Shooting
Star Gala
Sunday 16 May 2004, Richmond
Theatre
Review by Emma Shane
© May 2004
When I first heard about this gala I thought it might be worth seeing,
little did I know until I got to Richmond Theatre and bought the
programme just how worth seeing it was going to be. What an array of sometimes
quite unexpected talent!
The evening kicked off with a contingent from Anything Goes
(Annette McLaughlin with: Duncan McVicar, Matthew Malthouse,
Joseph Pitcher, Corey Skaggs, Phil Snowden & Andrew
Wright) performing Buddy Beware. Bearing in mind that this is
one of those songs, like I Got Rhythm, which I almost never see
or hear performed quite the way I’d really like to see it done, it was actually
rather enjoyable; and certainly more than suitable to get this gala off to a
good start. The song was originally written to be whacked over the footlights
like a baseball coach belting a fly, in front of the drapes during a set
change. But as it’s very rare to find a singer who would be really capable of
putting it across like that (I’ve only come across two who I think would be up
to the task), it’s probably just as well to try and find another way to get the
song’s strength across, by turning it into a dance production number. The same
thing often happens to I Got Rhythm. So by and large this was a
pretty adequate performance. Although she understudies the role of
Next up, in front of the drapes, Tony Robinson, reading from Sue
Townsend’s Adrian Mole. This was an enjoyable interlude,
mainly because Tony Robinson is pretty charismatic.
This was followed by students from The Royal Ballet School at White
Lodge, performing The Garland Dance. They did Tchaikovsky
in a gala at Richmond Theatre two years ago. Only this time it was better,
because, rather than struggling with a jazz band whose efforts at playing Tchaikovsky
were somewhat limited, they used pre-recorded music. The students incidentally
were: Harriet Bass, Antoinette Brooks-Daw, Guy Burden, Ben
Crawford, Russell Ducker, Anna Forbes, Bethany
Kingsley-Garner, Joanne Klijn, Karis Lynch-Park, Daniel
Mulligan, Hannah Rudd, and Claire Tilly.
Now in front of the drapes we had Richard Briers, attempting to
be a comic actor, while interesting if you happen to be studying acting,
especially when he explained about the way comic actors have certain voices
they have to use, and while he told an amusing joke about a piano playing cat,
it wasn’t as memorable as some of the other moments in this gala.
Time for another song or two. The curtain rises to find various
performers seated. Two grand pianos are at the back stage left of the stage (a
spot I remember about nine years ago being occupied by a certain Merman-belter
in a revue). Seated at the one furthest to the stage left is Chris Walker,
with Nick Bosworth occupying the other one. Stage left front are two
chairs on which are seated Denise Leigh, and another woman, I’m not sure
who she was, or why she was there. Seated on a stool in the centre of the stage
is Alexander Hanson, and standing in front of him Trumpet player Guy
Barker. At the back of the stage, to the stage right are seated Rufus
Sewell, Jessica Martin, and Philip Franks. While in front of
them, at a table are Roger McGough (furthest stage right), and (a figure
familiar to many of us who grew up watching Children’s TV in the 1980’s) Sarah
Greene. This scene started with Alexander, accompanied by Chris, singing
It Was A Very Good Year. This included the odd interlude from Guy, with
Sarah looking round as if a part of the song. Although Alexander sang well (he
is a fine singer-actor), I felt there was something not quite right about it,
was it too slow for the gala? Or his voice? I’d love to hear him sing Kurt
Weill. Next we had Guy doing a solo on his trumpet, accompanied by both
Chris and Nick. This was followed by Denise singing Summertime,
with Nick as accompanist. Again though quite well performed, I felt it didn’t
seem to fit. Maybe these songs need to be given something extra, like a
context. The scene improved with Roger McGough getting up to take his
turn, reading some of his poems. I usually like spoken poetry best when its
read by the poets who actually wrote it, perhaps partly because the understand
it better than anyone else, and so know instinctively what feelings to inject
into their performance, at least if they are any good at performance poetry
they do, and Roger evidently is good at the performance element. Next is was Sarah’s
turn, a few words on the subject of theatre (rather appropriate given her
origins), as she introduced an Alan Bennet Scene (not in the programme)
acted out by Rufus Swell, Philip Franks and Jessica Martin.
