STATE FAIR To 29 August.
London.
STATE FAIR
music by Richard Rodgers lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II book by Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli based on the book by Phil Stong and screenplay by Oscar Hammerstein II.
Finborough Theatre 118 Finborough Road SW10 9ED To 29 August 2009.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & Sun 3pm.
Runs 2hr One interval.
TICKETS: 0844 847 1652 (24hr no booking fee).
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk (reduced full-price tickets online).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 9 August.
Happy musical celebration of ordinary lives.
Anyone wanting the breadth of repertory a national theatre might be expected to provide should travel the West London axis between Richmond and its Orange Tree theatre and the Finborough near Earl’s Court. Both mix eclectic new plays with neglected British and foreign works. And neither lets its miniscule stage space limit ambition.
Some Orange Tree productions have almost had to do the curtain-call in relays, the casts are so big. And here’s the Finborough staging a Broadway musical. State Fair’s history is more complex than its plot. The piece itself went from novel to film in a year, but it took another twelve till Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1945 musical movie.
There was a 1962 remake but only in 1995 did it hit the US stage, in a version mopping-up several R&H numbers that lay around unused. And now, the stage State Fair crosses the Atlantic. In this incarnation it’s a simple story of country folks going to the 1946 Iowa state fair and becoming involved with more sophisticated townspeople.
There’s no malice in any of the characters, the city types showing protectiveness towards young Margy (Laura Main, pure and simple as the truth never is, fresh-faced and smiling) and big Wayne (Sion Lloyd, hugely vulnerable despite spending most of the past twelve months, when not working on the farm, practising to beat the huckster showman whose prizes turned out trumpery).
For true values form the theme. Contrasting the rurals, with their close-harmony praise of hogs, Sarah Waddell (playing Emily in place of Kellie Shirley) and David Botham as a journalist with clashing appointments of love and career give sympathetic portraits, as do the largely comical older generation, including Philip Rham and Anthony Wise’s 'ornery, obstinate oldsters – though director Thom Southerland might have pulled back on the latter’s rather fuzzy drunk scene.
Otherwise he creates events and atmosphere splendidly, while Sally Brooks performs miracles with group choreography in this space, using diagonals and circles to create accomplished production numbers. Director, choreographer, pianist and cast ensure that, however small the space, this State Fair is far more than a village fete.
Wayne Frake: Sion Lloyd.
Margy Frake: Laura Main.
Emily Arden: Kellie Shirley.
Abel Frake: Philip Rham.
Melissa Frake: Susan Travers.
Pat Gilbert: David Botham.
Charlie: Sarah Waddell.
Harry: Gareth Nash.
Mr Miller/Judge Heppenstahl: Anthony Wise.
Gus: Robert Rees.
Ensemble: Robine Landi, Martin McCarthy, Helen Phillips, Clare Reilly.
Director: Thom Southerland.
Designer: Wai Yin Kwok.
Lighting: Simeon Miller.
Musical Director: Magnus Gilljam.
Choreographer: Sally Brooks.
Costume: Martha Palmer.
2009-08-12 23:17:32