21st May2014

In the Heights – Theatre

by timbaros
images-170The Heights is the northernmost part of Manhattan, and it’s also the location where the new musical production of In The Heights takes place.
Finding itself not in Manhattan (after winning four Tony’s in 2008 including Best Musical) but at the Southwark Playhouse near Elephant & Castle, In The Heights is a musical about the various cultures living and surviving in the heights, which is full of vibrant, lower middle class, blacks, hispanics, latinos – the kind of cultures that many people say represents the true New York City.
In the show, which has a cast of what appears to be a couple dozen, is about a young woman – Nina (Christine Modestou) – who returns back home to the heights after a stint at Stamford University in California. She lost her scholarship because of bad grades and has to break the news to her hard-working father Kevin (David Bedella) and mother (Josie Benson). Her father owns a cab company and employs a young black employee Benny (Wayne Robinson). Benny and Nina always had a thing for each other, but her father doesn’t want them to date because he feels that Benny is lower class and that Daniela could do better. In the show there’s also a corner bodega, which is run by Usnavi (a brilliant Sam Mackay) and his sidekick Sonny (a very good Damian Buhagiar). Across the ‘road’ there is a beauty salon run by the voluptuous Daniela (Victoria Hamilton-Barritt), who has the best lines in the show, and she delivers them perfectly – Sofia Vergara-style.
Mix these various types of people and what you get is show full of flavor and spice, and what a taste it is! The cast all are so very talented; they can sing, they can dance, they can move, they smile while running all over the small stage and continue to sing their hearts out. Nina’s father Kevin decides to sell his business in order for Nina to be able to go back to school, meanwhile Nina’s abuela Claudia (grandmother, played by Eve Polycarpou) tries to make sure the neighborhood stays safe, clean and peaceful. Claudia is lucky enough to win the lottery ($96,000) and decides to give some of the money to Usnavi, who always had a free cup of coffee for her, and with the money he plans to go back to his home country. But there’s an  intense heatwave, and a blackout (excellently played out), and the theatre gets dark, and everyone’s lives are thrown into chaos for the night. Nina spends the night with Benny, while Claudia unexpectedly passes away. The next morning Nina’s parents have to deal with Claudia’s death, and it’s a very emotional scene on stage when all the characters gather around to pay their respect. Usvani realizes that home is right there, In The Heights, so he no longer wants to leave, and Nina plans to go back to school. All of this in the backdrop of the heights.
The true star of the show is Sam Mackay. He raps, and what a voice he has. He’s also an excellent dancer and a great actor or stage, and he really comes into his own halfway during the show. If anyone breaks out of this show, it will be him. Also excellent is Buhagiar, he’s tiny but boy can he rap dance. Actually, the whole cast is very good and there is not one false note throughout the show. Director Luke Sheppard and choreographer Drew McOnie have successfully put on a show that was a huge Broadway success and turned it into a successful off off West-End show that is full of energy and talent.
Southwark Playhouse is a bit too small for a show with huge ambitions, and a very large cast. A West End Stage would better suit In The Heights, so the cast would have more room to run around the stage and dance. But then again Southwark (and the surrounding area) has a large Latino and Black population, which is who the show represents. Would mainstream West End audiences embrace this show? I’d bet they would, and no doubt they would be infected with the fever that is In The Heights. In The Heights ends its run on June 7th, so catch it now.
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03rd May2014

A View from the Bridge – Theatre

by timbaros

images-160I had no idea what I was about to see when I went to A View From The Bridge. I had never seen the play before, nor have I seen the 1962 movie, and I’ve never read the book. Little did I know that I was in for a devastating theatre experience.

