Following the successful run of the Finborough Theatre’s production of Ivor Novello’s musical Valley of Song, the first-ever CD of the score has been recorded
Following a successful run of Ivor Novello’s last musical show Valley of Song, the cast of the Finborough Theatre production have recorded the songs for the first-ever CD of the score. Michael Darvell reports…
Many London fringe theatres have a policy of producing new work, none more so than the tiny Finborough Theatre above what was once a local neighbourhood boozer, but which is now a smart pub serving fine wines, real ales, keg beers, scrumpy ciders and food in that no man’s land between Earl’s Court and West Brompton.
Coupled with its new plays policy, the Finborough under Neil McPherson, its artistic director since 1999, has also established a reputation for staging revivals of long-forgotten or rarely performed plays and musicals.
On the musical side the Finborough has, in its Celebrating British Musical Theatre season, resurrected from almost total obscurity such shows as Lionel Monckton’s Our Miss Gibbs, Leslie Stuart’s Florodora, Harold Fraser-Simson’s The Maid of the Mountains, Edward German’s Merrie England, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Grand Duke, Oscar Asche’s Chu Chin Chow, Dame Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate, Sandy Wilson’s The Buccaneer and Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley’s The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd. Only the Finborough would dare revive these forgotten classics because it knows it has an audience for them.
Among their recent revivals were Ivor Novello’s Perchance to Dream and Gay’s the Word, and if any theatre is going to put Novello back in the public eye, it will be the Finborough. Its latest piece of musical archaeology was the world professional premiere in January 2014 of Novello’s last (and unfinished) show Valley of Song which the composer’s longtime collaborator, Christopher Hassall, completed after Novello’s death. The Finborough staging was both a sell-out and a critical success. Now that the original cast (most of them) have committed the songs to a CD, the world outside the theatre can enjoy the music of a show that has only hitherto been performed by amateur companies.
Ivor Novello (1893-1951) was one of the most successful entertainers of his day. His popularity came first through his songwriting and he is best remembered for ‘Keep the Home-Fires Burning’, his First World War popular hit, and later for ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’, ‘Rose of England’, ‘My Dearest Dear’, ‘I Can Give You the Starlight’, ‘Someday My Heart Will Awake’ and ‘Waltz of My Heart’, which were either patriotic or romantic. But he was also adept at producing a charming comic song such as ‘And Her Mother Came Too’. Novello’s good looks (he was famous for his classic profile) made him a matinee idol from the days of silent pictures (he was in two Hitchcock films, The Lodger and Downhill in 1927) right up to the mid-1930s. But it is probably his own plays and musicals in which he also often appeared that will be Novello’s lasting legacy. However, his name still remains in the public consciousness through the annual prize given to the best popular songs of the year in the Ivor Novello Awards.
Notable among his stage shows are Glamorous Night, Careless Rapture, Crest of the Wave and The Dancing Years from the 1930s. After the Second World War came Perchance to Dream, King’s Rhapsody and Gay’s the Word, the last without a role for Novello, but instead a star part for Cicely Courtneidge in a show that sends up Novello’s own popular Ruritanian romances. And then there was Valley of Song but, before he had finished it, Novello died suddenly of coronary thrombosis in 1951.
It has taken 63 years for Valley of Song to reach the professional stage in Britain but, as Craig Glenday said in his review of the Finborough production for this website: “Very much a product of its era, Valley of Song is a light, sentimental and old-fashioned work that would have emerged at a time when British musical theatre of this kind was starting to become a thing of the past, facing challenges from the new wave of American musicals.” It is Novello’s homage to his homeland of Wales in which he bids farewell to the music of his youth.
The cast of the Finborough show are members of The WestEnders, an international vocal group who, between them, have appeared in some 25 of the West End’s biggest hits. They have featured in more than 400 UK theatres as well as touring Europe and appearing on several cruise ships. The new (and the first-ever original cast) recording of Valley of Song is certainly a feather in their collective caps.