This was very enjoyable, it was funny with an amount of double entendre, but
best of all is Jessica Martin’s ability to get totally into whatever
role she is playing, and do it seriously, no matter how silly a part.
In front of the drapes it was time for the Lucky Programme Draw,
carried out by Jane Asher, Tony Hawks and The Company,
the latter turned out to be Tony Robinson.
This was followed not by Andrew Dawson (as it said in the
programme), but Prunella Scales and Timothy West reading, or
rather performing, an extract from Peter Pan. It was quite
something to see Timothy being Peter Pan and Prunella Scales as Wendy, yet so
good is their acting one did manage to suspend any disbelief one might have at
these two mature actors, and enter into the spirit of accepting them as these
two young characters.
Now in a spotlight in front of the drapes we got Andrew Dawson. I
was very impressed by his performance with his hands. There is quite an art to
performers who really know how to perform things through their hands, its not
easy, and to see someone who can do that sort of thing well is a moment that
should be treasured.
Act 1 ended with another song, Starlight, performed by members
of The Chicken Shed Theatre Company, namely; Lucy Abrahams, Arun
Blair Mangat, Omar Blair Mangat, Oriana Ballinson, Joshua
Brennan, James Bullmore, Sophie Cordell, Ella Cove, Lucy
Curtis, Conor Glasman, Jamie Griffin, Pearl Hamilton, Jacob
Meyers-Belkin, Francesca Rees Williams, Millie Robinson, Stephanie
Stone, Paris Williams, Tilly Zarza and accompaniment from Liz
Kitchen. Presumably the latter was on the piano, there was also a woman
playing a xylophone. This was an impressive little number performed by a wide
range of talent. Proof that when it comes to performing talent one really
shouldn’t be narrow minded.
Act 2 opened with an excerpt from The Hot Mikado, the Act
1 finale of that show, performed by students from the Arts Educational
School Of Musical Theatre, including: Davinder Heyre, Nicholas
Pinto Sander, Amy Pemberton, Leia Benharz, Adam Hills,
Wayne Fitzsimmons, Daniel Oliver, Bente Bjerkan, Katie
Duncan, Catherine Le Brun, Catrin Livsey, Melissa Matthews,
Zoe Rainey, Stuart Armfield, Marcus Ashley, Chris
Gardner, and, Scott Monello. I found I did not care much for the
music of this number, and it didn’t do much to show off the vocals of the
performers, with the notable exception of Cilla McKenzie who seemed to
know just how to use her voice to best effect with these pop arrangements of Arthur
Sullivan’s music - so if pop-group back catalogue musicals are still the
rage she’ll probably do well in one of them. For stage presonce, I have to
single out Jess Parker, from the moment she walked on stage we knew just
by the way she walked that she must The Principal Contralto, Katisha. However,
the best thing about this piece was the quality of the dancing. To me this was
not entirely unexpected. In recent years, watching such West End shows as: Follies,
On Your Toes, and, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I’ve noticed
that many of the best jazz and tap dancing in those shows has been by actors
who trained at Arts Educational (sometimes many years apart), tonight it
is evident that high standard is being maintained.
In front of the drapes a second poetical interlude from Roger McGough.
This started with an ironical poem about cars, went on to a poem about taking
his daughter to the pantomime; and finished up with a lovely poem about the
peculiar ideas children get into their heads ‘I am your father and this is
the way things are’. This is one poem that really should be taught in
junior schools, as its one everyone can identify with.
