Tasting Notes – Southwark Playhouse

Nancy Zamit and Sam Kipling in Tasting Notes at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Picture: Chris Marchant

Tasting Notes continues at Southwark Playhouse, London until 27 August 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

It’s a new musical about wine! At the ever interesting and affordable Southwark Playhouse! Can’t believe you need to read a review before booking. Hang your head in shame.

Okay, fair enough, there is a lot more going on here than just ‘wine’ – as you would hope for a full-length musical. Richard Baker (music and lyrics) and Charlie Ryall (book and lyrics) have used their real-life experiences working in hospitality to create a play exploring a dramatic 24 hours in the lives of six characters who work at or frequent a fictional wine bar named LJ’s. It is their first musical and there is a lot to enjoy.

The clever USP is that at the end of these in-show 24 hours, time is rewound, and the story is told again from the perspective of another character. It is a trick that helps us to better understand the characters’ personalities and motivations and reveals more details about seemingly innocuous events. You have no doubt seen similar done before in 90s sitcoms or that brilliant wedding scene in Hamilton, but dedicating an entire show to this format is a strong foundation for a new musical.

Before you panic at the prospect of having to watch the same story repeated six times, be assured that Ryall’s book is winningly witty enough and the cast endearing enough to sustain interest. Though scenes are repeated, Ryall is careful to ensure dialogue differs just enough in humorous ways to keep the audience’s attention. With a full house on press night, there are moments of uproarious laughter to rival any London comedy show.

The songs are good, though they do tend to suspend the action rather than advance it. The lyrics are serviceable, but the main reason the show’s 15 musical numbers are never unwelcome is Baker’s expert care in crafting the score. The musical theatre touchstone for ‘everyday story told with a twist’ is surely Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, and Baker’s music rises to the considerable challenge of not paling in comparison to that masterpiece. He demonstrates harmonic and rhythmic flair, and though nothing is overtly catchy in a pop way, this classy score suits the tone of the piece well. Baker also serves as musical director, playing keyboards in a three-piece band with a cellist and percussionist.

Most of Ryall’s work in crafting interesting characters is solid, but there are a few disappointingly broad strokes. Sam Kipling is astoundingly good as gay bartender George and he truly commands the stage during his scenes, but some of his characterisation and the experiences feel on the border of cliché. Similarly, despite some committed work by Stephen Hoo, it is hard to truly get under the skin of the alcoholic barfly Joe. Combine this with the necessary-for-plot enigma of the apparently affable Oliver (Niall Ransome), and the scales feel very firmly tipped towards the women of the story.

Busy but kind bar owner LJ is the first to let the audience see the story from her perspective, and thanks to Nancy Zamit’s confident portrayal she might be the most likeable character of the evening. Bookwriter Ryall appears as Maggie. This aspiring actress has a crush on Oliver and a life full of disappointment but wins over the audience through her perseverance and relatable awkwardness. The most rewarding perspective switch comes when Wendy Morgan takes us into the world of Hungarian chef Eszter. This sensitive portrayal of living a stressful life with a language barrier between yourself and your friends is the greatest achievement of Ryall’s book. In its best moments, this play proves the author to be a writer of considerable talent and I cannot wait to see what Ryall does next.

Next to those male characters you might worry the women could come across as unrealistically angelic, but the effect is actually the reverse: the women feel most human while the complications of the men at times feel like dramatic contrivances. The final major twist during Oliver’s telling of the tale is clearly designed to shock, but is mostly unexpected simply because it feels a bit out-of-place in this show. The thesis that until we walk a mile in another’s shoes we only see the ‘tasting notes’ of their personality is well-argued in the small moments: the bigger swings seem like they might only be there out of an overly-cautious instinct to justify the two-hour run time.

More importantly though, the performances are superb and it is a treat to hear these six lovely voices unamplified in the cosiness of Southwark Playhouse’s ‘The Small’ space. Tasting Notes is a sophisticated and charming show with a few flaws that – depending on how many glasses you enjoy over the evening – might not matter a jot.

Director Shelley Williams has steered this rich raw material into an intimate, engaging and likeable show that is by far a more interesting night out than many ‘big’ shows currently in the West End. Now Baker and Ryall’s talent for writing musicals has been uncorked I am sure there will be plenty to enjoy in the future, but for now this accomplished first effort absolutely is worth catching.

Ian Bowkett