Red Hook is a section of Brooklyn that is not particularly known as a destination place. It sits on the waterfront right under the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s an area where people pass over going to other and nicer neighborhoods. Today it’s an expensive area due to it’s location, but back in the 1950’s, which is when A View From The Bridge takes place, it was a run-down, smelly, poor, dangerous and derelict part of Brooklyn. As Red Hook is right on the water, it attracted lots of illegal immigrants bound for America and the opportunities the country had to offer them, and the availability to find work, whether you were legal or not. Hence A View From The Bridge take it’s story.
Eddie Carbone (an incredible Mark Strong) is a proud man. He works on the docks, lives in a simple house with his wife Beatrice (an amazing Nicola Walker) and their niece Catherine (a brilliant Phoebe Fox). Eddie and Catherine appear to be a bit too close and affectionate with each other, enough so to ring alarm bells in Beatrice’s head. To make matters more complicated, they agree to house two of Beatrice’s cousins from Italy, Marco (Emun Elloitt) and Rodolpho (a handsome and sexy Luke Norris), illegally, as the men don’t the proper papers to work in the U.S. So the five of them live together in Eddie and Beatrice’s cramped house. Rodolpho and Catherine take an interest in each other. Catherine is already a  young woman at 18, and according to Beatrice, able to make her own decisions about her life and what she wants. Eddie, however, sees it differently. He wants Catherine to stay as his little girl, to stay home and take a secretarial job. And the love that Eddie has for Catherine is not normal. Things come to a head when Catherine tells Eddie that her and Rodolpho plan to get married. As his jealousy overcomes him, Eddie turns the cousins in to the immigration authorities in order to get rid of Rodolpho. and after he does so all their lives will never be the same.
After A View From The Bridge was over, I was simply blown away. Not just by how strong and real the story was, but by the acting on stage at the Young Vic. It is one of the best acted plays I have ever seen. Strong as Eddie is a man’s man, but still with a soft spot for Catherine, and Strong is just mesmerizing. His is an award-winning performance. Fox as Catherine is also a revelation. Playing a young woman about to blossom and at the same time maintaining a daddy’s little girl image is what Fox does, brilliantly, and it looks like she is putting in very little effort to play the role, she’s that good. Walker is perfectly cast as Beatrice, not having been touched by Eddie yet still very much in love with him, considering the circumstances, which she’s all too aware. Elliott and Norris play their roles very well. Elliott doesn’t have much to do but it’s Norris who brings to his a role a bit of innocence and sexiness and makes it very believable how Catherine can fall in love with him and how Eddie can be very jealous of him. Michael Gould plays a narrator who provides clarity on what’s happening and what’s about to happen, creating even more suspense throughout the show.  The set is also part of the cast. It is a very shallow shell of a swimming pool, built this way to capture what’s going to happen at the end.
There’s really not much more to say about A View From The Bridge, except that it will be one of the most amazing theatre pieces you will see in a long time. It’s playing at the Old Vic up until June 7th.
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03rd Apr2014

I Can’t Sing – Theatre

by timbaros

images-144Dear Simon, you know how much I love you, you are in my thoughts 24/7 and I wouldn’t dream of living a life without you. All my love, Simon.

I Can’t Sing – a/k/a The X Factor Musical, plays like a boring love letter from Simon to himself. It starts with Simon as a young boy (the child actor who played him the night I saw it sang awful), watching television and dreaming of the day when he will be on television. Lucky for us that dream came true.
In addition to a musical that is basically all about Mr. Cowell and his creation that is the X-Factor, we get an X-Factor storyline, so two for the price of one. Honestly, I would’ve preferred neither.
Cynthia Erivo plays Chenice, a simple black girl who happens to have a great voice (at this point we can figure out how I Can’t Sing will end). She lives in a one room trailer with one electricity socket, with her uncle who happens to be in an iron lung, with another guy (it’s not too clear how he fits in with this small family) who happens to have a dog attached to his arm, and they all happily live underneath a motorway, (really, I’m not making this up!). Chenice really really likes white guy Max (Alan Morrissey), and he urges her to enter a singing competition with him.
It’s so obvious at this point where I Can’t Sing  is going to take us. Chenise and Max head to the auditions – other wannabees include an overweight supermarket cashier, twins who pass exactly for Jedward, an unkempt talentless trio, and a hunchback (yes, really). Oh, don’t forget that gust of wind that blows in every once in a while (yes, I know, it sounds preposterous, but it’s true).
Chenice’s audition doesn’t go very well as a fly flies into her mouth when she starts singing. So I guess to make sure we really understand what is happening here, above her on stage is a very huge mouth with very red lips with a large fly going right into her mouth (you can’t make this stuff up!). Chenice gets three no’s.
Up to now, I Can’t Sing is ridiculous mess. But it gets unbelievably worse. The contestants sing their hearts out, though it’s crystal clear that Chenise has the best voice of the lot. And she is by far the best character on the show. The worst are the characters modelled after Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh. Victoria Elliott as “Jordy” and Ashley Knight as Louis are just awful. Their caricatures are so overacted and so badly over the top. Jordy is a no talent who’ll do anything for Mr. Boss Cowell who tries to cop off with Chenise’s boyfriend, while Elliot’s Louis is just a plain bumbling idiot. If I were the real Louis Walsh I would sue. Nigel Harman is the unfortunate actor chosen to play Simon Cowell. All he does is stand around with his chest stuck out, wearing sunglasses and barking orders as people scurry around him while others hold their breath when he enters a room. And then we get Liam O’Deary (Simon Bailey), who’s a more loud and obnoxious Dermot O’Leary.
As the “competition” winds down, Chenise is disqualified over claims that she stole the hunchback’s number in the auditions (she did). But it’s all a happy ending as Chenice does get to win the love of Sam and we all have a happy ending as we see Simon leave the stage in a spaceship (yes! really! I’m not making it up)!
I Can’t Sing is, of course, a musical parody, or a parody of a television show and it’s svengali, so it’s not supposed to be looked at, or compared to, an actual West End Musical. And we all know a bit about the humor of Harry Hill (who wrote the book and lyrics), whether you like it or not. But what is thrown at you on stage is a mish mash of the most insane rubbish that I have ever witnessed on a stage, it’s so so bad that it’s not even good. Lots of money was put into the  show, with flying couches, a realistic-looking check out line, the aforementioned flying saucer, but absolutely no thought was put into making this show a good night out. It’s not a good night out, not even if you’re an X Factor fan. It’s a big NO from me.

