James Brining – Live Art Alive

My Fair Lady

Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Music by Frederick Loewe

Directed by James Brining

LEEDS PLAYHOUSE and OPERA NORTH

This is a genuinely delightful production that is as delectable as a floral posy from Eliza’s basket. Director James Brining is clearly Team Eliza casting Katie Bird as a strong vibrant Eliza who has learned how to take care of herself and is not giving up her independence for anyone. As a gritty working class girl she may dream of ‘a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air’ but she never loses sight of the reality of her circumstances. This linguistics experiment and potential transformation might be an intellectual challenge for Professor Higgins but for Eliza it is a chance to strive for a more secure career not a passive assumption of acquiring a wealthy lover or husband. This Edwardian musical romp stays pretty close to the original which works well in a cost of living crisis where many head to their local library to keep warm just as Eliza warms herself at the street brazier and her father and his pals huddle in the cosy warmth of a gaslit pub.

This co-production with Opera North allows for the large scale scenes and gives power and vibrancy to the classic score. The orchestra led by Oliver Rundell fills the large Quarry Theatre and sounds pitch perfect for a production on this scale. The big musical numbers feel sumptuous and the chorus do a wonderful job of bringing these scenes to life aided by Lucy Hind‘s joyful choreography. There are some lovely touches such as the barbershop elements to numbers such as Wouldn’t It Be Loverly and the memorable crowd scenes at Ascot which are wittily portrayed using quirky photo boards to transform the chorus into the gentry. The Embassy Ball scene has real energy and perfectly portrays Eliza’s successful move into polite society. The clever staging by Madeleine Boyd allows for a very varied range of scenes and the two levels act as an effective allusion to the class division of Edwardian London.

Katie Bird as Eliza in My Fair Lady at Leeds Playhouse. Image credit: Pamela Raith

The chemistry between Katie Bird as Eliza and John Hopkins as Professor Higgins works well. Bird is earthy and feisty whereas Hopkins brings a loose-limbed laconic aspect to his Higgins that is both infuriating and endearing. The will they/won’t they get together element which was introduced in the original musical by Lerner & Loewe was never intended in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Director James Brining brings a truth to the closing scenes in that both characters are irrevocably changed by the other but that may not be enough to bring them together. Eliza has newfound confidence in herself that is no longer just bravado whereas Higgins may have discovered that we are all capable of profound and deep feelings regardless of how we sound when we seek to articulate our innermost emotions.

John Hopkins and Dean Robinson as Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady. Image credit: Pamela Raith

The other main characters are well cast with Richard Mosley-Evans bringing warmth and a certain likability to his portrayal as England’s most “original moralist” and Eliza’s pragmatic father. Dean Robinson as the kindly Colonel Pickering is a good foil for the more belligerent and foolish antics of the Professor, as is the calming influences of an excellent Helen Évora and Molly Barker as the housekeeper and Mrs Higgins. Ahmed Hamad is boyishly sweet and naive as Freddy who is hopelessly enamoured of Eliza.

There can be real risks in blending operatic styles with musicals but here they are in perfect accord. Katie Bird soars when required but retains the capacity to delightfully butcher her vowels as she attempts to follow Higgins rather extreme teaching methods. What John Hopkins delivers vocally builds as the extremes of his character are revealed but most vitally he brings a delightful quirkiness that is quite captivating. My Fair Lady is a musical classic filled with songs that most of us remember from childhood and this production at Leeds Playhouse is a satisfyingly pleasurable experience for anyone already familiar with or experiencing this classic for the very first time. For the cast, the creatives and the crew…You did It. You Did It…Ev’ry bit of credit for it all (And the credit for it all)
Belongs to you! (belongs to you!)

LEEDS PLAYHOUSE 31st May – 29th June 2024

OLIVER!

