Jenko
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Our Anyone Can Whistle ReviewThis is our stunning 4* review! Really happy with it. It was so much fun to do!
| Quote: | "Anyone Can Whistle lingers longafter"
by Della Edwards on 25/10/08
Anyone Can Whistle opened on Broadway in April of 1964 and closed after only nine performances.
However, the show refuses to die, retaining a cult following to this day. In many ways, it was a sacrificial lamb, challenging preconceptions of what musical theatre should be and paving the way for Sondheim's future experimentation.
In the hands of the GSA Conservatoire - all to be graduates this summer - under the powerful direction of Russell Labey we were treated to a stellar production that made full use of a versatile and talented ensemble at his disposal.
A surrealistic satire, Anyone Can Whistle proclaims the sanity of madness as well as the virtue of nonconformity.
The Mayoress, played with delicious vivacity by Fiona O'Carroll, who also sung superbly, is constantly escorted by four dancing chorus boys who provide plenty of glitter to cover up the lack of sincerity in her patronizing addresses to the townspeople. And in the "Cookie Chase", a stylised ballet sequence, the sane citizens attempt to capture forty-nine mad people. In fact, a large portion of the action is conveyed through dance, with tight and powerful choreography by Katie Beard, infact far more than in any subsequent Sondheim musical.
As Fay Apple, a nurse from the Cookie Jar mental institution, Carly Bawden commanded the stage far beyond someone of her years, adding a dimension to Sondheim's lyrics that sent a tingle down one's spine. Her rendition of 'Anyone Can Whistle' performed in the intimacy of a bedroom scene - handsomely supported by an impressive performance from fellow student Peter Dukes as Hapgood - was simply breathtaking. Would that Sondheim could have been there.
I think from the little association I have had with him from Galas I have worked on, he would have been as impressed.
This first rate production deserves to be seen by a far wider audience than the short run allowed and can be admitted to Bellairs Playhouse auditorium. Those few of us lucky enough to see this rarely staged Sondheim autobiographical master class, performed with such panache and charisma from GSA Conservatoire, will talk about it for a long time to come… |
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