HEAVEN CAN WAIT. To 28 June.
Brighton
HEAVEN CAN WAIT
by David Cosgrove, based on an original idea by Simon Hart
Theatre Royal Brighton 23-28 June 2003
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 01273 328488
Review Hazel Brown 17 June at Lighthouse, Poole
Fantastic songs, brilliantly performed, forget the storyline.Michael Winter's touring production - out of Perth - has a cast of five performers who are brilliant at all they do: sing, play musical instruments, act and - soon enough - have the audience clapping along to the well loved hits of the three main characters Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. But the least said about the story line, the better.
These three stars of the 50's rock n' roll scene died in a plane crash on 3 February 1959. The thin story that intrudes between the hits and tries to meld them together has the three, and their pilot, holed up in a bar after the crash a sort of waiting room on the way to heaven, minded by Stella. She forces them to face issues in their past which gives rise to some of the songs; the rest come from sheer exuberance. There is a neat comic twist at the end, when the next occupant of this waiting room' is previewed.
Michael Cuckson plucks every ounce of fun from the larger than life Big Bopper in his leopard print jacket and shoes. Mark Pearce hides a huge voice in his tiny, red-shirted frame as Ritchie Valens (who was only 17 when he died) and Antony Fletcher is convincing as the more straitlaced, be-suited Buddy Holly.
Jenni Winter is a vision in a white frou-frou skirt; she has the boys round her little finger in no time and the rest of her fingers are fantastic on the keyboards. The pilot, Roger, comes in for a fair amount of stick as an incompetent flier, but rounds nicely on the famous trio in a moving speech on the death of ordinary people. Cameron A Gordon, as well as being a good drummer, is given one splendid chance to show his skills as a guitarist.
However, it is the music and the songs that the audience comes for. They won't be disappointed from 'The Hop' that opens the show, 'Three Steps to Heaven (altered by Stella to give them guidelines to find real as opposed to sexual heaven), some of their greatest hits, 'Oh Boy', 'La Bamba', 'Donna', 'Chantilly Lace' and many more.
The final encore had most of the audience on their feet with some chronologically challenged couples showing the young just how to jive in the aisles for the encores 'That'll Be the Day', 'Johnny Be Good' and 'Great Balls of Fire!' A fun evening - go along for the performances and the songs, which can stand alone when performed like this.
Stella: Jenni Winter
Ritchie: Mark Pearce
Roger Peterson: Cameron A Gordon
Big Bopper: Michael Cuckson
Buddy: Antony Fletcher
Director: Michael Winter
Designer: Patrick Connellan
Lighting: Simon Sewell
Sound: Clement Rawling
Musical Director: Colin Cattle
Touring Musical Director: Cameron A Gordon
2003-06-23 00:36:52