Large Theatres, Musical

Books, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart

Adapted from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist

Directed by James Brining

Leeds Playhouse

Christmas is certainly the time for nostalgia and sitting back rewatching old movies and indulging in familiar traditions such as Pantomime or a juicy epic from Charles Dickens. Leeds Playhouse have opted for the later and have thrown all the festive bells and whistles at this gloriously indulgent production. The classic Lionel Bart musical adaptation Oliver! has been a crowd pleaser for over 70 years. Director James Brining has taken his personal childhood memory of starring as a hungry urchin boy in a school production and lovingly celebrates this theatrical gem with a diverse and highly talented cast.

Set and costume Designer Colin Richmond has made brilliant use of the main stage in The Quarry by staging in the round with a range of elaborate platforms and bridges which allows for maximum drama and loads of very naturalistic movement on stage. The costumes are lovingly detailed and evoke every echelon of society that Dickens describes. London street markets come alive with the hustle and bustle of traders, shoppers and pickpockets. The grim workhouse filled with pallid hungry children desperate for gruel but dreaming of Food, Glorious Food is powerfully contrasted by the laden tables of food carried to gluttonous Victorian besuited men who frequent the same hallowed private clubs still entered by Tory politicians today who seem equally unconcerned by today’s food banks. Scenes in the funeral parlour where Oliver is sold as a tiny coffin follower are gleefully macabre as gloomy coffins open in the floor or a white faced child emerges from another to a sea of black clad mourners with quirky steam punk dark glasses. The overhead bridges and walkways work very well in allowing a large cast to move around on stage with freedom and give great scope to the clever choreography of Lucy Hind.

Felix Holt and cast in Oliver! at Leeds Playhouse. Image credit: Alastair Muir

Oliver! at Leeds Playhouse.
Image credit: Alastair Muir

Fagin’s base is filled with colourful pocket squares and eccentric bric a brac that allude more to the Victorian eccentricity of a born entrepreneur than the darker antisemitism of the original Fagin in Dickens. Steve Furst as Fagin is wily and has a certain Bohemian seedy charm but is also reminiscent of Wilfred Brambell in Steptoe and Son. The real brute is of course Bill Sykes played with real thuggish menace by Chris Bennett who is genuinely scary on stage. The feisty performance of vocal powerhouse Jenny Fitzpatrick makes for a striking and moving contrast as her Nancy feels robust enough to have no time for the thuggery of her lover. When she sings As Long As He Needs Me it is incredibly emotive as the complexity nature of love in a violent and coercive relationship is perfectly evoked. There are some great performances from all the main cast with a standout comedic turn from Minal Patel and Rosie Edie as the ghastly Bumbles.

The children in the Young Company are consummate professionals throughout this lengthy and demanding production. The young Oliver and The Artful Dodger are played by a rotating cast of young actors befitting modern child labour legislation. The press night production had Nicholas Teixeira playing Oliver and his clear diction and strong, pitch perfect renditions of Where Is Love? and Who Will Buy? were very impressive. Felix Holt was perfectly cast as the impudent but charming Artful Dodger.

This is a lush, exuberant extravaganza of a production that is memorable for all the right reasons. Every aspect feels well thought out and lovingly attended to. It’s truly encouraging to see large scale theatre productions in the North West that are worthy of coaxing London theatre goers to come North and hopefully remind Arts Council England that money allocated outside of London is a sound investment. If nothing else it might help keep Northern theatres from potentially resorting to pick a pocket or two to survive!!

OLIVER! at Leeds Playhouse 24th Nov 2023 – 27th Jan 2024

A Little Night Music

Large Theatres, Musical, Opera

Sandra Piques Eddy and Quirijn de Lang as Desiree and Fredrik.
Photo by Sharron Wallace

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Directed by James Brining

A Leeds Playhouse and Opera North co-production

Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse

This production of A Little Night Music returns to Leeds Playhouse after successfully opening here last summer. The main changes for 2022 are Sandra Piques Eddy as Desiree Armfeldt and Sam Marston as Henrik Egerman, the removal of social distancing measures and the poignant reality that musical theatre genius Stephen Sondheim is no longer with us. This is a confident partnership between Leeds Playhouse and Opera North which looks and sounds absolutely glorious. This really delivers as a special night out at the theatre which in our current rather grim society is a breathe of fresh air and a much needed tonic for the soul.