Jae Alexander, musical director of The WestEnders, has produced an excellent album, letting the songs speak – or sing – for themselves, and he has gathered a very fine 12-piece orchestra (which the Finborough production obviously didn’t have) to accompany them. The sound quality is just brilliant, through the skilled, sympathetic and well-balanced mixing of Jon Hiseman at Temple Music. Every syllable is crystal clear and can be heard over the playing of the orchestra under their conductor Adam Morris.
Some may consider the plot of Valley of Song a tad perfunctory, a peg on which to hang a romantic boy-meets-girl, boys-loses-girl situation in which the pair are separated but eventually get back together. The setting is the Welsh Valleys on the eve of the First World War. A valley landowner and shopkeeper, Nan Brewster, sponsors the local choir whose choirmaster, David, is in love with Lily, his leading soprano. When Nan decides to sell up and move to Venice, Lily leaves with her, hoping to further her singing career in Italy. Unfortunately Lily falls for Ricardo, an unscrupulous Count who promises to make her a star – but of course, as every girl knows, he is only after one thing. Meanwhile, David has gone to war and when Lily returns home to the valleys she wonders if she will ever see David again or has she lost him to the war? It’s not difficult to figure out the conclusion.
Novello’s score is a tuneful reminder of what musicals were like in the 1920s to the 1950s. A romantic story deserves a romantic score and Novello, like his celebrated contemporary, Noel Coward, knew exactly what he was doing even if, by 1951 his style had become rather dated. That said, however, Benji Sperring, director and producer of the original production has assembled a company of terrific voices who do complete justice to the songs. After a rousing overture, the choir sings ‘Cambria’, a tribute to Wales, the land of song. Then comes a point number, a jolly ditty detailing the delights of Brewster’s Grand Emporium where ‘Nothing is Over Sixpence’, sung by owner Nan Brewster, her housekeeper Olwen and her general factotum Gwilim. Emphasising how happy they are, David and Lily sing ‘I Know a Valley (where my dreams will come true)’ setting up the plot and their relationship. Then there’s more nostalgia ahead in ‘What Is It Now?’ and ‘Those Were the Days’ sung by Gwilim and Olwen.
Christopher Hassall’s lyrics are a cut above the usual British musical output, mixing wise words in the love songs and with not a little humour as well, as in ‘Sing!’ which compares what other countries do while the Welsh are at choir practice, the conclusion being that “all they do in Pontypool is sing, sing, sing!” What is also unusual is that the songs do push the plot forward by letting the characters express their feelings. Another fine comic number is ‘Where Do We Go From There?’ sung by Nan, Olwen and Gwilim’s Italian girlfriend Maria as they point out the shortcomings of their menfolk.
It was fortuitous that so many good voices came together in one show, and now here too on record. They are led by the superb ringing tones of Katy Treharne as Lily. Her numbers ‘I Know a Valley’, ‘Sail Away’, ‘Look in My Heart’ and ‘Rainbow in the Fountain’ are simply stunning. In this modern age of sharp-edged voices it is a pleasure to hear such pure and simple musicality as Katy trills her way through Novello’s immensely appealing melodies.
Other notable performances come from the assured playing and singing of Lee van Geleen as Gwilim, Linford Hydes as David, Sandy Walsh as Nan, Jill Nalder as Olwen and Amira Matthews as Maria. Gareth Snook makes a fine but dastardly Count Ricardo. Even in his delightful solo number ‘Lanternlight’ you can almost sense that, if he had a moustache, he would definitely be twirling it. The ensemble chorus is also very fine indeed, perhaps because many of them are Welsh!
There are 20 numbers in the show including a bonus track of Novello’s ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’ (from Perchance to Dream), while for the First World War song ‘Soldier Lad’ a verse of ‘Keep the Home-Fires Burning’ has been interpolated within the main song. All in all this new CD is a notable addition to the Novello canon and it makes one long for a fully-staged West End production of Valley of Song. Surely the blessed Novello’s last show doesn’t begin and end at the Finborough?
* The CD of Valley of Song (on the Tribal label, VOS1) is available from www.thewestenders.com/www.valleyofsong.co.uk
Readers may also be interested in:
Valley of Song – Finborough Theatre – Review
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