Review – Merrily We Roll Along, Menier Chocolate Factory

Rating

Confused?

Not if you’re familiar with Merrily We Roll Along which starts in 1976 and moves back through the years to 1957 and inspired Phil to write the review in reverse.

But unlike Stephen Sondheim, his book writer George Furth or Pinter or George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart who wrote the original play on which it’s based he’s not sharp enough for that. So he’ll leave it there.

More Bleedin’ Hot Pies!

Some might call it poor taste. Some might call it an act of expedience before the latest VAT comes in.

We’d call it a deliciously canny and waggish merchandising ploy.

The Whingers love to fill a few minutes taking in the finest in the shops at theatres. Themed products always amuse us. Singin’ in the Rain is offering a range of branded umbrellas, Phantom of the Opera markets a magic mug which when filled with a hot drink sees the Phantom’s white mask magically appear and most musicals have the usual CDs, T-shirts and key rings you’d expect, though at least in Sweeney Todd a key is crucial to the plot.

Occasionally this is taken just that little bit further. The Menier’s Abigail’s Party is serving pre-show 70s meals including chicken Kiev and fondue (as different courses we presume). And of course the Whingers were seduced into parting with their cash last year when at Frankenstein a smoking green cocktail called The Experiment went on sale in the National’s bar.

But the Sweeney Todd people have probably come up with the best one yet. In keeping with show’s grisly cannabalistic plot the bars at the Adelphi theatre are selling “Mrs Lovett’s Bleedin’ Hot Pies”. And they do indeed bleed. Quite literally.

Review – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Adelphi Theatre

The last time we went to the Adelphi Theatre was to see Love Never Dies. Nice to see it again, this time for a check-up of the transferred Sweeney Todd which we saw in Chichester when a transfer seemed inevitable and well-deserved.

And pretty much everything is in place just as it should be although sadly there was no sign of Andrew Lloyd Webber in the little boy’s room on this occasion.

Review – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Chichester Festival Theatre

Notes for Andrew who is due to see this within a few weeks.

Boring travel details first: We put ourselves in an upbeat mood by eating pies (inappropriately cold) as we travelled to Chichester before being thrown unceremoniously off the train at Barnham. Jolly mood quickly dissipated. Allow plenty of time to get there.

No direct trains back to London. Swathes of grumpy Sondheim aficionados cluttering the platform. Return journey: 3 and a half hours.

Do the dream team of Messrs Ball and Staunton appreciate the lengths we go to?

Director Jonathan Kent has updated Sweeney Todd‘s melodrama to 1930s. Why? It’s a piece of Victorian Grand Guignol (Music and lyrics Stephen Sondheim, book Hugh Wheeler). Updating adds nothing. Fortunately it doesn’t detract too much. Doesn’t Kent realise “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” is from a different Sondheim show?

Review – Road Show, Menier Chocolate Factory

Stephen Sondheim‘s last show (to date) has had more monikers than Puff Daddy.

This artistic enfant terrible was formerly known as Wise Guys, Gold and Bounce.

But no amount of aliases and donning of a false moustaches and dark glasses can prevent it from being recognised everywhere it goes by its giant coxcomb atop its head and the involuntary gobbling sounds, both of which announce “turkey” wherever it raises its head.

Which is now at the Menier Chocolate Factory where it gets its first airing on these shores under a musical witness protection scheme posing as Andrew’s favourite antiques TV programme Road Show.  Cue much moistness from The Stephen Sondheim Society and other liberal arts do-gooders with a touching faith in their hearts that deep down it isn’t really bad, just misunderstood.

Review – Company, Southwark Playhouse

What with the endless 8oth birthday celebrations for Stephen Sondheim, revivals of his shows now seem almost as common as gold stars for The King’s Speech with more to come (celebrations to mark Mr Sondheim’s 81st birthday commence on 22 March).

But the latest production of Company at the Southwark Playhouse is billed as “a major new revival”. So that’s different.

The Whingers quite like Company (with a big C, not each others’ company) because it’s sharp, witty and tuneful. But having seen the Union Theatre’s excellent, but presumably only minor, revival less than two years ago we weren’t sure we were quite ready for another.

But then if we didn’t go it would always be gnawing away at us: how was “The Ladies Who Lunch”?

Review – Passion, Donmar Warehouse

The scene: a luxurious apartment in BA (that’s Buenos Aries). Argentina’s foremost musical theatre actress Elena Roger is luxuriating on a chaise longue, probably eating a steak, humming a tango and idly toying with her boleadoras (That’s the sum of our knowledge about the Argentine, sorry. You’ll have to add your own colour to the picture). A telephone rings.

