Tag Archives: Michael Fentiman

“Amélie” at The Criterion Theatre

This already acclaimed show is enjoying a brief run at one of London’s most beautiful theatres. If you have any doubts about musicals made from movies, then think again. Full of invention and intelligence, Amélie on stage is an escape from the screens we’ve been glued to during lockdown. And I loved it for that alone.

Craig Lucas’ book follows Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant’s film faithfully. The quirky touches around the life of the titular French waitress we follow are present. But the adaptation is far from slavish: rising to the challenge of bringing suicidal goldfish and travelling garden gnomes to the stage, Michael Fentiman’s direction embraces eccentricity.

Time is taken over Amélie’s childhood (with a “neurotic and an iceberg” for parents), then on her adventures trying to help others. Oh, and Lady Di’s death features too… leading to a number for Elton John just as brilliantly insane as it sounds. Romance comes later, by which time, thanks to Audrey Brisson’s performance in the title role, a crazy courtship with equally oddball Nino is compelling.

Amelie The Musical 2 Pamela Raith Photography

There are appropriately novel touches in the music from Daniel Messé. The songs echo the show’s obsession with the senses – highlighting sight, smell, touch and taste. A number about figs is ripe to join lists of obscure song subjects. The lyrics, by Messé and Nathan Tysen, go a long way in saving the show from too much sentimentality by being unusually morbid…well, it’s a strategy.

Amélie is not perfect. No man could be good enough for our heroine, but the character of Nino really needs some work (far too dull despite Chris Jared’s efforts). Both score and story try hard to be profound. Too hard at times. We can admire getting Zeno’s paradoxes into a musical, but the treatment is heavy handed. The show’s charm and humour are occasionally overplayed. And there’s a big problem with cod accents… understandable, but nonetheless annoying.

Focusing on Amelie’s dreams and imagination is enhanced by a talented cast that brings her world to the stage. The fact that they are all actor-musicians helps – wouldn’t it be great if everyone carried around instruments in real life? But the ensemble is especially graceful: huge credit to movement director Tom Jackson Greaves and a special mention for Kate Robson-Stuart’s performance. An awful lot gets done with pianos and ’cellos, as instruments form a part of Madeleine Girling’s wonderful full-of-surprises set. And the puppetry by Dik Downey is effective. The result is a pleasant irony – while the show talks about how hard times are for dreamers, Amélie brings dreams to the stage with ease.

Until 25 September 2021

www.ameliethemusical.com  

Photos by Pamela Raith

“The Importance of Being Earnest” at the Vaudeville Theatre

A year-long season of Oscar Wilde plays, masterminded by Dominic Dromgoole, draws to a close with the biggest and best: the great man’s famous comedy of misconstrued manners and identities that everyone agrees is a masterpiece. All the productions from the Classic Spring Theatre Company have been fresh and intelligent, with a marked confidence in their material, and this show from director Michael Fentiman is no exception.

A talented cast is inspired to be bold. Fehinti Balogun has real star quality as a particularly dandyish Algernon, while his fellow bachelor Jack is played with amusing bluster by Jacob Fortune-Lloyd. Their love interests are both portrayed as formidable characters, with great performances from Fiona Button and Pippa Nixon. As for the older generation, looking on at the love affairs and ostensibly in charge, every line from Sophie Thompson’s Lady Bracknell and Stella Gonet’s Miss Prism is worth listening to, as Wilde pokes at any and all pretension.

This is as bacchanalian a production as you could wish for Wilde – full of food and sex. Compulsive eating is picked out; watching the cast manage sandwiches and crumpets while delivering such complex lines is its own pleasure. And while remaining credibly fin de siècle, these are the lustiest ladies you could get away with (Button’s “tremors” are beautifully delivered). Meanwhile Balogun plays Algernon with a polyamorous streak that’s blissfully naughty.

The production has a careful eye on class with the servants’ limited lines playing a big part. Algernon’s butler, Lane, becomes part of the family and benefits from a strong performance from Geoffrey Freshwater. Thompson’s Lady B is satisfyingly innovative: there’s no dithering about with that handbag line and there’s a touching moment at the plot reveal. Yes, no matter how silly, Thompson is right to bring a tear to her eye here.

A clean, clear look at a famous text, even one as perfect as this, is always good. The balance with retaining what made it a classic is perfect here. Perhaps the approach can be summed up with the complementary work on set and costume design from Madeline Girling and Gabriella Slade, respectively. The stage is almost bare, free of fussy period details, while the wardrobe is spot on and gorgeous. So there’s nothing to get in the way of the comedy. And nothing to deny the date of the piece either. It’s to Fentiman’s credit that his touches are thought provoking and respectful – and in every case increase the wonderful humour on offer.

Until 20 October 2018

www.classicspring.co.uk

Photo by Marc Brenner

“Loot” at the Park Theatre

Don’t simply label this as a farce: Joe Orton’s 1964 masterpiece has a superb revival under the capable aegis of director Michael Fentiman, who has a careful eye on the play’s complexity. The crazed mix of Wildean epigrams, social satire, viscous comment and, OK, farce, are all present, correct and very funny.

Set on the day of a funeral, and just after a bank robbery, events descend into chaos orchestrated to show authority as absurd and human nature as venal. Ian Redford plays an innocent mourning husband and Christopher Fulford a bizarre police inspector who comes calling. They deliver the dense lines well, although both have the challenge of elevating their roles above stock characters – the play’s diabolical overtones arrive late, but there’s plenty of fun along the way.

An unholy trinity of characters is the play’s real focus. A genocidal nurse, fanatical in her Roman Catholicism and acquisition of husbands, makes a great role for Sinéad Matthews, who appreciates how broad the part needs to be played. San Frenchum and Calvin Demba produce great work as partners-in-crime Hal and his “baby” Dennis: the chemistry between them is electric and they manage to be at once clueless and callous. Bad enough to keep a priest dispensing penance for 24 hours, their stolen cash, destined for investment in a brothel, ends up stashed in Hal’s mother’s coffin. Which means treating the corpse – performed by Anah Ruddin, who deserves her applause when she rises from the casket to take a bow – with a still-shocking disdain.

Fentiman preserves Loot’s 1960s feel, conveying an anarchic streak that belies the sophistication of the text. Of course, Orton’s play can’t shock as it once did (our cynicism towards the establishment is set in stone, although a couple of comments about women and Pakistani girls did draw intakes of breath), but the sense of confrontation is bracing. Both play and production are, appropriately, “perfectly scandalous”.

Until 24 September 2017

www.parktheatre.co.uk

Photo by Darren Bell