The cast of A Little Night Music.
Photo by Sharron Wallace

There is real drama and impact in the sheer simplicity of Madeleine Boyd’s set design. The opening act reveals the full orchestra warming up with Conductor Oliver Rundell while The Quintet start to unpack the set pulling away white sheets as they set up the staging. There’s something particularly exciting about seeing what will appear next and what it may reveal about the production…perhaps akin to post pandemic measures seeing the face behind a mask. For Act 2 at Madame Armfeldt’s chateau there is a vast functioning fountain complete with cherub! The elegant polished parquet floor that surrounds it adds to the sense of a bygone age. Tellingly the floor is peeling and damaged at the edges, poignantly suggestive that this golden age of champagne weekends in the country are coming to an end…aging and decaying alongside the elegant chatelaine of the chateau.

A Little Night Music merges a romantic musical with elements of French farce. Written in triple time to create variety, it also neatly links the multiple triangles of complex love relationships that play out around the three generations of Armfeldt women, and theThe musical opened on Broadway in 1973 and has seen many successful productions in the subsequent almost 50 years. Originally set in Sweden in 1900, director James Brining cleverly moves the action to the 1950s where the restless, career-oriented Desiree looks forward to more opportunities for her and her daughter Fredrika, whereas her elegant mother looks wistfully back to her heyday as a beautiful courtesan desired by Princes and Dukes. What remains unchanged and unchanging is the theme of love… Sondheim’s score makes the heart soar while his incisive, perceptive lyrics get to the core of all the highs and lows of love in its many and complex guises.

Opera North already have a great relationship with musical theatre and in 2016 worked with Leeds Playhouse on a highly successful production of Into The Woods. The full orchestra in place for this production is an added delight as on stage with the actors it both adds to the drama of life on tour for Desiree and life in the luxury of a chateau for Madame Armfeldt, while providing a perfect accompaniment to pitch perfect vocals from the cast.

Unsurprisingly the standout performance is Dame Josephine Bardtow as the grand dame Madame Armfeldt. Her crystal perfect diction, regal bearing and acerbic reflections make for the archetypal matriach. She effortlessly moves into tender and beguiling as she reflects on her early life in Liasons. Her facial expressions even when not centre stage are a study in storytelling and her every move is delicately and precisely nuanced.

Dame Josephine Bardtow as Madame Armfeldt Photo by Sharron Wallace

New to this 2022 production is Sandra Piques Eddy who is a real joy as Desiree. She looks gorgeous enough to merit It Would Have Been Wonderful and exudes Desirees’ playful and impetuous nature. Her Send In The Clowns is spine pricking in the anguish and regret of a woman realising she may have missed her best chance at love. Quirijn de Lang returns as Fredrik and looks like a quintessential Hollywood leading man from the 1950s. He has a polished but slightly weary elegance and brings both vanity and vulnerability to a middle aged man caught in a love triangle. He also brings great physical humour and timing to his role as the hapless lawyer. He is simply wonderful in all his big numbers such as Now, It Would Have Been Wonderful and Send In The Clowns.

This production seems perfectly cast throughout with Corinne Cowling as Fredriks’ vacuous and naive young wife and Sam Marston as his brittle and intense only son. Christopher Nairne as Count Carl-Marcus and Amy J Payne as Petra are highly entertaining on stage while Lucy Sherman brings a stillness and serenity that perfectly counterbalances some of the other more dramatic performances. Helen Évora as Countess Charlotte is simply wonderful as the brittle, disillusioned wife who still loves her errant buffoon of a husband. Her rendition of Every Day A Little Death is pitch perfect on every level and utterly unforgettable.

This production really is a pleasure to sit back and just relax in the assured direction of James Brining. Everything about it works smoothly yet nothing feels slick or shallow. Complex and flawed as every character undoubtedly is, there is such care and attention to each performance that its impossible to not leave the theatre on a summer night and feel that just as Madame Armfeldt promised…the night really has smiled.

Quarry Theatre, Leeds Playhouse 6th-16th July 2022