Wonderful Town is based on the novel My Sister Eileen, which
itself is based on a collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney. It was then
made into a play, then a film, then the musical! The musical originally ran
on Broadway in 1953 and closed the following year. A production then opened
in London in 1955 and starred the likes of Shani Wallace and Sid James and a revival opened in 1986 at the Queens Theatre. A
Broadway production opened in 2003 staring Donna Murphy (Later Brooke Shields)
which earned her a Tony Award nomination.
Recently we saw the return of the
show when it toured the UK, this production starred 'How do you solve a problem
like Maria?' winner Connie Fisher.
Wonderful Town follows the story of two
sisters, Eileen and Ruth both of which want to make it in New York. Ruth who is
an aspiring journalist and Eileen who wants to be an Actress move into the city
and end up having a very hard time, they can't seem to catch a break. Eileen
uses her charm to try and help Ruth in her bid to become a professional
journalist but that goes wrong as someone who claims to have been able to help
was just using the situation to get to Eileen, the Marilyn Monroe type
character.
Like a classic Broadway musical, everyone catches a break in the
end and everyone also finds love! The production has been directed by Braham
Murray who seems to get the production and has obviously got a lot of love for
it as this can be seen in the care he has handled this musical with.
Andrew Wright choreographs this production and his work
is incredible, one of the best chorographers of our time. His work is just
indescribable, by far the best thing about this show. Simon Higlett designs
this production really well, something that is quite hard to achieve is a
professional look to a touring show and he does this well and he brings a
classic Broadway style to the set which is just perfect for it.
The cast is
lead by Connie Fisher who was brought to the attention of the public from the
nationwide search for the Maria in The Sound of Music which played at the
Palladium Theatre. She plays Ruth Sherwood in the production and she plays it
well. It's a hard role as all of her numbers have a full dance routine that
goes with it; although she did a good job I couldn't help but think she played
it far too cheesy and way too animated. Maybe that's what they were going for
but for me it didn't work.
Lucy Van Gasse makes the perfect Eileen; she
plays the role beautifully with astonishing vocals. Definitely someone who I
would suspect to play Glinda in Wicked in the future! To me, she was one of
the best things about the production. Joseph Alessi as Chick Clerk, Well, I
thought it was just a member of the ensemble. Didn't realise it was an actual
part! Think that says enough. Tiffany Graves was fantastic as Helen, a role which doesn't seem
needed in the show but she does it justice. She's an amazing talent and was so
underused in this show, can't wait to see what she does next.
Nic
Greenshields has an amazing voice, played the role brilliantly! His song 'Pass
the Football' seemed to go on forever but it was sung marvellously. Michael
Xavier is another one who has a fantastic voice, the talent in this show was
astonishing. However Michael was forgettable in the show, a delight to watch
but not a memorable portrayal. The ensemble in the show were amazing, they
adopted the Broadway style perfectly! With Frankie Jenna and Peter McPherson
standing out for me.
The show was fun, a proper Broadway musical. Absolute
classic! However it did drag on. The Overture was about 25 minutes, if you had a
bag of sweets you'd be done with them by time the curtain came up. Apart
from everything being way longer than it needed to be it was a good show. Not
expecting any transfer any time soon, but it was fantastic. The Choreography
being the highlight.
Rating: ***
Wonderful Town finished its tour on the 7thJuly 2012
in Cardiff, Wales
