A Small Mind At The Theatre

It was obvious I know, but being struck with my ultimate horror on entering The Old Vic of hundreds of children, made me uncomfortable at the outset. Especially as this wasn't a pantomime, could they possibly be controlled? Would there be screams, bawls and cries of "I want to go home!" etc. There was not, this audience was actually one of the best behaved that I have ever experienced. I heard no grumbles, no sweet wrappers, no mobile phones. All I did hear on a couple of occasions, were a few squeals of absolute joy at what they were seeing. That could easily have been me; but it wasn't; as The Lorax is a thing of absolute wonder, a visual and audio feast like anything you could ever dream of. Adapted for the stage by David Greig from Dr. Seuss's surprisingly serious tale, it tells a rather observant and modern tale of the perils of deforestation. At the time groundbreaking, it has over forty years later lost none of its relevance; very much a sorrowful taint...

Having clocked up fifteen musicals since my first just eighteen months ago I thought I had become used to their shear exuberance at times, but I knew I had to be prepared for Hairspray as having seen the Travolta film version, this I realised was going to be off the campometre. I wasn't quite prepared as a cascade of bright colours, over the top performances and madness ensued. What kept it working for me though as someone who prefers his plays to his sing and dancers was the actual tough narrative behind the big characters. Hairspray in its own unique way tells a very powerful story of prejudice and racial tension of the early sixties. A place where whites and blacks didn't mix on television (the latter had their so-called Negro day once a month) and that the place for the slightly increased in body substance was doing the laundry and certainly not on the TV in peoples living rooms. So in huge, no ginormous brush strokes Hairspray tells a strong tale behind the frilly dresse...

My musical theatre crash course continued this week with Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! Although it came with the territory of sitting in a theatre seemingly more often than at home, its safe to say that the musical side of it has been one of the greater revelations. Having now seen more musicals in the last few months than I had in the proceeding thirty seven years, I have sort of been converted. Oklahoma! like the exceptional South Pacific I saw last year was entirely new to me as a complete package. However like SP, many of the tunes were well known from, well somewhere I know not. From the uplifting and heart rising "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'" to the bold and celebratory Oklahoma! itself, these songs were classics even if I had never seen the package they were weaved around. For myself there was also the comfort blanket of two actors who had very much been about during my time growing up. Both the effortless Gary Wilmot and the delightful Belinda Lang...