Babes in Arms is this season's musical offering at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Written in 1939 by the Rodgers and Hart team, it is the original "Let's do the Show right here!" musical. Richard Rodgers is the composer whose famed partnership with Oscar Hammerstein produced many of the finest musicals in the golden age of musicals. The best remembered Rodgers and Hart musical is probably Pal Joey.
A group of youngsters are doing a season in a Massachusetts theatre for a tyrannical producer. Their talents aren't appreciated. They are roped into doing a "worthy" play written by a pretentious Southern playwright when what they really want to do is an up-to-date revue. Despite many hindrances on the way, true love and the staging of the revue finally overcome all obstacles in a finale that had the Chichester audience on their feet at the press night.
This is an entertaining show with good voices and songs backed up by imaginative choreography. The duets by Mark McGee (Valentine) and Donna Steele (Billie) are beautifully judged and clearly delivered. The lyrics of Hart are witty and clever. There is a super comic duo in Matthew Hart (Gus) and Kay Murphy (Dolores). The voices of Sophia Ragevelas (Baby Rose) and Lorna Luft (Phyllis) soar and belt out some really hot numbers. The movie version starred Judy Garland and of course Lorna Luft is Judy's daughter - and you can see the family likeness in stage presence and singing voice.
The musical direction of the dozen strong orchestra by Mark Warman is bright and breezy throughout. The choreography by Bill Deamer covers a wide range of styles and uses the company to the full. The lead male dancer is in the Gene Kelly mould, which I prefer to the willowier Fred Astaire. I like male dancers who dance like men.
The director, Martin Connor, keeps the show moving with verve throughout and has lots of inventive ideas. This is the sort of show in which to disengage the brain but just let the music and spectacle carry you along. Recommended weekend treat.
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Mature male. Loves the theatre and cinema. Football also occupies a central role in my life (Bradford City and Pompey). Non-professional actor. Retired Primary school teacher. Has two adored daughters. Always willing to learn. Never has enough time to read!
1 comment:
Are you saying Fred Astaire is unmanly? That's a bit harsh. I know what you mean, Astaire was slight and very technical and he was of a different period to Gene Kelly, who was more good looking with a muscular build and managed to make his style more spontaneous-seeming. But both of them are spectacular in their own way. Top Hat has that amazing sequence where Astaire guns down his competitors with his feet which is one of my favourite dance sequences in a film ever. Gene Kelly has Singing in the Rain (although I still think that Donald O'Connor is a better dancer, he just lacks Kelly's looks). Both of them have done execrable films with Leslie Caron (Daddy Long Legs and An American in Paris). As far as I'm concerned, it's a tie. And manliness is a shifting target.
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