This is a magical production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical set in a fairytale world in which we see familiar characters but in an unfamiliar light. Red Riding Hood is on the brink of discovering her sexuality – with a little help from a certain Mr Wolf; Jack betray’s the giant’s hospitality and later shows that he is also quite keen on violent revenge; and Ms Hood’s granny, far from being a benign old woman, is a chillingly gleeful vivisectionist.
The show has some of its composer’s best songs, is beautifully acted by the cast, boasts an amazing set which puts the audience in the very heart of its enchanted forest, and is vibrantly costumed – in short it will please the most demanding of Sondheimites and probably make a few converts to the cause.
The first thing we hear is Churchill’s declaration of war on Germany and the action unfolds through the eyes of a small child in England during the late ’30s. The first act doesn’t stray too far from the traditional narrative path: Jack (Conor Baum) is told by his mother (Lucy Pickering) to sell their cow which he does for some magical beans. The wolf eats granny and has eyes on an equally ravenous – though more for baked goods than flesh – Red Riding Hood.
Cinderalla has two morally ugly sisters (Hayley Cann and Kathryn Pickering) and has a prince for a boyfriend who doesn’t know her true identity. There’s the addition of a childless couple who have to get various items that the other characters own in order to end the curse of a witch (Nikki Gerrard). It has a happy ending with everyone getting what they want or deserve. In act two we learn the truth of the adage be careful what you wish for.
Emma Edwards’ direction emphasises that this is a musical about the relationship between parents and children. I was a little nonplussed by the wartime setting but it certainly pays off at the evening’s end with an image that had me fighting very hard to hold back tears. Then Gerrard beautifully sings Children Will Listen – which movingly sums up the responsibilities and dangers of parenthood – and I kind of lost the battle.
Baum is a winningly expressive Jack and certainly delivers on his rousing big number, Giants in the Sky. Pickering seems to be channelling Thora Hird at her no-nonsense-Northerner best as Jack’s mother. Duncan Drury is great fun as a spiv Mr Wolf and Emilia Tzilios has a wonderful comic verve portraying a young girl who’s more than a match for her big-toothed nemesis.
Continues at the Emporium, London Road, Brighton until July 27.
For more information and tickets click here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.