Pajama Game bustles with energy

Hadley Fraser and Joanna Riding in The Pajama Game at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester. Picture: Roy Tan

Playing at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester until June 8.

For the first of its two summer musicals Chichester Festival Theatre has unearthed another neglected little gem. Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ 1954 musical The Pajama Game is given a rare outing. There was a London production in 1999, this time it is director Richard Eyre’s turn.

The musical is set in an American pajama factory where an industrial dispute disrupts the course of true love between the head of the Grievance Committee, Babe Williams, and the newly appointed factory superintendent, Sid Sorokin. The workers want a seven and a half cents rise that their chiseling boss, Hesler, refuses to grant, thereby leading to a go-slow on production. Naturally this throws the love birds onto opposite sides of the industrial arena where each is passionately committed. A strike is averted when Sid proves to be the hero of the hour when his uncovering of Hesler’s crooked bookkeeping leads to the rise being given. Cue happy ending!

Right from the frenzied prologue this exuberant production bustles with energy. However, there are times when the fast and furious pace does seem brash and raucous. There is plenty of comedy led by Alexis Owen-Hobbs, as not so dumb secretary Gladys, and Peter Polycarpou, her knife-throwing jealous boyfriend, Vernon Hines. Polycarpou squeezes maximum laughter from ‘I’ll Never be Jealous Again’, aided by the droll Claire Machin.

The show is packed with musical numbers, including the classic ‘Hey There’. As one would expect from Stephen Mear, the choreography is as thrilling as it is inventive. He really lets his dancers have a ball with ‘Once a Year Day’, a joyful mixture of barn dance and ballet. His staging of ‘Steam Heat’ replaces Fosse’s angular jerkiness with fluid movements providing a Burlesque style. This number allows Owen-Hobbs, having proved her comedic skills, to show off her equally fine dancing talent.

Joanna Riding and Hadley Fraser take on the roles of the two protagonists and boy do the sparks fly when they get going. Their hard-shelled spates are a glorious delight that become even better as they melt and show their true feelings. They are both in fine voice with Riding’s reprise of ‘Hey There’ being achingly poignant.

Adler and Ross also wrote Damn Yankees of course, and one hopes that in the near future Chichester will have a crack at reviving it that as well.

Barrie Jerram