All Or Nothing – Ambassadors Theatre

Stanton Wright, Stefan Edwards, Samuel Pope, Alexander Gold and Karis Anderson in All Or Nothing at the Ambassadors Theatre, London. Picture: Phil Weedon

All Or Nothing continues at the Ambassadors Theatre, London until 2 June 2018.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Britain in the 1960s was a significant time for both music and youth culture, and All Or Nothing – The Mod Musical tells the story of one of the era’s most influential bands, the Small Faces.

This nostalgic jukebox musical is a celebration of everything the 60s was famous for, and therefore appeals to die-hard Small Faces fans as well as those who have never heard of the band before. However, though the cast pours every imaginable ounce of enthusiasm and fun into their performances, I do have my reservations about the production as a whole.

The show follows the life of Steve Marriott, frontman of the Small Faces. Chris Simmons plays the older Marriott who narrates as we watch his younger self’s journey to fame with the group.

Simmons embraces the cockney charm and bravado that comes with playing this cheeky singer from London’s East End. The degeneration of his character at the end of Act II is also well executed, but this idea would have been more effective if it was planted earlier on in the show, rather than seeming like an afterthought.

Four talented actor-musicians play the members of the Small Faces, with Samuel Pope leading as Young Steve Marriott. With such an iconic voice and persona to represent, Pope does a fantastic job and appears to have an endless supply of energy as he dashes around the stage.

Stefan Edwards, Alexander Gold and Stanton Wright make up the rest of the band, and under the musical supervision of Pat Davey create a convincing likeness to the band’s original sound.

However, the obvious musical talent of the cast made me question the necessity of playing pre-recorded music, for example, in the clothes shop scene. Whilst this featured by far the most effective use of props, space and choreography in the show, I did not understand why the actor-musicianship that drives the rest of the musical was not utilised here.

As the band gains success, we watch as they encounter the pitfalls of the music industry, fickle agents and of course, female attention.

Russell Floyd and Rikki Lawton play two very different but equally dishonest agents. Both actors work well with their comical parts without becoming too pantomime-y.

In terms of the girls, it is PP Arnold, played by Karis Anderson, who first falls for Marriott’s charms. However, he soon moves on to the love of his life, Jenny (Dani Acors). Much like with the other members of the band, the plot leaves little room for the female characters and their relationships with Marriott to develop, leaving a lot of unanswered questions.

Carol Harrison and Daniel Beales play the eccentric parents of the lead singer and embrace their comedy roles. All Or Nothing is clearly a labour of love for Harrison as she takes on the roles of writer, director and mother. Whilst this is an impressive feat, the scriptwriting and direction can be disappointing.

The monologue-scene-song pattern that makes up the framework for the entire show quickly becomes repetitive. Whereas scenes for character development are not included, there is a random rendition of ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’ from an unnamed character, and it is unclear what this adds to the storyline.

The final scene in which the mother tries to comes to terms with her past by imagining a conversation with her son is clunky, melodramatic, and there is an unintentionally comical change of tone.

There are also some strange directorial choices which mean that elements compete for attention. For example, the Small Faces’ television debut includes the band on a platform, a TV host, screaming fans, and the mother in a split-scene – it is far too busy to take in properly.

The spacing also affects Cameron Hall’s stylised choreography. The movements are effective and performed well by the dancers but are squeezed into too small a space. Perhaps it would have been more effective to move the band from the rostra and use the space more efficiently. This would also have created more contrast in the ways in which the musical numbers were set.

With a comic script and talented cast, All Or Nothing is definitely a fun musical that celebrates the British music scene, but it is far from being as slick or well executed as other shows currently running in the West End.

Lani Calvert

Tickets for All Or Nothing at the Ambassadors Theatre, London are available HERE