 

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18th Mar2014

The Full Monty – Theatre

by timbaros
images-136The Full Monty, now playing in London’s West End, is based on the 1997 movie of the same name. In case you don’t know the plot, it is about six down and out working class unemployed men, on the dole, in post-industrial Sheffield during the Thatcher years. They all need money, money to basically pay the bills, so they resort to stripping to earn extra money. And the new cast is definitely not show about stripping it all off!
The difference between this new Full Monty and the previous-staged version (first on Broadway in 2000 and then the West End in 2002) is that, even though the setting still takes place in the late eighties, the plot has been modernized to reflect society today.
The men include Gaz (a very good and confident Kenny Doughty), a young dad who did time in prison and who is trying to reconnect with his young son, much to the dismay and disapproval of his ex-wife, who she says that he will never mount to anything good; there is Lomper (a charming Craig Gazey), not very confident in himself yet decides to give stripping a go; Gerard (Simon Rouse), who has been out of work for six months yet who has been keeping up appearances by not telling his wife that he’s out of work, while she still goes out and spends money; black character Horse (Sidney Cole), named for reasons that will at the end become clear; Guy (Kieran O’Brien), a goodlooking macho type of a guy who is comfortable enough to let the guys know about his sexual preferences; and finally there is Dave (Roger Morlidge), a very large man with no sex drive, which does not matter to his loving wife Jean (Rachel Lumberg).
Forming their male strip group is easy, they find many guys willing to strip who they need the money, but the men have setbacks in trying to come up with the money to hire out a venue for their first show. They also get arrested while illegally rehearsing in a steel factory. In the meantime, as they rehearse, each guy slowly becoming more comfortable in shedding their clothes and strutting their moves. They even practice a routine, in a hilarious bit, while in a queue to get their dole money. It wouldn’t be called The Full Monty if the men didn’t entirely strip, and strip they do, everything, at the very end of the show, leaving a smile on the audiences faces, and on the night I saw it, a 10-minute standing ovation.
Simon Beaufoy, who wrote the screenplay in which the movie was based, wrote this stage version, his first time writing for the stage. He has written a show that is perfect for the stage, and the original music by Steve Parry captures the mood of the time and the mood of the men. The set is a steel factory that morphes into various locations: the front of the house where his ex-wife and son live (with her new partner), the space where the men rehearse, and where they perform at the end. And then there are the special effects (by Nick Porter) that will make you hold your breathe, including an attempted hanging suicide by one of the men, and mini explosions that take place in the factory. Credit goes to Director Daniel Evans for engineering all of this into what will probably be this spring’s best show. Unfortunately, The Full Monty, playing at the Noel Coward Theatre, has posted a closing sign on the door, so it’s last performance will be on March 29, so see it as soon as possible!

