Le monde des musicals

Version 1

Babes in Arms (2002-10-New Theatre-Cardiff)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: New Theatre (Cardiff - Angleterre)
Durée : 1 semaine
Nombre :
Première Preview : Wednesday 16 October 2002
Première : Wednesday 16 October 2002
Dernière : Saturday 26 October 2002
Mise en scène : Martin Connor •
Chorégraphie : Bill Deamer •
Producteur :
Presse : The Times - Saturday 19th October 2002:
SEVERAL of the tastier offerings in Cardiff’s International Festival of Music Theatre are "concert performances", which must mean that folk in evening dress will be singing Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle, Porter's Jubilee and (too expensive and American a show to get the British premiere it merits) McNally and Flaherty's Ragtime. But Rodgers and Hart's Babes in Arms is receiving the full treatment.
That's to say, the decor is up to British touring if not Broadway standards, and the cast, though a bit raw, is young, spirited and hugely likeable.
Though the musical dates from the late 1930s, it represents the end of an era, not the start of a new one. And that's ironic, for the plot is supposedly about the theatre's future. The "babes in arms" are the youthful flotsam and jetsam working in a playhouse in Cape Cod, hoping to produce a show introducing New York to a brave new generation.
And how to achieve this? Their triumphant closing number, packed with girls in gold swimsuits, demonstrates how. By wowing the Great White Way with exactly the sort of jaunty show that had been wowing it for two decades. You might almost say that Babes in Arms marks the death-throes of the kind of musical the war and Oklahoma! Would sweep away.
But who cares? If you enjoy escapist 1920s and 1930s musicals, you'll enjoy this. The plot is sappy, key events are ill-motivated, but it's fun, fun, fun. It's fun to meet Rose Owen, the ex-child star who comes from Hollywood to launch a stage career in a doleful saga called The Deep North. It's fun to see this play's pretentious Southern author made to look a fool by the "babes in arms" when he dons a Davy Crockett hat and spouts lines about “facing the perils of the wind and snow". It's fun when, in a preposterously curt denouement, everything thespian and romantic turns out well.
The songs include Babes in Arms itself, Johnny One Note, My Funny Valentine, The Lady is a Tramp, which in its proper context is what it should be, a ode to freedom and wanderlust. With the delightful Alexandra Jay singing that, and Alicia Davies, Joshua Dallas, Simon Coulthard and Tiffany Graves also making quite an impression, I don't see why Martin Connor's production shouldn't go far.

Version 2

Babes in Arms (2007-05-Festival Theatre-Chichester)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Chichester Festival Theatre (Chichester - Angleterre)
Durée : 1 mois 1 semaine
Nombre :
Première Preview : Inconnu
Première : Tuesday 29 May 2007
Dernière : Saturday 07 July 2007
Mise en scène : Martin Connor •
Chorégraphie : Bill Deamer •
Producteur :

Version 3

Maddie (1997-09-Lyric Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Lyric Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 1 mois 1 semaine
Nombre : 48 représentations
Première Preview : Monday 22 September 1997
Première : Monday 29 September 1997
Dernière : Saturday 08 November 1997
Mise en scène : Martin Connor •
Chorégraphie : David Toguri • Jenny Arnold •
Producteur :
Avec : Graham Bickley (Nick), Summer Rognlie (Jan/Maddie), Lynda Baron (Cordelia van Arc), Kevin Colson (AI), Beth Tuckey, Jon Rumney, Russell Wilcox, Michael A Elliott, Paddy Glynn, Louise Davidson, Nicola Filshie, Martin Parr.
Commentaires : Based on the novel “Marion’s Wall” by Jack Finney, and its film adaptation, “Maxie” with Glenn Close. The production was first staged at the Salisbury Playhouse, but it failed to find backing for a London transfer until the Daily Telegraph covered the story and more than a hundred of its readers became individual “angels”, raising some £150,000. It ran for six weeks and lost over half a million pounds.
Presse : NICHOLAS DE JONGH of the EVENING STANDARD echoes my thoughts, saying the show is " Balderdash, babble and baloney leading to a dead end" and goes on to say "It's a grim night."

PETER HEPPLE of THE STAGE thinks the same, describing the show as " lacking in wit" and "suffering an almost excruciatingly boring second half." Funnily enough I thought the second half was better than the first!! However, not all critics panned it.

JOHN PETER of THE SUNDAY TIMES says Maddie is " A real find"

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says "The piece still strikes me as a breath of fresh air in the West End."

Version 4

Mr Cinders (1993-01-King's Head Theatre-London)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: King's Head Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée :
Nombre : 68 représentations
Première Preview : Thursday 07 January 1993
Première : Thursday 07 January 1993
Dernière : Inconnu
Mise en scène : Martin Connor •
Chorégraphie : Gillian Gregory •
Producteur :
Avec : Samuel West (Jim Lancaster), Sally Anne Triplett (Jill Kemp), Charles Edwards (Guy Lancaster), Chris Villiers (Lumley Lancaster), Burnell Tucker (Henry Kemp), Eileen Page (Lady Lancaster), Ian Lindsay (Sir George Lancaster)

Version 5

Wonderful Town (1986-08-Queen's Theatre-London)

Type de série: Revival
Théâtre: Sondheim Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 7 mois 3 semaines
Nombre : 267 représentations
Première Preview : Thursday 07 August 1986
Première : Thursday 07 August 1986
Dernière : Saturday 28 March 1987
Mise en scène : Martin Connor •
Chorégraphie : David Toguri •
Producteur :
Avec : Maureen Lipman (Ruth Sherwood), Emily Morgan (Eileen Sherwood), Ray Lonnen (Robert Baker), Nicolas Colicos (Wreck) Lesley Joseph (Violet), Michael Fitzpatrick, Angela Moran, John Cassadt, Roy Durbin, Ted Merwood, Ben Stevens
Commentaires : This production originated at the Palace Theatre, Watford.