FLORODORA. To 22 January.
London
FLORODORA
by Owen Hall lyrics by E Boyd Jones & Paul Rubens music by Leslie Stuart
Finborough Theatre 118 Finborough Road SW10 To 22 January 2006
Sunday only 8pm
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 0870 4000 838 (24hr no booking fee)
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 January
Tell me, pretty music, is there any more at home like you?
Wherever musical comedy died, or turned into The Musical, its rebirth in an Earl’s Court fringe theatre seems unlikely. But if Florodora’s 3 performances are the success they utterly deserve to be then musical comedy composer Lionel Monckton may soon be toe-tapping to his own tunes from his nearby grave. For he’s also on Finborough artistic director Neil McPherson’s not-so-little list of composers due for revaluation.
Of course this 1899 piece isn’t rock ‘n’ roll and has been neither chic nor cool for the best part of a century. And a concert production with 9 soloists-cum-chorus and 5 instrumentalists doesn’t automatically mean the piece would stand up to full production. If the notion of Philippine island Florodora, with its secret-formula perfume exploited commercially by American Cyrus Gilfain, seems ethnically challenged, wait till the second act transports us, supposedly, to Wales. Despite appropriating names from all 3 Celtic countries of the British Isles as it then was, script references are resolutely to England and English.
But, in its day Florodora was the thing. The musical number least aligned to the plot, “Tell me, pretty maiden, are there any more at home like you,” became a hit standard, and the ‘English girls’ introduced simply to sing it alongside the male chorus of clerks became known as the Florodora girls.
There’s no reason the conventions of musical comedy shouldn’t be accepted as are those of commedia dell’ arte. Allowing for a candyfloss Edwardian view of the world, there’s a lot to like; all beautifully observed within the confines of Nina Brazier’s resourceful production by a fine ensemble.
Rosemary Ashe beautifully points the social comedy of her number ‘Tact’ and the salon comedy of ‘An Inkling’. Simon Butteriss with every instinct of the performer who puts the comedy in musical comedy, shapes even dated and indifferent lines beautifully. And Katie Foster-Barnes’ innocent Florodorean is a performance imbued with the ability to suggest deep reactions in a simple look. When these 2, disguised as French performers, let rip in Laura Krasnic’s choreography the effect’s glorious.
Yes, it’s all rather silly. But, oh, so much fun.
Leandro/Captain Arthur Donegal/Max Apfelbaum: Garrie Harvey
Inez/Lady Holyrood: Rosemary Ashe
Valleda/Lottie Chalmers/Miss J Typist: Jane Quinn
Ernest Pym: Robert Waters
Frank Abercoed/Tennyson Sims: Alex Gaumond
Dolores/Daisy Chain: Katie Foster-Barnes
Anthony Tweedlepunch: Simon Butteriss
Cyrus W Gilfain/Reginald Langdale: David O’ Brien
Angela Gilfain/Lucie Ling: Abigail Jaye
Director: Nina Brazier
Designer: Carrie Southall
Lighting/Sound: Robert Wells
Musical Director/arrangements/Conductor: Timothy Henty
Choreographer: Laura Krasnic
2006-01-10 12:14:48