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Parenthood
★★★

St Paul’s Church Covent Garden

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Parenthood

Parenthood

St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden

Reviewed – 3rd May 2019

★★★

 

“Overall the production has potential and has a strong foundation with great music, lyrics and plot”

 

Parenthood is a new musical that takes us on a relatable journey, giving us a snapshot style exploration of mainly the negative parts of being a parent through comedic songs. A cast of nine clearly talented actors/singers switch roles and give us an authentic and frankly funny portrayal of their characters. We see parents finding out they’re pregnant and the reactions of doubt to gloating that inevitably follow through songs such as ‘We’ll be fine’ and ‘Strong swimmers’.

Moving swiftly onto ‘Christmas With the Kids’ and ‘Put on a Show’ which is where the performance peaks for me, it shows us the all too real primary school Nativity, with the kid that tries too hard, the shy kid and the one who can’t really remember their lines but likes being on stage. The lyrics really helped in portraying this nostalgic look back at growing up, and this felt to me one of the best parts of the production. You can really feel that the words and book have been through a lot of work, they make the songs funny, relevant and catchy. I did find myself humming ‘What’s the Doodle on the Fridge?’ as I travelled home.

Emily and Pete Moody, the creators of the music and lyrics have done a great job at capturing the nuances of parenthood and packaging them in memorable, toe tapping songs. Although because of the high quality of these it means that it is easy to see where the performance is lacking.

The thing that really spoils the performance for me is the lighting design (Maya Kally), it is important to keep in mind the limitations of the space they were performing in but even with this factor in mind it felt clunky and in some places simply wrong. Throughout the performance we would be met with blackouts only for the cast to finish the scene without light and during songs we would have to battle the lights fading in and out to the point where I wondered if there was a fault in the system.

It seems that the production has tried to be too ambitious with their lighting design in such a restricted space, it would have looked far better to tone down lighting changes and work with the resources you have. This can also be said for the choreography, where it feels messy and overcomplex, the best parts are where the cast perform simple moves to accompany the narrative and music. I think it’s important to remember that sometimes less really is more.

Overall the production has potential and has a strong foundation with great music, lyrics and plot. In general though, the production values didn’t reach the same height, perhaps hindered by the church venue; this is a shame as the audience clearly loved the concept of the production.

 

Reviewed by Laurie Wilson

Photography courtesy Fluffy Top Productions

 


Parenthood

St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
The Tempest | ★★★★ | June 2018
The Three Musketeers | ★★★ | August 2018
Anna Karenina | ★★★ | November 2018

 

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Anna Karenina
★★★

St Paul’s Church Covent Garden

Reviews, , , , , , , ,

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina

St Paul’s Church Covent Garden

Reviewed – 24th November 2018

★★★

“musically beautiful, but disappointing in its hollowness”

 

Everyone knows Anna Karenina, even if few people have read it. The grand setting of Imperial Russia and provocative story of a woman torn between desire and obligation – and Tolstoy’s exquisite prose, for those who pick up the book after watching the film – have kept Anna Karenina at the forefront of the Western literary canon for over a hundred years, and made it the subject of countless adaptations, including more than one stage show. A new musical out of Oxford University by Maria Shepard is the latest addition, and one that is musically beautiful, but disappointing in its hollowness.

Curiously, no writer is credited for this adaptation, which might be why its biggest fault is its script. Rushing from scene to scene as if it has a train to catch, the text gives the audience just enough time to understand what is happening, but not why it matters. Anna falls in love in a matter of seconds, her affair is found out just as quickly, and the whole thing resolves before you can say ‘Nikolaevich’. There is no sense of budding romance, or of building shame; there is conflict, but it is confined to a schedule.

No doubt the rushed pace of the action is due to Shepard’s efforts to tell the story from start to finish; she might have done well to look at other recent adaptations of Russian classics, like Oliver Bennett and Vladimir Shcherban’s A Hero of Our Time, Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; and Pyotr Fomenko’s War and Peace – The Beginning of the Novel, all of which wisely adapt only fragments of their source texts, and, in doing so, are able to fully explore the richness of the characters and their world.

There is plenty of richness to be found in this new musical, however; it just isn’t in the text. Shepard’s score is lush and expressive; intimate at times, and grand at others, it speaks louder and clearer than the book or lyrics, and displays the impressive talent of its composter. Whilst watching the show I found my attention constantly drifting over to the orchestra, because there, I felt, was where the action was.

I would be remiss also not to mention the commendable performances of the young cast, who overcame the constraints of working in such an unusual venue as St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden and some technical difficulties. Standouts are Imogen Honey Strachan in the title role, who sings like a canary, and Jacob Griffiths as an understated but deeply charismatic Levin.

 

Reviewed by Louis Train

 


Anna Karenina

St Paul’s Church Covent Garden

 

 

 

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