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DEBBIE REYNOLDS
Alive and Fabulous
Apollo Theatre
28 April – 9 May 2010
Ibs
A review by Barry Grantham for EXTRA! EXTRA!
But a week before learning that I was to have the pleasure of seeing and reviewing Miss Reynolds’ one woman show at the Apollo, I happened to be watching a video of the star in ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’, a rags to riches story in which she plays a tomboy urchin who becomes the richest of nouveau riche and a celebrated Titanic survivor; an ideal vehicle for displaying the unstoppable shining talent of the young Debbie Reynolds. During the show, Miss Reynolds tells us that Spencer Tracy advised her to always ‘make it real’ and confesses that at the time she didn’t really know what he was talking about. But, by golly, make it real as Molly Brown she did. In the first scenes in ragged clothes and boyish haircut she fights with her playmates and dances with an energy that is positively violent. Later in the film, untameable and restricted by the social scene in which her new wealth has thrown her, her acting is real enough for us to understand her predicament and make us her devoted allies. Engaging, skilled, beautiful, undoubtedly as I said, one of the most unstoppable shining talents to come from the Hollywood machine So we could not help speculating on how much of that abundant facility was retained by the still pretty and certainly much younger looking woman than the age to which she later admitted. At first it is not all that apparent; she sings, talks and jokes, and plays the age-card for all she’s worth (unnecessarily I thought). At this point she is a little tense, she fidgets and flutters, and the hand-mike flies all over the place. If you are a devoted fan of Miss Reynolds – be patient with me, there is a great deal of acclaim on the way. A screen comes down and we are treated to some clips of her involvement in some of the greatest out-comings of the Hollywood Musicals: Three Little Words, Singing in the Rain, The Tender Trap, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, etc. etc. This was a great life’s work by any standard and I applaud heartily with the rest. She tells us a bit about her early life and sweetly sings a song to her Grandfather. I warm to her (most of the audience are ahead of me and adored her the moment she stepped onto the stage). She plays the audience with masterly skill, talking and involving individual members in direct communication She tells of her marriages and the stars she knew and worked with ( without ever seeming to ‘namedrop’) and then – she begins her impressions. James Stewart, Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn, Ethel Merman, Barry Fitzgerald, Mae West. These are not only accurate but brilliant parodies, words turning into mere sounds and nonsense. They are sound caricatures to parallel the greatest of the visual cartoonists; exaggerated, even cruel. Amid much applause, she briefly leaves the stage and returns – is it really her? Gone is the fluffy, rather cuddly creature we were getting to love and on comes a spare witch-like phantom, who looks very like – yes, it’s Barbra Streisand Debbie goes into the most brilliant and cruellest send-up imaginable. ‘Barbra hasn’t seen it yet – that’s why I’m still alive’ she jokes – or is it a joke? We have the interval to recover and the delectable Debbie is returned to us in a glittering suit of red sequins. More songs, more jokes, more audience involvement. Till amid thunderous applause and a standing ovation...and I don’t mean that metaphorically – the entire audience rose to their feet – she leaves us. She is not tempted to return. ‘ Leave ‘em wanting’ - that’s the way.
Apollo Theatre £49.50, £47.50, £37.50, £35, £25 (Premium Seats Also Available)
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