The World Goes ‘Round – Lyric Theatre, Belfast

The World Goes ‘Round: The Songs of Kander & Ebb was performed at the Naughton Studio, Lyric Theatre, Belfast.

If the challenge for any new company is to make sure its first public outing announces the new venture in style, then the debut appearance by Northern Ireland’s youngest company, Blunt Fringe Productions, can be judged a success.

And a hugely enjoyable one at that, its intelligently staged, impeccably sung, wonderfully entertaining take on The World Goes ‘Round – a rewarding compendium of songs drawn from the varied musical theatre catalogue of Kander & Ebb – is despatched with enormous style, despite the clearly slender resources available to it.

That sparsity is evidenced only in the conspicuously makeshift set (such as it is), the company’s real capital invested in a crack team of performers and a band that plays with an idiomatic panache as if to the manner born. Which shouldn’t surprise, given that the five-strong cast and quartet of musicians have an impressive collective CV that embraces, not least, the West End, film, high-profile national tours and the Royal Opera House.

First seen in Manhattan’s Off-Broadway Westside Theatre in 1991, The World Goes ‘Round succeeds because it delves so deftly and deeply into the world of Kander & Ebb. A catalogue that ranges from Funny Lady to Cabaret, Chicago to New York, New York and Liza With a Z to Kiss of the Spider Woman demands a level of gritty nuance, sophistication and sheer showmanship that all concerned here rise to with considerable aplomb.

In the intimate Naughton Studio of Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, Rachel Logan’s sure-footed, unobtrusive direction combines concert and cabaret to persuasive effect, Anna McAllister’s nimble choreography, complete with glancing allusions to Bob Fosse’s signature tics, making its own substantial contribution to a show that frames individual songs with becoming wit. Music director Nicholas Boyle marshals his four-strong band (augmented by instrumental contributions from the singers) so adroitly that they sound like much larger forces.

But it’s the singers – or ‘actor-musos’ as an unnecessary programme note describes them – who make this show, adapting to the variegated musical and emotional demands with chameleon-like dexterity. Jenni Bowden proves especially strong in finding the poignant undercurrents of the revue’s title song, the plaintive fragility of ‘Only Love’ from Zorba and Cabaret’s heart-aching ‘Maybe This Time’. Equally adept is Lydia Jenkins’ movingly nostalgic ‘Coloured Lights’ (The Rink) and delightfully fizzy ‘How Lucky Can You Get?’ (Funny Lady), her duet with Bowden of Woman of the Year’s ‘The Grass is Always Greener’ revealing a sparky, sassy feel for comedy by both.

Laura Tebbutt’s ‘All That Jazz’ is smoulderingly sexy, ‘A Quiet Thing’ from the now largely forgotten Flora, The Red Menace hauntingly beautiful, and her pairing with Barry McGonagle for The Act’s ‘Arthur in the Afternoon’ is deliciously arch and perfectly laced with comic frustration.

McGonagle’s own solo spots – The Happy Time’s ‘I Don’t Remember You’, the title song from Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Rink’s ‘We Can Make It’ (delivered with puppy-dog vulnerability) – are vividly rendered. As, indeed, are Matthew Crowe’s pithily pitched ‘Sara Lee’, quietly desperate ‘Marry Me’ from The Rink, and Chicago’s superbly comic ‘Mr Cellophane’.

Just as joyful as the solo contributions is the seamlessly reciprocal sense of ensemble in a production that marks a bright start for the surely inappropriately named Blunt Fringe Productions.

 Michael Quinn

Readers may also be interested in:

The World Goes ‘Round – Union Theatre – Review

The World Goes ‘Round – Union Theatre – interview with Simon Green & Lisa Stokke