Alleluia for this fine bromance
Hymn (almeida.co.uk)
Verdict: Sing the praises! ★★★★
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (stream.theatre)
Verdict: Genial musical needs a little more charm ★★★
The Secret Society of Leading Ladies (barntheatre.org.uk)
Verdict: Gamey musical jukebox ★★★
PRAISE be and rejoice: a new play! They’ve been increasingly rare this past year, so it’s a real treat to come across Hymn, a bittersweet yarn by Lolita Chakrabarti, which stars her husband, Adrian Lester, and the wonderful Danny Sapani (Killing Eve).
Chakrabarti’s story is literally a bromance: charting a blossoming friendship between two men, Gil (Lester) and Benny (Sapani), who discover they’re brothers.
It starts, movingly, with the funeral of Gil’s father, who is remembered as a fine, upstanding member of the community. But lurking at the back of the church is Benny, who has come to mourn the deceased, who he now knows was his father, too.
The revelation rocks Gil, but he’s still man enough to take the information on board. The two wind up bonding through boxing workouts, a mutual love of 1980s dance music and a decidedly iffy business idea involving a range of matching stationery and leisure wear — before things hit a major bump in the road.
Chakrabarti’s story is a little thick around the middle, with the two men sharing a lot of ‘good vibrations’ as they get to know each other.
But atmospherically staged in a dark, cathedral-like space, Blanche McIntyre’s production also radiates warmth.
Gil is Mr Nice Guy, running his dad’s dry cleaning and stationery business. But his desire to emulate his father also masks his selfdoubt. As always, Lester gives a grounded, intelligent and touching performance.
HOWEVER it’s Benny who got me excited. He carries a terrific sadness underpinned by an equal and opposite sense of resolve to fight the good fight, for better or worse. If I ran the Royal Shakespeare Company, I’d be slithering over hot coals to have Sapani play King Lear. (Streaming from March 3-9.) n TWO new musical ventures also popped up this week. Southwark Playhouse launched Richard Hough and Ben Morales Frost’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. It’s a family-oriented pop number with echoes of Frozen and His Dark Materials, in which our young heroine Eva (Mary Moore) attempts to save the northern lights in the Arctic circle.
Although inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem about magic broomsticks going rogue, this is a coming-of-age story, with Moore’s prickly teen trying to win the respect of her magician dad (David Thaxton).
More fun is had by Marc Pickering (who reminded me of the late Rik Mayall) as villain Fabian, who’s busy destroying the environment.
Dawn Hope has the funniest turn as his mum, putting him in his place with her song Mother Knows Best (‘I don’t want any dramas from a man in silk pyjamas’). Keyboards accompanied by cello and percussion capture some generic magic, and Charlotte Westenra’s broad, cartoonish production features some inventive puppetry. But the Sorcerer’s characters could still use a little extra charm. (Until March 14.)
THE Secret Society Of Leading
Ladies is an online jukebox, featuring slightly gamey renditions of musical show tunes.
It is performed on an empty stage at Cirencester’s Barn Theatre, with vertical floor lights adding economical razzamatazz, and a total of 14 singers cherrypicked from such West End hit shows as Waitress, Chicago and Kinky Boots.
Emma Kingston, singing Dyin’ Ain’t So Bad, from Bonnie And Clyde, was my favourite.
You pays your money (£10) and takes your chances, with a choice of three songs at each of five junctions — effectively allowing you to pick your own set list.
Or you can see them all, with a multi-show ticket (£15). But one 30-minute slot sufficed for me.
(Until March 7.)