More and more often regional theatre and the
London fringe are the platforms used to see this new work. They are invariably
smaller venues with established audiences where musicals can be workshopped,
gain audience reaction without risking vast amounts of money. In the last
couple of years we have seen several major new West End musicals open and close and
happily I have managed to catch them. Betty Blue Eyes, Stephen Ward, From Here
To Eternity all closed before schedule and now I Can't Sing joins their ranks.
To quote Mark Shenton (and I don't do that too
often), critics don't close shows - producers do. Musicals have always been a
business risk and the canny businessman knows when to invest and when to pull
the plug. I feel so badly for the cast and crew of I Can't Sing, as two weeks
notices seems extremely harsh, but I am confident that such a talented team
will not be unemployed for long.
Despite all my X-Factor prejudices going into the theatre
to see I Can't Sing, I ended up recommending it to anybody who asked me what to
see in London at the moment. I hope to God that an original cast recording has
been made as I found the score particularly well crafted and, of course,
Cynthia Erivo's vocals utterly amazing.
Moving on, this week saw the opening of Best Of
Friends at the Landor Theatre in North Clapham. A show with an intriguing
history, Best Of Friends should have opened at the Arts last year with the
title The Golden Voice and starring Darren Day. The Golden Voice failed to
materialise and The Stage gave full coverage to the producers failure to secure
investment and eventual arrest on suspicion of fraud.
It all looked a pretty shabby affair and I
couldn't help feeling sorry for all the cast, crew and creatives embroiled in
that debacle too. Having seen Best Of Friends at its press night over the
weekend one thing is certain - it was in no way, shape or form ready for a West
End production. In fact, I felt that even this version at the Landor gave it
stronger production values than it was ready for.
The book is seriously flawed and while a few of
the songs aren’t bad, this is a musical that is
in dire need of rewriting. To make matters worse, Fogarty has decided to take
one of the lead roles himself and he - seriously - is no actor. If it was an
issue of money then his attempt at playing the role was a false economy indeed.
I am a big supporter of new musical writing but
I find it more and more difficult to lavish compliments on pieces simply
because they are a) British and b) New - especially vanity projects such as
this. The best thing I can genuinely find to say to Nick Fogarty about his
musical is find a collaborator to re-write your book. Then come back for more
rehearsed readings until it's in a decent shape.