 

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04th Jan2014

American Psycho – Theatre

by timbaros

AP 22-486 by Manuel Harlan 601 x 400American Psycho the Musical is now playing at the Almeida Theatre in London. Yes, you read it correctly, the infamous book and film is now a musical.

Starring Matt Smith (of Doctor Who fame) with music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik, the musical is based from the 1991 novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis which was made into a 2000 film which starred Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe and Jared Leto. American Psycho is the story of Patrick Bateman, a very wealthy investment banker who also happens to be a serial killer. Living in a very chic high rise in Manhattan, with a job that most men his age would die for, is not enough for Bateman. He has a sadistic side, a side that no one in his circle of friends or family know about, not even his girlfriend.
8AP DP 174-490 by Manuel Harlan 266 x 400
While the book and film could be categorized in the slasher/horror film genre, the musical is presented purely as a very dark black comedy. In the opening scene, Smith comes up from beneath the stage, in his very sleek, minimalist apartment, on his sunbed, wearing tight white underwear and displaying his buff body. From this point on we know that this is definitely not your typical musical.
Bateman from the outset looks, and is, crazy. We know this just by watching his interaction with other people, and by his facial features. Smith’s perfect cheekbones and square jaw complements the character he has become. Bateman is a killer who shows no remorse, he kills who he kills, whether it be prostitutes, or one of his friends, he just needs to kill.
Set in 1980’s Manhattan, Bateman and his boys live it up in high style, with very beautiful girlfriends (Susannah Fielding is very memorable, and very beautiful as Katie, Bateman’s gal) and a very beautiful circle of friends, both male and female. Throw in some cocaine, late nights at the very famous Tunnel nightclub, and what you have are ingredients that make the recipe for the hedonistic lifestyle of these young Wall Street boys during this era. Bateman’s secretary confesses to him that she loves him (Cassandra Compton, singing in a beautiful voice), and at one point in the show he tells her “don’t wear that outfit again, you’re prettier than that.” Meanwhile, Bateman is sleeping with his girlfriend’s best friend, and to make his life even crazier (like he needs it), his best friend makes the announcement that he, too, is in love with him. Even when a detective shows up at his office to ask questions about a missing friend, Bateman has a hard time processing what is real and what is not real. In the middle of all this, the boys and girls break out into song, with one of the most memorable being about who has the best business cards.
5AP DP 76-911 by Manuel Harlan 601 x 400
American Psycho the musical doesn’t exactly follow the book and film’s storyline, but it works in every way thanks to Rupert Goold’s brilliant production and Lynne page’s smashing choreography (including a couple well choreographed sex and murder scenes). The set design is as sleek as expected, going from Bateman’s flat, to his office, to an outdoor scene where he makes his first killing – a homeless man, to a scene in Barney’s department store, then transforming into the Tunnel nightclub, and then to a christmas party in his girlfriend’s apartment. Throw in a 1980’s soundtrack, including Huey Lewis & The News “Hip to be Square” and New Order’s “True Faith”, and what is presented in front of your eyes is perhaps the slickest and craziest musical you will ever see. Unfortunately, it’s two month run at The Almeida Theatre is sold out, so let’s hope this show makes it to the West End, and hopefully with Matt Smith in the lead. He, and the show, are brilliant.
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28th Nov2013

The Commitments – Theatre

by timbaros

images-34First it was a book. Then it was a movie. Now The Commitments is a West End show.

At the illustrious and very central Palace Theatre, (former home to Les Miserables and Priscilla Queen of the Desert), the Commitment’s story is similar to the movie, but of course is confined to the stage. It is a very basic story at that: one man attempts to form a band, several characters audition, members are selected, various shows are performed, controversy erupts in the group when one member leaves, they form back together, and give one rousing performance at the end of the show. And that is pretty much it.

Working from a barely there book by Roddy Doyle, whose name is above the title, Jimmy (Denis Grindel, making his West End debut) is the impressario who gets the idea to form an all Irish band in 1980’s Dublin, a band to primarily sing soul music. He is lucky to find Deco (Killian Donnelly, who is an amazing singer), and then the rest of the members fall into place, including motorcycle riding ladies man Joey (a very witty and perfectly cast Ben Fox).

