Liberty Rides Forth! continues at Waterloo East Theatre, London until 21 October 2018.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
The premise of this show, featuring ‘a mischievous drag queen’, might suggest it’s going to be full of one-liners and a collection of songs pegged to a slim plot. Go see it and get your expectations confounded!
The plot is complicated, introduced by a chorus of three trainees trying to qualify for their ‘muse’ status with one final task. Beautifully played and sung, Georgie Faith, Chloe Rice and Emma Scott are a delight. Their light soprano voices are a joy to hear, whether singing in harmony or as part of one of the interwoven ensembles. The vocal arrangements by Michael Roulston are excellent.
Their task is to inspire budding writer Trevor to write a work of art, whereas all he wants to do is write a bestseller and get rich to win over women, primarily the object of his lust, the unseen Susie. William Hazell as Trevor is clownish and hopelessly inept at the wooing game, singing the complex musical numbers with ease. He is charming with a geeky sexiness, perfect for the character, a bit of Clark Kent about him.
Enter Liberty, conjured in error. A ripe, funny, truthful performance by Dereck Walker. He struts, sings, poses, sounding at times like a cross between Carol Channing and Kenneth Williams. Walker proves he is a consummate actor and gives a great comic performance.
It’s skilfully directed by Susan Raasay who keeps the increasingly manic pace together. The plot gets more surreal by the minute with Liberty being pursued by villains and resisting attempts to write her out, but it’s all wildly entertaining.
The musical numbers are complex, and as the best musicals do, move the plot along, with only occasional nods to a Jerry Herman style big finish. We get solos, duets and quintets. More often it has echoes of William Finn, the tight rhythms exploding into something more expansive. It would bear repeat listening to enjoy its intricate structure. David Kent, with book, music and lyrics to his credit, is a remarkable talent and one looks forward to his future work.
Jasmine Davies’ designs are well suited to the piece, colourful, glamorous and with no hint of a low budget production about them. Stuart Rogers’ choreography is perfect, character-led, never clichéd. Michael Roulston provides the keyboard support as well as contributing to the music.
It’s a daft funny evening, but kept me wondering where it was going even as it got more surreal. Do go and give it a whirl.
Leon Ferguson
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