Irish Times writers review The King and I at the NCH, Lee, Tritchsler and Colline at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Hansel and Gretel at the Civic Theatre Tallaght and Oliver at the Tivoli Theatre.
The King and I
National Concert Hall,
Dublin
By Gerry Colgan
Of the many great musicals created by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, this is one of the best. It has, in the way of its creators, a dramatic storyline based on a best-selling book, enduring songs and persuasive characters. Only a tone-deaf misanthrope could fail to enjoy it.
The story brings Anna and her son to Siam, where she has been employed to teach the royal children, scads of them. She is very nervous on arrival, but there is, of course, a song to fix that - I Whistle a Happy Tune. Soon afterwards, explaining her widowed condition to the king's wives, she sings Hello Young Lovers. Something special has begun.
So the teaching begins with the instrumental March of the Siamese Children, sounding as if by Schubert, and soon Getting to Know You fills the air. Doubts about the king are subsumed into Something Wonderful. In the background, a tragic love affair generates We Kiss in a Shadow and I Have Dreamed, and the king goes all sprightly in Shall We Dance, which could have been, but wasn't, stolen from Strauss. A sad ending ties it all up neatly.
There is also a delightful play within the play, when the children entertain English diplomats with Small House of Uncle Thomas by, of course, Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The whole show is really a cornucopia of blissful items.
Ceara Grehan (Anna) and Tony Finnegan (King) steal the honours with singing, wit and drama. Maria Fitzgerald and Kenneth O'Regan are fine as the doomed lovers, and a small army of children, royal wives and dancers provide perfect back-up.
Vivian Coates directs all of them without ever making the stage seem crowded, in his own set design, and Aidan Faughey directs the orchestra with a restraint that blends with the singers in melodious unison.
This exceptional fusion of drama and music comes with an assurance of royal entertainment.
Runs until January 7th
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Lee, Tritschler, Colline
Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin
By Douglas Sealy
The 23 songs selected from Wolf's Goethe Songbook for the second last recital inspired the composer to lavish an extraordinary richness of varied sound on what must be considered some of that poet's minor verse. Although Goethe thought that the words were always more important than the music in a song-setting, there can be no doubt that Wolf not only added another dimension but also increased the stature of the poems. The first two poems play light-heartedly with the sententious proverb that says "Opportunity makes thieves" but Wolf transforms them into passionate declarations of love, most expressively delivered by Lynda Lee (soprano) and Robin Tritschler (tenor).
A succession of eight songs was sung by Lynda to thrilling effect: the pastoral nature of the texts had been transformed by the music with which the singer had completely identified.
Finghin Collins (piano) displayed an equal exuberance, another facet of which enlivened the three drinking songs with which Robin brought the recital to a stirring conclusion. The quieter songs, such as Wenn ich dein gedenke, were thoughtful and restrained and the piano postludes throughout the recital were so captivating that one could have wished for more.
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Hansel & Gretel
Civic Theatre, Tallaght
By Gerry Colgan
There was a dark side to the German brothers Grimm, who wrote their folk and fairy tales in the early 19th century. Many of the stories can be a tad scary for children, which explains why they are rather less popular than their English equivalents, but they still feature happy endings, good triumphing over evil and other desiderata.
Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy wrote this stage version of Hansel & Gretel, shaping it with the blend of dialogue and narration that characterises the work of her Storytellers Theatre Company. It is set in the week before Christmas, and is bracketed by vignettes of an ordinary family with two children who are driving their parents mad. Sent early to bed, they read, and drift into a dreamland created by the Grimms.
Famine stalks the land and, abandoned by their parents, the boy and girl wander through a great forest, eventually stumbling on a gingerbread house covered with delicious edibles. They eat them and are caught in the act by the owner, a very wicked witch who eats children. This is the scariest bit, evoking a strong audience reaction to, for instance, a gluttonous reference to boiled babies. But in due course, this reaction changes to some glee when the witch is shoved into the oven.
Their dream-adventures over, the children are reassured by their loving parents, and all is family sweetness and light. For just more than an hour, the actors (Keith Burke, Dorothy Cotter, Simon O'Gorman and Joan Sheehy) bring the play energetically and convincingly to life. The author directs, and Chisato Yoshimi designed the edible house as part of Bairbre Murray's set design. It all makes for an enjoyable and seasonable entertainment.
Runs until January 16th.
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Oliver
Tivoli Theatre
By Gerry Colgan
Lionel Bart's musical, based on the Dickens novel Oliver Twist, has survived happily for more than 40 years now, for reasons well illustrated in this production. It is packed with memorable songs delivered by colourful characters, and has a robust storyline that tugs at the heartstrings. It even has, in defiance of its original author, a novel twist (oops) as the master-thief Fagin and his acolyte the Artful Dodger exit arm-in-arm to a new and reformed life.
It opens in the orphanage at the point where young Oliver has the audacity to ask for more gruel, setting in train a series of events. He is expelled, and brought by warden Bumble to be sold to an undertaker. His rebellious spirit soon sees him fleeing his new station, only to be picked up on the streets by the Dodger, who takes him to Fagin's den where he is inducted into a gang of youthful pickpockets. The rest is Dickensian history with variations. From the orphans' opening number, Food, the songs tumble out non-stop.
Young Barry O'Connell is a most appealing Oliver, acting well and singing sweetly as in I'd Do Anything and Who Will Buy this Wonderful Morning. Paul Hennessy's portly Mr Bumble has a clear, resonant voice, and Helen Jordan's Nancy gives the big number As Long as He Needs Me the full treatment. The large chorus
of boys test the acoustics with winning precision.
The acting is excellent, with Dave Young's comical Fagin and Paul Raynor's minatory Bill Sykes taking strong leads, and with stalwarts such as Frank Melia, Eamonn Rohan, Adam Bouktila and Liz Lloyd fleshing out minor roles. Pat Murray's set design is imaginative, and Ann Egan's costumes add colour.
The musical backing, apparently consisting only of an invisible, versatile keyboard, is something of a downer. But this is in the main an enjoyable production of a memorable musical.
Runs until January 15th.
