'Pipe Dream' by Rodgers and Hammerstein

For a musical theatre fanatic, the idea of there being an entire musical by a writing partnership as famous as Rodgers and Hammerstein that they have never heard of seems almost ridiculous. Not a single person I talked to had heard of Pipe Dream before seeing it advertised as coming to the Union Theatre. According to the programme for this production, Pipe Dream opened on Broadway in 1955 and only ran for 246 performances which is less than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein show which made Broadway. The Union Theatre is the first to bring the musical on to a London stage. 

Pipe Dream at The Union Theatre
Performance: Friday 23rd August 2013 at 19:30

Seat: Front row (unreserved)
Music: Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
Director: Sasha Regan
Cast included: Kieran Brown (Doc), Charlotte Scott (Suzy), Virge Gilchrist (Fauna), David Haydn (Mack), Nick Martland (Hazel)

Poster for the Union Theatre production. (Source)

Let's just say, I can understand why Pipe Dream didn't do brilliantly when it first came out. The story is predictable (a love story between Doc and Suzy) but that is not a huge problem in itself considering the age of the piece. I was more distracted by the number of seemingly random and loose-ended subplots and sudden scene changes jumping from one end of the story to another. In addition, some scenes felt too long and others left me uncertain of their purpose in the first place. 

The score of Pipe Dream was not what I think of as typically Rodgers and Hammerstein. Legit yes and the melodic accompaniment gave the game away to an extent but it lacked a let's-see-how-high-a-note-I-can-reach principal girl part and the musical mostly worked with a less operatic style of singing. Also, although this might have been to do with the small size of the theatre, the whole musical felt a little bit less fairytale-like to me than other works by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The prostitute girls reminded me of The Little Whorehouse in Texas - I wonder if they would have been presented in the same way back in the 1950s. Apparently in the original novel on which Pipe Dream is based on written by John Steinbeck, Suzy was a prostitute too but the writers did not feel comfortable having an upright prostitute protagonist and so Suzy's profession is left up to audience interpretation. 

I enjoy going to the Union Theatre for its intimate atmosphere. It was a shame overall that the audience was non-existent the night I went (I counted 19 audience members including myself - never seen the Union as quiet as that) but at least that meant I had a guaranteed front row seat and got to enjoy a virtually private performance with the opportunity to observe the actors' gestures and facial expressions closely. 

Kieran Brown (Doc) and Charlotte Scott (Suzy). Picture: Kay Young Photography

Charlotte was her wonderful self and it was nice to hear her and the other cast members sing without amplification. The role of Suzy really suited Charlotte and, again, although Suzy is also a girly, naïve role, there was a detectable difference between this role and others I have seen Charlotte play. Kieran Brown was a brilliant choice for the role of Doc. He successfully found the lonely, irritable and enigmatic traits of the character. The only part I have seen him play before is Dr Dillamond in Wicked and playing that he obviously had a mask on so facial expressions did not count for much. This time I watched him with a lot of interest.
One of the highlights was hearing David Haydn sing. He had an absolutely beautiful voice and with him dressed in farmer clothes, one just did not expect that voice to stream out (a slight Susan Boyle effect). 

Researching the musical further I found that there has been a recent (2012) live concert recording of the musical with Will Chase and Laura Osnes as Doc and Suzy respectively. I would highly recommend the recording especially if you are interested in finding out more about Pipe Dream. 

Review from the archives: 'Mamma Mia'

Found a shortish review I had written but never posted.

Mamma Mia! at Prince of Wales Theatre, London
Performance: Thursday 23rd August 2012 at 19:30
Seat: Left Rear Stalls
Cast included: Sally Ann Triplett (Donna Sheridan), Charlotte Wakefield (Sophie Sheridan), Joanna Monro (Rosie), Rebecca Bainbridge (Tanya, u/s), Gary Milner (Sam Carmichael), James Gaddas (Bill Austin), Neil Roberts (Harry Bright), Andreas Gyllander (Sky)

I personally can't believe this was my first time seeing Mamma Mia! on stage. Having spent my childhood in Finland, I had been exposed to ABBA's music from an early age and as a teenager I even went through a stage when I would be listening to ABBA all the time. Of course I have seen the 2008 film and, well, thought it was okay. Whatever anyone else says, I personally think that Mamma Mia! has a decent plot considering it is a jukebox musical (silly but decent) and the songs do mostly tie in well with the story.

My experience at the Prince of Wales was not the most amazing as there were people somewhere behind me applauding at inappropriate times and a middle-aged man two seats down on my left singing along whenever he knew the lyrics to the songs. By the middle of the first act the thought of leaving at interval seriously crossed my head - it was that bad. I decided to stay until the end though. At least I can now say I have seen the show.

