SOMETHING’S AFOOT – World Premiere Studio Cast Recording (JAY RECORDS – CDJAY1458)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I am officially in heaven! Back in 1977 I worked at Wyndham’s Theatre in the box office. We used to have to do one shift every week called a ‘split-shift’ which meant you had between two and five to wander around the West End. I used to request to have that shift every Tuesday – the reason? So I could go and see the Something’s Afoot matinee at the Ambassadors Theatre. I went originally because my friend Martin Smith was in it playing Geoffrey but, after the first viewing, I was hooked – I LOVED it.
The cast was exemplary including Peter Bayliss, Robert Dorning, Sally Smith, Ruth Madoc, Dudley Stevens, Michael Bevis, Peter Rutherford, Sheila Bernette and an absolutely hysterical Joyce Grant. I never once got fed up watching it and was always a bit annoyed that no cast recording existed – until now!
And what a cast it is: Susie Blake, Sally Ann Triplett, Julie Atherton, Laura Pitt-Pulford, Graham Bickley, Daniel Boys, Gordon Griffin, Scott Hunter, Keith Merrill, Stuart Pendred and Jim Dale.
As I listen to it, I am transported back all those years and can see it all take place in front of my eyes. It is sublime.
Now, for those of you who weren’t born all those thousands of years ago, the plot is a spoof on Agatha Christie novels. (Funnily enough, right next door at the St Martin’s, The Mousetrap was running!). A group of people, including Miss Tweed (read Miss Marple), are invited to the estate of Lord Dudley Rancour. However, the wealthy Lord is found dead and so the hunt is on for the murderer – all we know is ‘the butler didn’t do it’! One-by-one, during the musical, the cast gets depleted in the most comical of manners until… Well, that would be telling.
This is a delightful recording with a cast who actually sound as if they are in the spirit of the piece and are enjoying every second of it. That joy comes over to the listener and I’m just hoping that one day there will be a new production, either on stage or filmed, in order that we can once again enjoy the fun of this glorious show. In the meantime, thank you Jay Records for bringing this to life – I, for one, am overjoyed and immensely thankful.
Nick Wakeham
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