In a flurry of keep-fit and theatregoing I have found it difficult to catch up on here. Lame, I know but it’s the only excuse you are going to get from me. I shall start with the shows I have seen over the last couple of weeks and they have been a very mixed bunch, I must say. Firstly, there was Dracula at the Broadway Studio in Catford. This is, to all intents and purposes, my local theatre. It is the only one I get to by bus – there’s a reason I don’t want to park my bike outside it – and I have seen some very good plays and musicals there including Thom Southerland’s Singing In the Rain and Carousel plus an extremely good Diary of Anne Frank.
Dracula was in problems from the get-go, with dialogue so familiar to us from the countless movie versions that it was difficult not to snicker when Dracula suggests that Jonathan Harker ‘Enter of your own free vill’. It has to be said that John Godber’s adaptation isn’t bad but it does require a good deal more imagination than is shown here.
The following Monday had me at the Landor to see The Glorious Ones, a musical about a troupe of Commedia Dell Arte players in the 12th century. Not a particularly exciting prospect, The Glorious Ones turns out to be rather sweet, featuring a wonderful score and a rather subtle message. It was also a moment of contemplation for me as I realised the composer and lyricist team - Lynn Ahrens (book & lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music) – are probably my favourite writing team today.
When I saw Lucky Stiff a few years ago, I remember I enjoyed it and Ragtime really moved me when I saw it last year. I also enjoyed A Man Of No Importance at the Union two years ago despite the production flaws. Of course it was this team who wrote Some Girls from the musical Once On This Island, a song that obsessed me a couple of years ago after hearing it in Blink Twice sung by Reed Sinclair.
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