With great sets, including a two-story tenement house, good visuals (supermarket/launderette and Miami Vice Club signs, as well as the requisite strobe lighting effects), a young and energetic cast successfully sings soul music to the audience. Songs such as Papa Was a Rolling Stone, Knock on Wood, and I can’t get no Satisfaction are brought back to life on stage. But it is when Donnelly opens up his mouth and sings, the audience sits up and takes notice – they are mesmerized. He has a voice so unique and soulful that even when he is eating chips on  whilst singing at the same time it still sounds incredible. When Donnelly sings I’m a Midnight Mover, you wish that the show was all about him and him alone. Donnelly, whose previous theatre credits include Billy Elliott, Phantom of the Opera, and playing Combeferre in the Les Miserables film, is the true star of the show. While Grindel does a fine job in his debut, The Commitments belong to Donnelly. While the back up trio of female singers are quite good and pretty and bubbly, no one else, including Donnelly, in the band of 10, we really get to know. The cast is too big. And this is the problem with the Commitments – it has a weak storyline, some jokes that fall flat, and thinly drawn characters. And we have all seen it done before – the cast orders the audience to get on their feet at the end of the show for the last two numbers. A ploy for a sure thing standing ovation? Probably. It’s a gimmick that is all too common in the Jukebox style musicals now playing in the West End (The Bodyguard, Flashdance, even the dreadful Viva Forever). Is the Commitments recommended? Yes, purely to enjoy the soulful voice of Donnelly. His voice is absolutely amazing.

Review originally published by The American and copyright Blue Edge Publishing Ltd.

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08th Aug2013

Once – Theatre

by timbaros

images-7

The film Once was made for a paltry $100,000 in 2007 and grossed over $15 million. The stars were nobodies, non—professional actors who also happened to be singer—songwriters. One song from the film, Falling Slowly, went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Once has now been reincarnated in the form of a musical and is currently playing at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End.

It’s a very simple story of a romance between two songwriters — Guy (played to perfection by Declan Bennett) and Girl (newcomer Zrinka Cvitesic) — the main characters don’t have names — who meet and slowly fall in love, with circumstances that prevent them from taking it any further.

The Girl, who happens to be Czech, meets the Guy, who happens to be a busker, on a street corner singing his own songs. He is also a Hoover repairman, and she needs her Hoover fixed.

This is the match that is lit that starts the spark between them. And while the Guy feels like he has no career in music, especially after his girlfriend moves to New York, the Girl truly believes in his talent and pushes him to record a demo to send to record companies.

The Girl, you can tell, is slowly falling for him. However, she too has a partner, a husband who is back in their home country. She also has a daughter and they both live with her very stern mother.

The Guy starts making moves on her and there is a feeling in the air that makes their interest in each other real, so real that, by end of the show when are singing Falling Slowly, it is a very emotional as well as a very memorable moment.

The songs, written by the stars of the film, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, are memorable and heartfelt. While some of the songs are fine, a few of the others will stay with you for a very long time, especially Falling Slowly.

The set, meanwhile, is very simple. It is a bar. There is no change of the actual set and no heavy machinery to move around. Also, the musicians do double duty and act in the show as well, all doing a fine job and missing neither a beat nor their marks.

Bennett and Cvitesic are very good at acting the roles and also very, very good at singing them as well. Bennett in particular has a raw, raspy, sexy voice, while Cvitesic’s voice is soft and sweet.

I enjoyed Once so much that right after the show finished I wanted to see it again the next night. It’s a show that does not need the razzle dazzle that most other West End productions offer: it is perfect the way it is.

Go and see it, at least once.

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30th Jul2013

Daytona – Theatre

by timbaros

rev_th_Daytona_360x240

DAYTONA
Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, London N4 3JP
To August 18

Maureen Lipman, CBE, British film, theatre and television actress; Harry Shearer, American actor, Spinal Tap member and voice actor for several characters in The Simpsons; and John Bowe, English television and theatre actor most recently seen on stage in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – together they star in the World Premiere of Oliver Cotton’s play called Daytona in the gorgeous new Park Theatre in Finsbury Park.

Lipman plays Elli, longtime wife to Joe (Shearer). Set in 1986 Brooklyn, they both lead a simple life. Both retired, former accountant Joe still finds time to manage the taxes of one client, while at the same time pursuing his and Elli’s hobby of ballroom dancing. One day there is a knock on the door – Joe’s brother Billy (Bowe), who Joe has not seen in over 30 years. After escaping a concentration camp back in 1945, Joe and Billy found their way to America where they were about to set up a business together before Billy left at the last moment, only now returning. Billy has revelations about his new life (in Daytona, Florida), and more shocking revelations about an old man, a shadow from their shared past that he met just two days ago, and the violence that transpired. This is just the first act. The three actors put in great performances. However, the fourth big star of the show is the Park Theatre.