Next up in the centre of the stage, Sydney White stands at a
microphone to sing Shooting Star. I was a little disappointed she
was only accompanied by Chris Walker on the piano (in the programme
This was followed, in front of the drapes, by what was described (by Prunella
Scales) as “An unscripted interlude”, which turned out to be
Prunella and Timothy reading out a very funny version of the Snow White
story, involving the dwarves being ex jockey’s who gambled. After this we had
one of the best comedy performances of the evening, Tony Hawks. He
wasn’t sure whether to introduce himself as Tony Hawks or Roger
Daltry. I particularly enjoyed his denunciation of common sayings, and
describing how when you are looking for something there is always someone
else trying to help you who is less enthusiastic than you are, and who
says “Well it must be somewhere” (I found myself reminded at this point of
one of Gary Yershon’s lines from
Next up, Brian Makiwane and Alexia Facey performed Can
You Feel The Love Tonight from The Lion King, resplendent
in their Lion King headdresses. This was very enjoyable, though I
would have liked to know the context.
In front of the drapes it was time for the Raffle Draw.
But first we had Sean Foley and Hamish McColl doing what can only
be described as an imitation of Morecambe & Wise, with Andrew
Marr as their guest. This wasn’t bad, and fortunately (as they are not Eric
and Ernie) they kept things reasonably brief. They also managed to carry out
the raffle draw quite swiftly, so that it did not become a long drawn out affair,
full of bad jokes. In fact this act was characteristic of the evening. By and
large the timing and positioning of the acts was very good. The proceedings
rarely became boring or stale; they kept it moving and balanced.
Talking of a balanced production, they saved the best till last. Once
the Raffle Draw trio had actually found their way off stage, we
had the acting high spot of the evening the final scene from The
Importance Of Being Ernest. This was introduced and narrated by Jessica
Martin. An excellent choice of performer for this task, as you can put her
on stage with almost any actor (no matter how much stage presonce they’ve got)
and Jessica won’t be overshadowed. Then a little surprise in that it was acted
surprisingly well as a piece of cross-dressing, with: Jane Asher as
Algernon, Samantha Bond as Jack, Philip Franks as Lady Bracknell,
Sarah Greene as The Reverend, Alexander Hanson as Cicely, Tony
Robinson as Gwendoline, and, Rufus Sewell as Miss Prisim. One of the
wonderful things about this piece, was that the three performers known for the
television presenting work are just as good at acting as those known for their
acting, in fact all three are themselves trained actors. Jane Asher was
particularly good as Algenon, and got some fine back up from Samantha Bond
as Jack. Philip Franks made an excellent job of playing Lady Bracknell.
He is a fine actor (I noticed how good he was when I saw him play Lloyd in Noises
Off). I felt Rufus Sewell’s performance as Miss Prism and Alexander
Hanson’s performance as Cicely were alright (although I couldn’t forget
seeing Deborah Wiley and Sarah Mercier’s memorable performances
in those roles a few years ago). It was fun to see Tony Robinson acting
a role live on stage, which he made a good job of, as one might expect. I felt
that Sarah Greene was a little wasted in the role of the Reverend. I get
the impression that because she’s known as a television presenter, people don’t
realise how good an actress she is. She played her part effectively, but didn’t
have enough of a part to really get her teeth into it.
In front of the drapes Tony Robinson remarked on what a nice
change it was for him to be working with actors again, instead of archaeology,
but that there wasn’t a lot of difference. (Funnily enough, although he may not
be aware of it, another of his colleagues in that scene has presented a certain
amount of archaeology on television, well over twenty years ago; Sarah
Greene presented some wonderful items about The Mary Rose). On with
the show Mr Robinson introduced the finale, by explaining the origin of the
next song, we would be hearing, Springtime which was written by
an unknown Jewish woman in Vilna ghetto in WW2. Then he too had trouble finding
his way off stage, and finished up lifting one of the curtains to scramble
under it.
The curtain rose with Maria Friedman at the microphone. Chris
Walker was in his customary corner at the piano. At the other piano stool
was positioned a surprise,
All in all a pretty incredible evening in aid of a worthy cause. I am
very glad that I went along to see it (even if I did sit in the
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Off Site Links:
The
Shooting Star Trust’s
Official website: http://www.shootingstar.org.uk/
Review of the Side By Side By Sondheim 30th
Anniversary Gala
(also in aid of The Shooting Star Trust): http://www.qsulis.demon.co.uk/Website_Louise_Gold/SBSBS_30_Gala_Review.htm
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