Little Me – Ye Olde Rose & Crown Theatre

Little Me continues at Ye Olde Rose & Crown Theatre Pub, London until 31 August.

Little Me has been the vehicle for many a comic turn over the years. The original 1962 production opened with Sid Caesar and the musical has featured Bruce Forsyth and Russ Abbot in the past. Perhaps the most accomplished all-rounder has been Martin Short, but that Broadway run closed in 1999, and it’s been nearly 20 years since the last UK revival. That’s a great pity because these two hours of farce are a much-needed recession-busting mood enhancer.

The story (book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh) is of Belle Schlumpfert, a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. She meets WASP Noble Eggleston whose mother forbids him to marry Belle because she does not have “wealth, culture and social position”. She achieves these three virtues by meeting a quantity of men who transform her life (usually while ending theirs) before finally resting in Noble’s arms.

Daniel Cane reprises the Caesar role, playing Noble and multiple other roles – French entertainer, miser, German director, mitteleuropean prince and a semi-blind soldier. He is bravura in all: tap dancing while singing in a French accent has never been done so consummately and with such panache. He is a great talent with good comic timing, characterisation and, as in much Neil Simon, the shtick is to keep it quick and energetic which Cane does in spades.

It would be easy to be overpowered by the actor playing Noble but Emma Odell (Young Belle) shines with the energy of a supernova. She works no less hard and marries exceptional acting with a clear, lively voice subtle to the enunciation of the lyrics. In one scene where she has to sing badly “Oh! Dem doggone dimples!” amid deliberately duff dancing, the resulting comedy is stand-out. She radiates charm and can hold a note longer than the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Older Belle (Julie Ross) narrates the life of Young Belle and she is played with a Norma Desmond hauteur both touching and funny. Ross has her Ethel Merman moments and her onstage meeting with Young Belle adds a much needed poignancy to the lunacy. Belle’s rival (Ramona) in the affections of Noble is vividly drawn by Emily Apps who belts them out so hard that Broadway could almost hear her.

Ensemble acting is perfect fun and everybody should be mentioned in dispatches, but Alastair Knights and Katrina Dix as the wise-cracking vaudeville/film producers Bernie and Bennie Buchsbaum are joyous – both superb dancers as well. And although Bob Fosse took charge of the original choreography, Chris Whittaker has followed a hard act very well enduring a tight, hot space that makes the hoofers sweat like naavies. A mixture of styles from hoedown, tap and ballroom to roaring 20s are well executed.

A productive use of set is made by Stewart Charlesworth where gilt picture frames enclose headlines or pictures to set the scene – simple, effective ambiance that doesn’t get in the way of the action.

There are a few negatives. Richard Dawes as George – a difficult and underwritten role – doesn’t have the acting power or range, albeit a fine voice that makes up for it. The plot twists demand a lot of energy from the company and they mostly deliver, but during the end of Act I it really flags, not from anything else but by having too much story to tell. It is a musical which is often cut and director Brendan Matthew has precedent to do so. Other than that, Matthew does a superb job with a very large cast in such a tight setting.

Occasionally the music overpowers the singing – the ‘Goodbye’ scene with Prince Cherney (a difficult acoustic to direct admittedly) misses some of Leigh’s fantastic lyrics and that should never happen.

Speed, agility and energy make up much of the humour, but the jokes are also good and witty enough to have the audience laughing out loud throughout. I won’t repeat any jokes here but will pass them off as my own later.

All-Star Productions is a plucky, lively company working from the theatre pub at Ye Olde Rose & Crown, an off-West End theatre that’s becoming a honey-pot for new musical theatre. A must-see production of a complete and utter feel-good musical.

 Kieran Falconer