“Beth Burrows as Joan displays exceptional acting abilities as well as charming vocals”
I’ll be the first to admit I’m a massive fan of musicals, so was surprised to learn of one I wasn’t already familiar with. Strike Up The Band was written by George S. Kaufman in 1927, with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, and is a satirical look at America’s lust for war. The story centres around Horace J. Fletcher (Richard Emerson), a bigshot cheese factory owner who, with the help of various political figures and businessmen, gets the USA to declare war on Switzerland, who have recently opposed tariffs imposed on its cheese.
The show’s comedy value is clear from the start with the song “Fletcher’s American Cheese Choral Society” proving an entertaining opening number. We are then introduced to an array of characters, including Mrs. Draper (Pippa Winslow), a society woman intent on pursuing Horace, and her daughter, Anne (Charlotte Christensen), also looking for love in the form of Timothy Harper (Adam Scott Pringle). Meanwhile, Jim Townsend (Paul Biggin) uses a degrading newspaper article to get the attention of Horace Fletcher’s daughter Joan (Beth Burrows), both of whom have clearly fallen for each other.
The entire cast have done a good job of developing their characters and all show great vocal and acting skills. Richard Emerson as Horace J. Fletcher is a convincing power-hungry businessman, with Charlotte Christensen embracing her role as a naive young girl with love on the brain. Her scenes/duets with Adam Scott Pringle are particularly entertaining. A special mention must also go to David Francis as George Spelvin, who delivers a masterclass in comedy acting as a mysterious spy-like character.
A fairly simple set (Camille Etchart) with nostalgic props suffices and is brought to life with Giulia Scrimieri’s spot-on period costume.
Songs are well delivered with the help of a six-piece band, although this did overpower the singing at times, particularly during ensemble numbers. That being said, there are some definite musical gems scattered throughout. Personal highlights include “Hangin’ Around With You”, “Homeward Bound” and “The Man I Love”, a song in which Beth Burrows as Joan displays exceptional acting abilities as well as charming vocals.
Although bonkers and, at times, a bit difficult to follow, this is a musical that certainly has relevance today and will introduce audiences to some of the Gershwin brothers’ lesser-known songs – there’s even a bit of tap dance thrown in, for good measure! Thanks to director Mark Giesser for bringing this well-performed satire to the London theatre scene.
“Rebecca Eastham, making her directorial debut, succeeds in bringing together an exceptionally talented cast and crew”
Britain is known for many cultural accomplishments, its contributions in theatre arguably taking centre stage. However, in my opinion, Britain does not do musicals. At least, we don’t do them well. Besides Andrew Lloyd Webber’s cloying melodramas (and ‘Billy Elliot’- that was quite good) our West End musical contributions have been meagre. So, the idea of transforming a “hard-hitting” British prison drama into a “hard-hitting” British prison musical – an already tricky concept – seems an unlikely formula for theatrical brilliance – a previous West End outing lasted little more than a couple of months. Nonetheless, ‘Bad Girls: The Musical’ comes to Upstairs at the Gatehouse to try its luck.
The premise does what it says on the tin. There is of course a lot of precedent for prison shows, and ‘Bad Girls: The Musical’ doesn’t waste any time defying expectations. You’ve got all the usual tropes – a couple of corrupt guards, a young up-and-comer trying to make things better, and a tired warden who’d prefer to turn a blind eye. The inmates are similarly predictable – vulnerable newcomer who can’t hack it, idiot bullies looking to take your lunch money, and so on.
The production itself is well done. Rebecca Eastham, making her directorial debut, succeeds in bringing together an exceptionally talented cast and crew. Considering the limitations on prison decor (grey on grey), Andrew Exeter’s set design does well to create something interesting. Fly-posters with ‘#MeToo’ and ‘I’m With Her’ slogans hang just outside the prison gates – a nice solution to the fact that the play’s themes are about a decade behind the current political conversation. The outside world’s progress makes no odds to the goings-on inside prison, is what I imagine these posters are supposed to suggest. Prison cell panels on wheels create varying spaces and divisions on stage. They also allow the inmates to remain on stage at all times, cleverly creating a row of cells behind whatever scene is taking place.
The talent on stage is quite spectacular. A four-piece band (directed by Ben David Papworth) works very hard to provide the entire soundtrack. Nicole Faraday (playing Shell Dockley), who featured in the original ‘Bad Girls’ TV drama, has a beautiful, honeyed voice as well as great comic physicality. In fact, nearly the whole cast showcases amazing vocal ability, and there are quite a few moments where sitting in such a small auditorium with so many talented singers feels very exclusive.
There are a lot of power ballads which, I suppose, lend a nice opportunity for the vocals to shine – one can easily imagine a heart-felt ‘Bad Girls’ number being belted out on X-Factor semi-finals. But it’s a bit weird to have so many moments of attempted earnestness beside songs like “All Banged Up Without The Bang” (“This little chassis needs a full front prang”). What’s more it’s these songs and scenes, jam-packed with sexual innuendo and comedy, that are genuinely entertaining, and if only the writers (Maureen Chadwick, Ann McManus and Kath Gotts) had done away with their bid to be “hard-hitting”, they might have written a very successful musical comedy.
