses and no more War, and second, well it isn’t really up to Fletcher,
Joan will marry him. The chorus sing The War That Ended War. It is announced
The chorus were: Thomas
Aaron, Temime Bowling, Zoe Ann Bown, Morag Brownlie, Chris
Dee, Stephen Ellias, Deirdree Forrest, Alex Mills, Bernadine
Pritchett, Teresa Revill and Robert Traynor. The company gave
an excellent tribute to George Gershwin’s centenary, a fine finale to 6
years at The Barbican, the leading men were especially good, where did
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