A stone’s throw away from Finsbury Park tube and train station, and opened in May 2013, the Park Theatre is like an oasis in an area that is still up and coming (or still up but has a long way to come). A multi-leveled glass-fronted building, with several levels including two theatres, an education suite, one bar on the ground floor and another bar upstairs, the Park Theatre also has a gallery. It still looks brand new – you can practically smell the fresh paint. The theatre in which Daytona is playing, called Park 200, is two levels and holds 200 people. The seats on the first level surround the set, making the audience feel part of the production, or at least eavesdropping on a very good and dramatic conversation. The other theatre in the building is Park 90, a smaller theatre that is currently showing Skin Tight, about an ordinary couple with an extraordinary love reliving their darkest secrets, deepest passions and heartbreaking truths.

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Daytona can also be caught at the Theatre Royal, Bath (with the same cast), October 14-19.

Review originally published by The American and copyright Blue Edge Publishing Ltd. – click this link to view

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21st Jul2013

Private Lives – Theatre

by timbaros

private_lives_33042

The play Private Lives has more lives than a cat. Written by Noel Coward in the 1920s, it had its debut at London’s Phoenix Theatre in 1930 to rave reviews, and starred Coward and Laurence Olivier. The next year it opened on Broadway. 83 years later, Private Lives is still making the rounds, now at The Gielgud Theatre, and again, it is a hit.

The story is a very simple one. Newlyweds Elyot and Sibyl (Toby Stephens and Anna-Louse Plowman) are on a hotel balcony in Deauville talking about their future together, and discussing Elyot’s previous marriage. In the room next door to them are Amanda and Victor (Anna Chancellor and Anthony Calf), also newlyweds enjoying one of their first nights together. Separating both couples on the balcony is a small partition, and wouldn’t you know it: Elyot and Amanda used to be married, and in a very volatile relationship.

After arguing with their respective partners over very minor matters, Amanda spots Elyot on his balcony. Coy, shy and nervous at first, Amanda speaks to Elyot and not too long later, jumps over the partition to be with him. They share a drink, reminisce about their marriage, have a few laughs, and before you know it, they decide in a ‘will they or won’t they’ moment, to run off together to Paris where Amanda has a flat that her new husband knows nothing about.

Once in the flat, they act like honeymooners all over again, loving and laughing, and then arguing and fighting, just as they did when they were previously married. Finally, they have their biggest fight and things could not get any worse, and in walk Amanda and Victor. The fighting between Elyot and Amanda continues, and also ensues between Elyot and Sibyl and Victor and Amanda. Who is going to end up with whom? You have to wait until the end to find out.

Considering that Private Lives has played in the West End several times in the past 13 years (most recently at the Vaudeville Theatre in 2010 with Kim Cattrall and Matthew Macfadyen), this version of the play, a transfer from the Chichester, has opened to rave reviews and will be talked about for years to come.

Chancellor upstages everyone in the cast; she can tell a joke, pout when needed, give out a big laugh when necessary, and dance and flail her arms memorably. Her chemistry with Stephens is very palpable, very real, that it makes it believable that she could fall in love with him all over again. Her eyes flutter, her gowns (and robe) drape over her like she is a star, and a star she is. Stephens is able, somewhat, to keep up with her, firstly as the man whose second wife is seven years younger than him, to believably falling back in love with his ex-wife, smouldering in one moment and then vile the next. Calf and Plowman are second fiddles to the main two actors. They are able enough, but this is Chancellor’s show, and they know it.

The set design, by Anthony Ward, is luscious. The balcony in the first act is gorgeous, but when the play switches to the Paris flat, we see exactly what we expect: a flat decorated in French style, from the checkerboard floor to the paintings on the wall, very detailed and lovely to look at. The script is funny, witty, dramatic; all you could ask for in a Noel Coward play.

Given the fact that everyone who watches this play has a great time, it should be no surprise Private Lives is still going strong, some 70 years after it began.

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Review originally published by The American and copyright Blue Edge Publishing Ltd. – please click on this link to view

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