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Toby Cruse Productions presents
The Great American Seasonal Songbook
Starring David Martin and Louisa Parry
Directed by Heather Simpkin
Music by the GAS Orchestra
Piano: Andy Rumble
Bass: Dave Olney/Joe Pettitt
Musical Director: Andy Rumble
New End Theatre
8 December 2009 -10 January 2010
A review by Chad Armitstead for EXTRA! EXTRA!
I was still in London, but the city seemed to fade away into a drowsing village as I walked up Heath Street. Already in a cosy state of mind, as I settled into my seat the New End Theatre and the show began, I felt I had nestled into a giant fluffy duvet for the holidays. The Great American Seasonal Songbook winds its way through the four seasons, plucking songs from the period spanned by the Great American Songbook. For those of you who, like me, can’t find a definition for the GAS that doesn’t meander into complete unintelligibility, let me try to defy convention. Basically, the Great American Songbook consists of songs written primarily for Broadway and Hollywood between 1920 and 1960. They are defined by a simple, original song structure influenced by the traditions of Tin Pan Alley (a row of ‘song factories’ in New York City), jazz, and jazz’s predecessors, blues and ragtime. The Songbook is also characterized by defying a one-sentence definition, apparently. Now, on to the evening. David Martin takes the stage, quaffed within an inch of his life; his soothing, honeyed voice filtering its warmth through the sly winks and nudge-nudge ad-libs of Old Vegas. Louisa Parry’s buoyant elegance and virtuosic playfulness combine with Martin’s antics to create a truly intimate evening that has even the most humbugged curmudgeons grinning against their will. To say Martin is a veteran of music is to say that David Beckham plays football. He’s a singer/songwriter who’s had hits like “Don’t You Know She Said Hello” (1974) and “There’s a Whole Lot of Loving” (1975). Artists as diverse as The Carpenters, Boyzone, Elvis and Westlife have performed Martin’s songs. He also wrote Barry Manilow’s hit “Can’t Smile Without You.” Ms. Parry is a seasoned touring singer and West End performer. She has been in The Phantom in the Opera in London, a UK tour of Grease, and Evita in Norway, to scratch the surface of her long career. As they sing selections from each season, the pair recounts the history of the Great American Songbook, which is replete with quirky anecdotes. Think along the lines of children being paid to plug a song by posing as audience members and ‘spontaneously’ bursting into song after hearing the tune for the ‘first time.’ Martin and Parry work like clockwork together in Heather Simpkin’s production, with a class that Vegas has somehow found superfluous. Simpkins directs a show that is over long before you want it to be and the seasoned duo is a tour de force of charm. The two perform at least twenty-five tunes and virtually every one feels like a highlight. I’ll mention only a few, but not for lack of deserving performances. Ms. Parry had the un-self-conscious air of one whose technique no longer inhibits the emotion behind the notes. She switches gears effortlessly between the fervency of a prayer in “Funny Valentine” and the intimate, soulful conversation of the “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” of Judy Garland fame. But “Summertime” is Ms. Parry at her most mesmeric. In an up-tempo version of the jazz classic, she exudes the sex and verve of a seasoned chanteuse making a new thing out of an old song. The deep bottom comes out in her voice putting the sultry into the swing. She makes the song only a suggestion and her performance the true creation. Mr. Martin brings the smooth speech-level croon of Sinatra to a whole catalogue. The Everyman twinkle in his eye and his “let’s just chat” demeanour give a signature magic to the emotional climax of the songs he sings, particularly in “April in Paris” and “White Christmas,” the latter of which saw the audience transported, spontaneously beginning to sing along. Pianist Andy Rumble (also the musical director) drops virtuosic percussive feats on the ivory like they’re nothing, littering the evening with piano solos that would alone justify the ticket price. The bassist (alternating nights between Dave Olney and Joe Pettit) isn’t a whit behind, driving the evening with a smooth precision, performing his own solo musical acrobatics. Kerry Hughes has built a cosy set complete with Christmas tree and easy chair that makes you feel like heating up a mince pie and cuddling up in front of the flickering glow of a stage light in the hearth. It’s an evening with just the faintest hint of camp, brimming with class, and studded with the nearly scandalous glamour of Ms. Parry’s wardrobe. The Great American Seasonal Songbook will sneak a grin onto your face and Christmas into your heart. By the time Martin and Parry get through the seasons to Christmas, you’ll realise that you can’t wait for it to be here.
Tickets: £22.50, £19 concessions Box office: 0870 033 2733
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ary Couzens