Nigel Richards in The World Goes Round at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, London. Picture: Tony Bartholomew/Turnstone Media
The World Goes Round – The Best of Kander & Fred Ebb continues at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough until 3 September.
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Staging musicals in-the-round is always a challenge. Just where, for example, should director Lotte Wakeham tell the the cast to focus for voice projection?
The most successful at solving this conundrum is the splendid Nigel Richards. Not only is his voice powerful enough to carry to all parts of the theatre, even with his back turned, he displays precise comic timing.
Kander and Ebb were always adept in seeing beyond the superficiality of modern life. Even the most ardent of their love songs have an edge that undermines schmaltz, frequently indicting an indifferent world that continues to go round, unaffected by human loves, dramas and laughter. Our only hope is to continue to say ‘Yes’ (70, Girls, 70) while acknowledging ‘The Grass is Always Greener’ (Woman of the Year).
Thankfully, there is no thought of spawning a jukebox box musical by welding the 29 featured songs into some artificial plot. Instead, certain themes emerge naturally from the music, the lyrics and the direction, offering coherence.
One of these is roundness. Simon Kenny’s set is circular and tiered, with a circular lighting rig above. Establishing the theme more legitimately, Laura Jane Matthewson gets us under way with ‘But the World Goes ’Round’ (New York, New York). The theme also provides the perfect vehicle for Ashley Samuels to display insouciant athleticism as he glides on skates, inches from the front row, in ‘The Rink’. He also provides a different sort of athleticism for ‘Arthur in the Afternoon’ (The Act).
There can be few other writing teams that have provided such strong roles for women. Leading on audience favourite ‘All That Jazz’ (Chicago), Shona White enters through the audience, belting out the lines. This display of strong woman bravura is immediately counterpointed by the male pathos of ‘Mr Cellophane’ (Chicago) featuring the excellent Nigel Richards.
Pulling off the quickest of costume changes, Phoebe Fildes, Matthewson and White emerge to offer ‘Sara Lee’ (The Act) in a song that combines visual as well as verbal wit.
Never less than supportive of the five singers, musical director Neil MacDonald’s piano is subtle for ‘Maybe This Time’ (Cabaret) and jaunty for the final ensemble pieces – ‘The Money Song’ (Cabaret) and ‘New York, New York’ which closes the show.
As you would expect, the evening is end-loaded with the most popular Kander and Ebb tunes (the show was originally conceived by Scott Ellis, Susan Stroman and David Thompson). As an anthology, it will never satisfy every enthusiast. Doubtless some will be walking into the night muttering why didn’t they do ‘x’? or I really expected to see ‘y’.
But this is a full-on, value for money evening in the theatre: fast-paced and glowing with energy.
Mike Tilling
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