The show itself was entertaining anyway. To start with, it had many more jokes and sexual innuendos than the film - some of them truly funny and some of them I found myself laughing at because they were rather cringe-worthy. The stage version included more songs as well even though the story was effectively the same as in the film version - complete with guys in swimwear.

The whole set radiated a light, feel-good atmosphere with its tropical blues, yellows and greens.
Out of the cast, I greatly enjoyed Sally Ann Triplett's performance as Donna. Joanna Monro was hilarious as Rosie also. Rebecca Bainbridge was a little bit young for the role of Tanya but considering that and as she was an understudy, she did a great job too. 
Of course the music of ABBA played a principal role in the show but none of the arrangements or performances of the songs were near as good as the originals. However, if you love the film, do go and see the stage show! Even if it did not particularly appeal to me, the fact that it has been running in the West End for over 10 years not to even mention all the tours and international productions, does suggest that audiences are enjoying it and recommending it to others. It is one of those shows which, along with other long-running shows such as We Will Rock You and The Lion King, attracts a lot of tourists even if you cannot imagine a local person to go and see the show several times.  

BA Music with Musical Theatre at the University of Chichester

Some of you may be aware that I will be going to university in September to study BA Music with Musical Theatre. I originally auditioned for the straight Musical Theatre but they offered me this Music degree with a specialism so I accepted as it is my singing that I really want to work on more than anything.

The University of Chichester has two campuses, one in Chichester and one in Bognor Regis, the towns are approximately 6 miles (~10km) apart. Bognor Regis is located on the south coast of England and it is a popular seaside resort, Chichester is northwest from there.

The red dot marks the location of Chichester. (Source)

Location of Bognor Regis in relation to Chichester (Source)

I will be living in a four-bedroom house near the Chichester campus with three other first year girls. None of us had secured the university accommodation we wanted and we are, in fact, cheaper off renting privately even if Chichester can be a fairly expensive place to live. I have also succeeded in getting a job transfer at the opticians chain I work for, to the store in Bognor Regis so I will be able to keep working on Saturdays and do extra days during the holidays :) My move-in date will be the 15th September and university officially starts on 23rd September the first week being freshers' week. 

I believe we will have about four set lectures a week and the rest will be modules of our choice (e.g. acting, dance, orchestra, I'm going to ask if I could do technical theatre too). We also get 1 hour of one-to-one tuition a week. I have chosen to have half an hour of classical voice and half an hour of musical theatre voice. I debated for a long time whether to do half voice half violin as I played the violin for several years when I was younger but in the end I decided I wanted to concentrate on singing. I will still take my violin with me and get back into playing it. Maybe even join an orchestra again. 

I know I completely failed doing updates on my musical theatre foundation course but if people are interested, I promise I will update you on my university studies every now and then! 

3,5 hours in Copenhagen (with photos)

Seven hours between landing in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, and boarding on another plane to take me to London. I had never visited Denmark before so I decided to take the train to the city centre (the journey took less than 15 minutes!), walk through town to see the Little Mermaid statue located in the harbour on the other side of the city and then walk back and have a late lunch before returning to the airport. I was left with approximately 3,5 hours to spend in the city itself. 

The day was not ideal for taking photos due to the clouds and the rain but got a couple of nice pictures. Enjoy :) 

12:15

12:15

12:25 Outside of Amalienborg, the King's residence.

12:40 Look! I found Churchill! The Gefion Fountain in the background. 

12:45 Lovely landscape by the harbour.

12:50 The harbour.

There it is! The Little Mermaid.

Daily portion of animal photography.

Things to do while waiting for a connective flight:
Get a Japanese tourist to take a photo of you next to a famous statue.

13:15 Bikes everywhere! I think they may have missed the sign...

13:20 Statement.

13:25 I love all different kinds of mailboxes!

I ended up eating in a lovely restaurant near the train station. The waitress recommended a dish which she referred to as "chicken salad" but it turned out to be a salad with a bowl on the side filled with a sort of chicken stuffing and a bread basket. The stuffing was lovely though, and went really well with the bread! I drank a glass of the best homemade lemonade I have ever tasted. I would actually go back to Copenhagen just for another one of them even if the city had not been as gorgeous as it was and made me want to visit again. 

"We roll along... merrily, merrily..."

Poster for the 2013 London revival. (Source)

When I got round to booking tickets to see Merrily We Roll Along at the Menier Chocolate Factory, it was unfortunately already sold out so all I could hope for was a West End transfer and I am still over the moon that this actually took place and I got the opportunity to go and see another Sondheim.

