★★★

“Stand out performance of the night goes to Enzo Benvenuti”

The Boys From Syracuse playing Upstairs at the Gatehouse, is a pared down production of the 1938 hit by Rodgers and Hart, with everyone doubling up on roles.

The musical is based on Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors, when two sets of identical twins Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse (John Faal in the dual role) were separated as children from each other in a shipwreck; along with their servants, both named Dromio (Brendan Matthew in the dual role). When the pair from Syracuse come to Ephesus, a comedy of errors and mistaken identities ensues when the wives of the Ephesians, Adriana (Caroline Kennedy) and her servant Luce (Karen Wilkinson), mistake the two strangers for their husbands. Adriana’s sister Luciana (Georgie Faith) and the Syracuse Antipholus fall in love. But all ends happily with some fun puppetry!

This is a silly musical set in Roman times, you know it’s old Italy because the tiled adverts on the set include Rent A Chariot. The songs are classics including Falling In Love With Love and This Can’t Be Love. All the cast have good voices and in act two, the female trio of Adriana, Luciana and Luce perform Sing For Your Supper, with clear and strong harmonies which is a delight.

Stand out performance of the night goes to Enzo Benvenuti as both the Duke and the Sergeant – his smile inducing characters played with comedy and verve.

Directed by Mark Giesser, the pace meant in the most part the comedy did not sparkle. The costumes (Alice McNicholas) were distracting as you tried to work out the differences between the complicatedly patterned bright waistcoats, which did not help to differentiate the twins with ease – making it harder to separate who was who. The accents did also drop at times which did not help either.

The set was simple with the comedic tiled backdrop and one platform. However, the unnecessary three “marble” boxes were continually moved by the cast for no reason, adding nothing to the production at all. And the stand alone single front door on wheels, was an embarrassment for poor John Faal, when his Antipholus of Ephesus is locked out of his house, and bangs and tries to open it. But the door just moved and wobbled horribly. Maybe try to turn it into a comedy moment by moving the door back and forth on its wheels with purpose?

The five piece band, a fantastic luxury in such a small space, was led by Musical Director Benjamin Levy on the piano. Some of the songs felt they could have been slightly more up tempo, but it was a tight team of musicians with a good sound balance with the cast.

Upstairs at the Gatehouse is known for putting on big musical theatre shows, and some clearly work better in the space with a small cast, than others.

TOM LEHRER IS TEACHING MATH AND DOESN’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

★★

“There was more action in the archive LP recording than live on stage

It takes some effort to murder a Tom Lehrer song but, Tom Lehrer Is Teaching Math and Doesn’t Want to Talk to You, managed to murder in spades. Luck has it that the show is already sold out for its short run – so read no further.

Upstairs At The Gatehouse in Highgate, to date has had a great reputation for putting on high quality musical revue shows with some of the world’s finest musical theatre writers and composers: delightful scripted chat, high production values and strong singing voices throughout. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

However, Tom Lehrer Is Teaching Math and Doesn’t Want to Talk to You, is a badly conceived play by Francis Beckett interspersed with 25 of Lehrer’s most famous songs. The premise, Iris (Nabilah Hamid) is a young Lehrer fan and would be journalist in 1970, who turns up unannounced at the home of Tom Lehrer (Shahaf Ifhar) to interview this very private man.

Sadly, in this two-hander, both the play and performances lack any substance. Shahaf Ifhar plays Lehrer’s deadpan comedic lines so flat, his Lehrer is boring – something that Lehrer most certainly is not. So many of the laugh lines went for nothing: “I’m fond of quoting Peter Cook, who talked about the satirical Berlin Kaberetts of the 1930s, which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the Second World War.”

Neither actor can put across a musical number with any panache – and the direction by Isaac Bernier-Doyle (one of the new Co-Artistic Directors of Upstairs at the Gatehouse) hits all the wrong notes from the get-go; with the opening number I Got It From Agnes, performed as “it” being a physical typewriter and various desk stationary. The “it” in Lehrer’s seemingly innocent lyrics is most definitely venereal disease, in his genius and usually very funny satirical song with never a naughty word used. Satirical, being the operative word that is synonymous with Tom Lehrer.

Tom Lehrer’s most famous song, Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, literally stopped dead halfway through, as Shahaf ran noisily off stage to bring on a park bench for the duo to sit on. The bench could have and should have been set in front of the upright piano from the top of the show (where pianist and musical director Harry Style plays). Throughout, the staging left a lot to be desired….

The natural interval was at the end of the song We Will All Go Together When We Go – the audience has just had a jolly sing-along and Iris walks off leaving Lehrer’s home. But the Lehrer character goes on to sing two further numbers before curtain down on Act One.

Act Two starts with an actual recording relayed over the sound system of Tom Lehrer performing; with his wonderful deadpan patter, brilliant piano playing and singing his hilarious rendition of Clementine. The Gatehouse theatre audience laughing spontaneously. A joyous moment. There was more action in the archive LP recording than live on stage.

The clunky script jumps 30 years, and again the now mature “stalker” journalist Iris returns to find Lehrer and again asks why did you stop performing, didn’t you enjoy the adoration of your audience (sic)? Too much script just spouting dates: the Vietnam war, That Was The Week That Was, the nuclear bomb, Trump, Nixon, Monica Lewinsky – and the show Tomfoolery, which was actually premiered in 1980 and not in 1982 as the script stated tonight in Tom Lehrer Is Teaching Math and Doesn’t Want to Talk to You….

The show finishes with Tom Lehrer’s sublime parody of popular music with his song The Elements – literally listing the names of all the chemical elements, to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Major-General Song from The Pirates of Penzance. And I have to say both Hamid and Ifhar, alongside Harry Style, sung without a name out of place at great speed!

The play ends telling the audience that Tom Lehrer, who is still alive aged 96, transferred all songs he had ever written into the public domain, and in 2022 Lehrer formally relinquished the copyright/performing/recording rights on his songs, making them free for anyone to use – including a small theatre in North London……

Tag Archives: Upstairs at The Gatehouse

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE

★★★

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

★★★

“Stand out performance of the night goes to Enzo Benvenuti”

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Reviewed on 6th September 2024

by Debbie Rich

Photography by Flavia Fraser-Cannon

Previously reviewed at this venue:

TOM LEHRER IS TEACHING MATH AND DOESN’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU | ★★ | May 2024

IN CLAY | ★★★★★ | March 2024

SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD | ★★★ | February 2024

YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN | ★★ | December 2023

THIS GIRL – THE CYNTHIA LENNON STORY | ★★ | July 2023

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE

THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE

Click here to see our Recommended Shows page

TOM LEHRER IS TEACHING MATH AND DOESN’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU

★★

Upstairs at the Gatehouse

TOM LEHRER IS TEACHING MATH AND DOESN’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU at Upstairs at the Gatehouse

★★

“There was more action in the archive LP recording than live on stage