Of Thee I Sing – Royal Festival Hall

Of Thee I Sing was performed at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

Star rating: 4 stars ★ ★ ★ ★

For their second presentation at the South Bank Centre, Senbla with Elliot Davis presented Of Thee I Sing, the first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama when it was produced on Broadway in 1931. It was written by the Gershwins between Girl Crazy (1930) and Porgy and Bess (1935) and it became their longest-running Broadway show with 441 performances.

This concert performance with the book by George S Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind linking the numbers, captured the spirit of the piece with the addition of some splendid choreography, a well-drilled chorus and orchestra and a stellar cast giving their all to a slight, rather repetitious story of political shenanigans in Washington in the early 1930s. The book’s satirical angle had an edge and a freshness then that now in truth resides in the operetta style score with its unexpected echoes of Gilbert and Sullivan. Not that the Gershwin rhythmic trademark is absent with such numbers as ‘Who Cares?’, ‘Love is Sweeping the Country’ and the title song.

Hadley Fraser was a believable and personable President, running for office on a ticket of LOVE, his wife (Louise Dearman), a portrait of sweet domesticity. Tom Edden’s comic turn as the meek and mild Alexander Throttlebottom, Vice President, was a gem. He delivered his number, ‘The (Senatorial) Roll Call’, with bemused detachment. In contrast, there was Hannah Waddingham, more Mansfield than Monroe, as the sultry blonde from the Deep South, with whom Throttlebottom is paired off in unlikely fashion following her rejection by the President. The terrific duo of Gavin Alex and Daisy Maywood delivered the campaign song, ‘Love is Sweeping the Country’, with panache and terpsichorean brilliance. Peter Polycarpou was the epitome of French hauteur as his country’s ambassador, faltering only on his initial song entry.

The supporting cast were a fine bunch of singers, sometimes doubling parts, with a chorus from the Musical Theatre Academy of whom the men were particulary effective in their routine as the French ambassador’s flunkies.

The whole company was drilled with exceptional skill by director Shaun Kerrison on the Royal Festival Hall’s letterbox stage. It was a joy to hear the original orchestrations played by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra conducted by Michael England. Such a shame though that the first half of the evening was so over amplified. What is the point of having a conductor, orchestra and singers of this calibre when the sound levels are set elsewhere? Act II emerged as all the more enjoyable once sound levels were adjusted and the plot gathered pace.

Adrian Edwards