Review – Into the Woods, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

There are some marriages made in heaven. Not that of the Whingers, of course. Their uneasy, warped version of wedlock is one parboiled over the flames of hell, yet still half-baked.

But whoever came up with the idea of staging Into the Woods in the gloriously seemly setting that is the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre should be appropriately ennobled. The biggest question is: why has it taken them so long?

With memories of previous years’ Hello Dolly! and Gigi still transforming the Whingers’ usual grimacing countenances into beaming smiles (despite the downpours of rain encountered on both occasions) expectations were raised to an unreasonably imprudent level.

Review – Assassins, Union Theatre

One of the troubles with longevity is a tendency towards repeating oneself. Ask Phil. And the same applies in blogging.

After four years the Whingers are now at that stage where shows are coming round again. What to do? Must we really find new gags every time someone revives something we’ve already seen? That’s going to be a challenge as we only have about six gags which are cunningly recycled.

Anyway, we did all the assassination gags when it was done at the Landor two and a half years ago.

And now (to celebrate the 80th birthday of yadda yadda yadda) Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins is revived at the Union Theatre under the direction of Michael Strassen who scored such a critical hit with his production of Sondheim’s Company at the Union a year ago.

Could lightning possibly strike twice?

Review – Sondheim on Sondheim, Studio 54

We’re still here.

And despite our involuntary extended status as Broadway babies it wasn’t the least bit difficult to observe the embargo on this show.

Sondheim on Sondheim officially opened at Studio 54 on Thursday night.

The Bellyachers  had graced it with their presence at last Sunday’s matinee but had to keep their traps shut until yesterday. Which was a relief really as we’ve been getting way behind with our posts and just when we almost catch up we ruin it all by going to see something else.

Review: Elaine Stritch Singin’ Sondheim. . . One Song At A Time, Café Carlyle

Every cloud has a silver lining but the lining of the cloud of microscopic basalt ash particles emitted from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajoekull volcano was pure gold.

For thanks to being “stranded” in new York (with Virgin Atlantic picking up their accommodation and meal costs) the Whingers found themselves invited to dine at the very posh Café Carlyle and take in the entertainment provided by someone called Elaine Stritch.

Review – A Little Night Music with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Walter Kerr Theatre

Yes, A Little Night Music again, but with Catherine Zeta-Jones…

…but without Angela Lansbury.

Oh, how  we agonised over this one. To see or not to see? We’d already loved the Menier production, could  its Broadway incarnation match up? Could we ever get over the fact Ms Lansbury had decided to take her 2 week vacation just as the Whingers arrived in New York?

Well yes and no.

Review – Anyone Can Whistle, Jermyn Street Theatre

It seems a curious choice to celebrate Stephen Sondheim‘s 8oth birthday with a Broadway show that lasted for just nine regular performances. That’s probably fewer than Too Close to the Sun (if we could be bothered to check) but if anyone wants to revive that to celebrate the Whingers’ 80th anniversary we will happily hobble along and join in the fun.

But Anyone Can Whistle is rarely revived, so why not? Why not?

Review – Company, Union Theatre

The Whingers would love to recommend Michael Strassen‘s production of Sondheim‘s Company at the Union Theatre.

But the chances of you getting a ticket now are less than those Labour has of winning a election if one were called tomorrow (the run ends this Saturday 13th June). Unless of course one of the six producers (plus Miss Kazonga 2008, Ruthie Henshall) who were in the house last night decide to stump up some cash and transfer it to the West End.

It wouldn’t be a bad decision -  the toilet arrangements would almost certainly be superior in its new home.

Review – Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim, Jermyn Street Theatre

The Jermyn Street Theatre certainly knows how to suck up to the Whingers. Rolling them on their backs and tickling their tummies (sorry, that’s a rather unpleasant image – we do hope you’re not eating) could have produced no greater wagging of tails than took place on Sunday afternoon.

With practised insouciance, the Whingers waltzed (literally, since you ask) into the venue at one minute before the 3pm start time for Stephen Sondheim‘s early musical Saturday Night, yet the Whingers were able to take their second row seats without the hassle of a pre-show scrummage for a decent position.

For there they were: three empty seats (one each for the Whingers, one for Andrew’s “manbag”) at this tiny but perfectly formed fringe theatre. No detestable unreserved seating policy here. The Jermyn Street Theatre proves it can be done: it is possible for a fringe theatre to put numbers on the seats and on the tickets. Three cheers to them!

Of course, their moods were also helped by the fact that the seats were free-of-charge for the Whingers were there at the invitation of the producers and, boy, were they feeling grand. Hence all the insouciance and the waltzing.

Easily bought, they were in very relaxed and generous frames of mind and already on the side of the show before the lights went down.

But the problem was not the venue, it was the piece.