November 8, 2006
"A musical? At the Old Fire Station?" was my companion's reaction when I asked him along to last night's show. "How would it fit?" But yes, they've managed to cram an orchestra, including snare drums and a double bass, into the balconies. Add a large cast who sing, dance, unicycle, juggle and act their hearts out, and what you end up with can only be described as a musical extravaganza. Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, set in New England in the 1870s, is somewhat like It's A Wonderful Life but darker; rather than a well-respected pillar of society, its hero Billy Bigelow is the laid-off and desperate ex-barker of the local carousel, played by Arden Moscati with loose-cannon menace ("I'm frightened," my companion said as soon as he walked on stage). Alice Ream as Julie, the wife he constantly fails to communicate with, stands out like a beacon of sorrow and realism among all the gleeful energy. Rachel Bateman is mesmerising as her sassy best friend Carrie, with a voice to die for, and Arthur Carrington is very funny as Carrie's stolid, geeky fiancé Enoch Snow, with his grand plan to become a sardine millionaire.
The musical itself seems dated at times; it involves issues like domestic violence, class tension and gender inequality, but it's difficult to tell whether they're being looked at critically or just accepted, and some of the lines about relationships (and indeed, whaling) grate a little. And there's a great deal of pre-ironic tweeness – witness Carrie and Mr Snow's idyllic, rather naïve vision of married life in When The Children Are Asleep. But these are minor quibbles, hard to concentrate on when you're being blown away by the excellent singing voices and general exuberance of the cast, who are so joyfully insistent that "June is bustin' out all over" that for a moment you almost believe them and expect to walk out into a balmy night. Heartily recommended. Roll up! Roll up!
The musical itself seems dated at times; it involves issues like domestic violence, class tension and gender inequality, but it's difficult to tell whether they're being looked at critically or just accepted, and some of the lines about relationships (and indeed, whaling) grate a little. And there's a great deal of pre-ironic tweeness – witness Carrie and Mr Snow's idyllic, rather naïve vision of married life in When The Children Are Asleep. But these are minor quibbles, hard to concentrate on when you're being blown away by the excellent singing voices and general exuberance of the cast, who are so joyfully insistent that "June is bustin' out all over" that for a moment you almost believe them and expect to walk out into a balmy night. Heartily recommended. Roll up! Roll up!