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G & I Going into Battle with Gertrude Lawrence
Written by Anton Burge
Directed by Ninon Jerome
Assistant Director Jason Moore
Musical Director Marjorie Dutton
Musical Arrangements Marjorie Dutton and Ben Stock
New End Theatre
8 April – 3 May 2009
A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!
London-born (1898) Gertrude Lawrence, film star, chorus member, singer for whom the likes of George and Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weil wrote songs, theatre and musical actress, close friend of Noel Coward, entertainer of WWII troops. The last detail in that long list of creative credentials is the one this sentimental remembrance piece focuses on, as Miss Lawrence while in her middle years in 1944, returns to London following a nine year absence to prepare for an extensive European tour to help boost military morale. Much has changed in the ‘mad’ city she loves since she has relocated to that other mad city, New York and married for the second time, to an American Navy man. For one thing, the blitz is in full swing in Old Blighty and ‘that bastard Adolph’ as Miss Lawrence calls him and his Luftwaffe is hammering away at London. For Miss Lawrence (Anita Harris) as well as this production’s audience, one of the main pleasures of her being in London on this occasion is her meeting and befriending of her pianist accompanist, a young American G.I. named Grover Emerson, (Ben Stock) to whom she recounts her intriguing rags to riches and back life story. Grover has already done one such tour, accompanying Gracie Fields. This one, however, Miss Lawrence promises, will be a different kettle of fish. The play’s settings are the ENSA rehearsal rooms of Drury Lane Theatre. Anita Harris does a brilliant job of playing Gertrude Lawrence, making it instantly understandable why Lawrence became such a well-regarded, long lasting star. Harris’ candour in the role seems genuine and as a result, her performance is both humorous and at times, very touching, as in the guise of Lawrence, she admits to having made many mistakes in her life, some of which have caused complications but none of which has ever been known to stop her in her tracks. Lawrence may not have been viewed as being the greatest singer the world has ever known, but she was, without doubt, understandably acclaimed as being a very emotive and infectious interpreter of lyrics. Both Ben Stock, who plays her sincere young accompanist Grover Emerson and Brenda Longman as Mary Barrett, the military woman in charge of scheduling the tour and getting all of the details in their rightful places on paper, are the perfect counterfoils for Harris’ determinedly lively ‘G’ as her friends called her. Stock offers the bonuses of a strong singing voice and versatility on the ivories and it is as enjoyable listening to him and Ms. Harris playing their characters as it is watching them. In contrast to Stock’s even tempered portrayal of Lawrence’s pianist, Brenda Longman’s interpretation of Mary Barrett seems almost worthy of Monty Phython at times, given her exaggeratedly high brow expressions and continual disapproval of her celebrity guest’s cursing, curtly informing her with every ‘bloody’ that she’ll be obliged to put coins to match in a swear box in aide of the ‘war effort.’ The set, which only features bare necessities - a piano, a stool for Miss Lawrence, a table with forms and pens, suggests not only of wartime scarcities but also, backstage sparseness in the face of rationing. Lawrence’s request for coffee is met with an abrupt one word response from Miss Barrett – ‘tea,’ followed by incessant reminders that ‘there’s a war on,’ in case anyone needed reminding, given the tape on the windows and loud bombing going on outside. Mark Dunne’s sound design features clips of Churchill speaking as well as war-time favourite songs between acts and scene changes such as ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ and ‘Don’t Sit Under the Apple-Tree’, and David Kidd’s lighting takes us through various changes to the first concert on the tour for the final scene, with scattered spotlights.
The only film clips I could find of the real Gertrude Lawrence singing were from the 1930’s, when her style was still a trifle sing-songy for my liking. However, during the course of my research, I realised that she had been in fact, part of my own landscape, as she was the original Miss Anna in The King and I opposite a young, then unknown Yul Brunner, and my mother, who loved Broadway music, used to sing songs from various shows, particularly that one as she was going about her house-wifely duties. Gertrude Lawrence’s fame was definitely not of the instantaneous, garden variety type common today, for her legacy spans four decades, until her untimely death in 1952, and, as this production reminds us, far beyond.
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