Merrily We Roll Along at Harold Pinter Theatre, London
Performance: Wednesday 24th April 2013 at 19:45
Seat: Front row Circle
Cast included: Mark Umbers (Franklin Shepard), Jenna Russell (Mary Flynn), Damian Huntley (Charley Kringas), Clare Foster (Beth), Glyn Kerslake (Joe Josephson), Josefina Gabrielle (Gussie Carnegie)

Merrily We Roll Along was a very different kind of musical to anything I had seen before. The narrative flows backwards from the main character, Frank, now having a successful career to when he was young and inexperienced. It highlights the key moments in Frank's life explaining how he got to where he is. The show is to a great extent about the friendship between Frank, Charley and Mary and the way it has changed over time.


The first Broadway production of the musical, in 1981, did not do well despite the involvement of Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince. The reviews were bad and the production closed after 44 previews and 16 regular performances. Merrily is a fairly difficult one to put together and it's not your box standard Broadway musical so if you are looking to see lots of big, flashy ensemble dance numbers, this is not the show for you. The complexity of the narrative stems from the certain abstract element and the fact that it has been reversed makes it different to many other musicals. Personally I think Merrily could even be viewed as a play with singing rather than a musical in a similar way to Blood Brothers for instance.

The score is ingeniously woven together to connect the main characters and this made the whole production feel complete and because many of the songs sounded musically similar, it was easy to focus on the plot and the lyrics instead of getting carried away with the melody - something Sondheim does very well. In addition, I particularly liked the smooth scene changes which were accompanied by the ensemble singing a reprise of the title song. (I have a big problem with awkward/slow scene changes in general but in this show they were top notch on every possible scale.)

Trailer for the West End production:

I guess one of the big challenges with Merrily is that you have to find actors for the three leads who are able to play the characters at all ages. You can't choose anyone too young because they are unlikely to have the life experience to convincingly portray the character at an older age but on the other hand, you can't take it to the opposite extreme as that is likely to generate the opposite problem with the actors not necessarily being convincing as youngsters. I thought the casting overall was very successful. I was surprised to see Clare Foster walk on stage too. I did not realise she would be in this show. I saw her play the female lead in Crazy for You at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in 2011 and really enjoyed her performance then. Seeing her now as Beth really made me appreciate her versatility as an actress as the two characters are very different.

'Singin' in the Rain' - didn't get wet!

Trying to post some of these old reviews here...

This was my second visit to Singin' in the Rain and a very impromptu one for that matter. I found earlier on in the day that Charlotte Scott, the understudy for the female lead, would be playing Kathy Selden that night and of course I had to go and support Charlotte. For those of you who haven't read my blog before, Charlotte used to be one of the understudies for Glinda in Wicked and she is a phenomenal triple threat performer. This was my opportunity to see the show again as well which I had planned on doing because when I went to see it in August last year, I had a balcony seat and could see very little.

(Source)

Singin' in the Rain at Palace Theatre, London
Performance: Tuesday 9th April 2013 at 19:30
Seat: Row F Stalls, bought just before the show for £25
Cast included: Matthew Malthouse (Don Lockwood, u/s), Stephane Anelli (Cosmo Brown), Charlotte Scott (Kathy Selden, u/s), Jennifer Ellison (Lina Lamont), Peter Forbes (R F Simpson)

This time round I had a brilliant seat which was just out of the catchment area of the splashes so I had great fun sitting and watching everyone in front of me getting wet (for those of you who don't know, this West End production has actual rain falling on stage and the actors enjoy kicking the water into the audience so if you sit in the first 3-4 rows, you tend to get wet). The tourists, to begin with blissfully unaware of what they had put themselves in for by sitting at the front, were the most entertaining.

Plot summary (the plot closely follows that of the 1952 film of the same name): Set in 1927, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a famous on-screen couple during the silent film era in Hollywood. According to Don, their relationship is strictly professional despite Lina's objections and the wedding rumours circulated by fan magazines. Don bumps into Kathy Selden, an aspiring actress with both singing and dance talent, and falls for her, which Lina certainly is not pleased about. At the same time, the audiences are going crazy about the newest invention in the film industry, the 'talking picture'. Will Lockwood&Lamont, who have up to now been known for their looks alone, be able to continue satisfying their fans? And what about Kathy?

Poster for the West End production. (Source)

 Singin' in the Rain is in the style of a traditional Hollywood musical. Not only is the plot the same as in the film; the whole show is very, very similar. Personally I really enjoy the old-fashioned style for those long dance breaks in the music for grand ensemble numbers and the often featured tap dancing.

