BABES IN ARMS
Birmingham
Hippodrome
1985
The
producers of this musical play should go down on
their bended knees to Su Pollard. Without her
gorgeous wit and lovely sense of timing the show
be would an even bigger miss than it is at the
moment. Primarily it is the updated and
suffocatingly silly story of a bunch of love-struck
teenagers in summer stock in Cape Cod.
|
For English
audiences the complexities of the American
theatre system have always been a puzzle and the
show that amused audiences in the 30’s falls
flat today.
Roger
Redfarn does what he can to breathe life into
this wooden and confusing scenario.
He uses Tudor Davies again for the choreography
and Terry parsons for settings. But
there is no opportunity for Mr. Davies to work
and Mr. Parsons, caught by the exigencies of the
plot, falls mainly between back stage and barn. |
When Rodgers and Hart
get a look in, with song stacked on it seems for
no reason at all, the stage livens up and
you forget the play-within-the-play
(which the youngsters sabotage) and fall at Miss
Pollard’s feet with gratitude as she belts
out The Lady is A Tramp. You fall
again at Susan Denaker’s feet when she sings
the beautiful song Where Or When. Matthew Kelly
as Valentine White also sings but you tend not to
fall at Mr. Kelly’s feet.
One lovely memory however is Ms Pollard telling
you a bedtime story “You wanna hear how
Mother Goose got her name ?” She says
wonderfully wickedly, and I immediately came to
again in my seat. Richard Edmonds -
Birmingham Post 17/4/85
|