Goin’ Hollywood – King’s Head Theatre

Goin’ Hollywood was reviewed at the King’s Head Theatre, London.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Very evidently a work in progress, if this production, as stated in the pre-show preamble, does have ambitions to move to a bigger theatre then if it is going to make progress, a lot of work is needed.

While the charm of the project, its sense of evocative nostalgia and enthusiastic cast eventually win through, it’s a long time coming and certainly Act I does try your patience. Its spirited, but mainly predictable score borders on being repetitive, the storyline meandering and there’s just a general lack of those standout moments that an audience craves for.

This new musical by Stephen Cole and David Krane, with director and choreographer being JoAnn M Hunter, as it stands, this is essentially a musical rehearsal rather than a full-blown production.

Undeniably, the concept behind the show is innovative and, at first, highly promising. Two ambitious creatives, Alice Chandler and Garson Stein, played by Miriam-Teak Lee and Zach Sorrow, are whisked back in time to the glorious era of Hollywood’s hey days circa 1948, but beneath all the glitz and glamour, all is not well on the film lot. Sexism, racism and the dark shadow of McCarthy’s odious communist witch-hunt all combine to sour the spirit and all these erosive factors get an airing here.

Amid the extensive song list, it’s not until Act II that, thankfully, we hear a few lovely vocal vignettes. ‘The Only Woman in the Room’ is sung with impeccable passion by the effortlessly enigmatic Lee, while ‘Nancy’s Song’ is performed by feisty trade unionist Nancy Karinski (May Tether), one of the other striking ‘characters’ in the production.

Another is Mark Oxtoby, immaculate as a grouchy, no-nonsense, hard as nails and suspiciously lecherous head of studio, the famed Louis Burt Mayer, co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Known as a studio that had ‘more stars than in heaven’, its roster once boasted Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford and its legendary celluloid output included the iconic Wizard of Oz.

Here, along with AJ Engerman (Oliver Savile), Chandler and Stein are tasked by Mayer with writing and producing a new film, The Sewing Girl, a project which eventually gives everyone connected with it, the needle. Along the way, of course, hard lessons are learnt, friendships made, a tragedy overcome and it’s not too long before the grim reality of trying to make it in Tinseltown hits home, which is exactly where they head back once their time-travel ‘visa’ runs out.

As ambitious as this project is, the score needs a radical reworking and editing, if nothing else to provide more variation and simply give the audience some catchy musical morsels to savour. An extensive creative revamp may be required if the production is to switch to a larger venue.

Derek Smith