Charlotte did a wonderful job as Kathy. It was great to see and hear her performing again. She really does have an exceptionally beautiful voice and I have never seen her tap before so that was new. She and Matthew, who played Don, had a lovely chemistry between them. Stephane Anelli as Cosmo did an excellent, hilarious performance of Make 'em Laugh, one of my favourite songs from the show. Frankie Jenna's dance solo also deserves a mention as I was in total awe of her. In terms of Lina Lamont, I had really enjoyed Katherine Kingsley's portrayal of the character back in August and I knew topping that would be quite impossible. That is one difficult part to play, I must say. She is one of those unintentionally funny characters, funny without realising or thinking she is funny, so if you try to play her funny or over the top (which is also very easily done), it doesn't work. Katherine Kingsley, for me, found the perfect balance.

I do recommend this show both for those people who have seen the original film and for those who haven't. Seeing a musical live is an experience on a whole new level to just seeing something on a screen. Watching it rain inside is a surreal experience for a start. Singin' in the Rain is currently on a UK tour. 

'9 to 5' - the Dolly Parton musical

Dolly Parton - obviously a legend. I was already in possession of the Broadway soundtrack for this musical but that was mainly due to Megan Hilty and Stephanie J Block singing two of the leads rather than being a fan of the musical itself. Therefore I was not familiar with the plot but now, having seen it, I must say it was... interesting...

9 to 5 (UK tour) at Richmond Theatre
Performance: Friday 15th February 2013 at 19:30
Seat: Right rear stalls
Cast included: Mark Moraghan (Franklyn J Hart), Jackie Clune (Violet Newstead), Gemma Maclean (Judy Bernley u/s), Amy Lennox (Doralee Rhodes), Bonnie Langford (Roz Keith), Mark Willshire (Joe)

(Source)

Plot summary: Judy starts a new job after her husband left her. Her office working skills aren't exactly as great as her CV suggested, however. In fact, she has never worked let alone worked in an office. However, Violet, one of her supervisors takes her under her wing and helps her out even if their boss, Hart, threatens to fire her. Violet and Hart's secretary, Doralee also discover their reasons to dislike Hart and the three women unite to stand up against their boss.
A few plot twists later, Hart is hanging above the bed in his own bedroom in a harness while Violet, Judy and Doralee ponder what to do with him and how to keep the office from noticing his absence.

So the show is very much about women getting their revenge, girl power, whatever you want to call it. Rather reminds me of my psychology teacher at college. She was very feminist. I think she would have loved this show. Anyway, the show made me laugh because many of the plot twists were unexpected or simply random. To an extent I can understand why the show didn't do well on Broadway (April '09-September '09) though and I don't think it would do brilliantly in the West End either if it ever decided to come into town: it isn't that great a story line and not all people laugh at pure randomness like I do. Even I didn't come out of the theatre thinking 'Wow! That was so much fun! I want to go again!' I suppose 9 to 5 could be compared to something like Mamma Mia! seeing as it is a feel-good, cheesy jukebox musical too but I felt that 9 to 5 was aimed mainly at adults rather than being a show for the whole family like Mamma Mia! very much is.

Original Broadway Cast. From left: Stephanie J Block, Allison Janney and Megan Hilty. (Source)

If I was to give one mention for the best performance, that would undoubtedly go to Bonnie Langford. For the information of my non-British readers, she is a famous stage actress over here. I had never seen her perform live before this despite the fact that she works at Richmond Theatre quite a lot. I did not expect her to be so petite - she was tiny! - nor did I expect her to be such a good dancer and in such a good shape for her age. Langford also won over my friend Christie who came to see the show with me and who was slightly doubtful to begin with.

9 to 5 would work as a straight play also as it is based on a film of the same name from 1980. It does not have that many musical numbers in it which made it come across a little bit like play with song and dance anyway. The plot is complicated (and weird) enough to be interesting on its own (where something like Mamma Mia! most definitely needs the umph provided by the musical theatre aspect). Having said this, I do love the perkiness of the soundtrack.

Lots of people hold the opinion that this one, Get Out and Stay Out, is the best song in the show. Just a little bit too long perhaps. Sung by Stephanie J Block here. Can I just say: she is pure brilliance. The way she builds this song with her voice and emotion is fantastic as is her breath control.

Personally I like the sound of the harmonies in this one, Shine Like the Sun, performed by Megan Hilty, Stephanie J Block and Allison Janney:

There are lots of 9 to 5 clips available to watch on YouTube if you want to find out more :)