Rooms: A Rock Romance - Finborough Theatre - Saturday 4 May ****

Firstly a note of caution for those of you who, like us, enjoy their drama heightened by a wee dram. Not only is there no interval in this European premiere of Paul Scott Goodman and Miriam Gordon’s 2000 rock romance, but the pub part of this pub-theatre has gone into administration, so libation is hard to come by. We turned on our heels and scooted back to Old Brompton Road for a quickie in the Coleherne before curtain up (my first time, but Mrs Front Row Dress let slip that she’d enjoyed many a quickie in there in her younger days).

It’s 1977 and two Scottish songwriters, shoe-gazing bedroom balladeer Ian and “Glasgow’s answer to Barbra Streisand” (© her dad) Monica are thrown together as guns for hire to write a song for a bisexual’s Bat Mitzvah, creating the ultimate outing song with Scottish Jewish Princess. A will-they-won’t-they storyline rapidly emerges as they win a local talent show and move to London. Forming bandwagon-hopping plastic punk band The Diabolicals, they score a number one single with All I Want Is Everything and end up in New York’s CBGB’s as part of a Rip-Off records package tour. Ian loses his guitar, his ambition and his girl and returns to his beloved Scotland for some soul searching, leaving Monica holding the baby.

Alexis Gerred’s Ian, doleful eyes peeking out from beneath a floppy fringe and a cute cap, is a sensitive soul, happy to stay in his room dreaming and drinking himself into oblivion. Cassidy Janson’s driven Monica is prepared to do whatever it takes, including bulimia, to ascend the greasy pole to success. Janson’s is a powerhouse portrayal, more Bette Midler’s C.C. Bloom than Streisand, and utterly believable as a fame-hungry woman prepared to sacrifice artistic integrity in her pursuit of the prize. While her accent sometimes takes a detour via Dublin, that is easily forgiven when she fills the room with her impressive, expressive vocals. Gerred’s Ian is a lovely foil to Janson’s enormous personality and voice. If not quite convincing as an alcoholic, his fear of the limelight is the perfect counterpoint to Monica’s gritty determination.

The inevitable happy ending and a New Song for Scotland has Mrs Front Row Dress, whose very existence is the result of a highland fling, dabbing her eyes with her tartan handkerchief as thoughts of the misty weather and mountain top heather have her pining for the old country. Mind you the nearest I’ve ever found her to a Scottish mountain is sliding down a snow covered Bank Street on a Broons annual to get to the Cathcart before chucking out time.

The on-stage four piece band is terrific, tackling tender acoustic numbers and some out and out rockers with equal vigour. Philip Lindley’s set of metal door-frames, rough hewn planks and back lit windows is a master-class in creativity on a budget.

Director Andrew Keates, fresh from many a triumph at the Landor and making an unscheduled appearance as Rip-Off Records' head honcho, gives us a spirited 90 minutes with some inventive touches (the band donning Kippahs for the Bat Mitzvah scene being one). Paul Scott Goodman’s contemporary songs and punk pastiches allow Alexis Gerred and Cassidy Janson to convincingly tell the story of a rocky romance, but it is Janson’s larger than life Monica that resonates above all else.

Booking until 18 Mar 2013, a spirited rocky romance - Rooms

Bare - Union Theatre - Sunday 28 April *****

After the sheer joyful exuberance of Saturday’s classic Pajama Game, Sunday was to be an altogether more cerebral experience, although no less entertaining, as Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo’s 2000 “rock musical” or “pop opera” is given its European premiere at one of London's theatrical treasures and the future of musical theatre is laid bare.

As we take our new comfy seats in the Union's tiny auditorium, glancing around it is clear that, in a total reversal of our Chichester trip, we seem to be the only members of the audience over the age of 25 and that’s already some achievement in my book.

Set in a present day co-ed Catholic boarding school, sixth form students experiment with drink, drugs and sex and in time honoured tradition try to make sense of their place in the world.

With a nod to Beautiful Thing, Holding The Man, and many a gay fantasy, sensitive boy Peter falls for the class jock Jason, who reciprocates but may just be an raging mass of teenage hormones as he’s also sleeping with the class babe, Ivy.

Peter’s attempts to come out by telephone to his mother and in the confession box to the (closeted?) school priest fall on deaf ears leaving him hopeless and helpless.

As they prepare for an end of year performance of Romeo and Juliet, roles and lines become blurred and it doesn’t bode well for any of our tormented trio, lurching relentlessly towards a shocking yet inevtiable denouement.

Virtually sung-through to a constantly changing melodic multi-layered pop rock score performed by a full band, this is truly edge of the seat stuff. Michael Vinsen as Peter, awkward, blonde, desperate for his love to be acknowledged, and Ross William Wild as Jason, dark, handsome, not simply the horny hunk he initially appears, keep the entire room transfixed as memories of that half life between childhood and adulthood flood back. Lilly-Jane Young’s vulnerable beauty Ivy suffers at the hands of classmates jealous of her looks and Jason’s attempts to assert his masculinity, ending up broken, her young life in tatters.
 

Incredible support comes from the remainder of the 15 strong cast, in particular Melanie Greaney’s bitchy fat girl Nadia, who takes a redemptive journey, and Hannah Levane’s no-nonsense insightful supportive drama teacher Chantelle.

Levity is in short supply but does come towards the end of the first act as the Virgin Mary, Hannah Levane once again, visits Peter in a dream and in the soaring gospel number "911! Emergency" urges him to confront his fears and call his mother.
 

It really is a thoughtful engrossing examination of the problems faced by a much maligned yet important section of the population and would be a welcome addition to any school syllabus prepared to take a hard look at teenage sexuality, recreational drug use and bullying. It is also an overdue opportunity to banish all thoughts of the horrors of Clause 28 from our collective consciences forever and the significance of the action taking place in a Catholic boarding school with a sexually ambiguous priest at its helm could hardly be more timely.

Thanks to director Paul Taylor Mills, choreographer Racky Plews and the gorgeously agile cast, the production is constantly beautiful to watch, as the young company strike balletic poses using every inch of the Union’s performance space. Even a drug fuelled rave scene is a visual treat. Rarely have I felt so involved with or cared more for characters in a show.

Designer David Shields also deserves special praise as his creativity astounds and transforms a gilt encrusted altar firstly into school lockers and then a bed with the skilful ease of a Vegas showman.

The youthful cast and the equally youthful audience prove that there is plenty of life in musical theatre as a vibrant, relevant art form that shows intelligent gritty drama is not the sole domain of playwrights. With better tunes and less angst than Spring Awakening, Bare brings us into the 21st century with nary a jazz hand or cakewalk in sight.

 
Booking until 25 May 2013, beautifully thought provoking, take a tissue and a teenager - Bare

The Pajama Game - Chichester Minerva Theatre - Saturday 27 April *****

Our first trip to Chichester of the year and the Festival theatre is currently a building site which will hopefully emerge Cher-like from the surgeon’s chair in 2014 refreshed, remodelled and ready to entertain us for another 50 years.

All of which means that the season’s first offering is directed by no less than Richard Eyre in the Festival theatre’s beautifully intimate little sister, the Minerva.

With songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross (Damn Yankees) and book by George Abbot and Richard Bissell, based on Bissell’s novel 7½  cents, this was a 1954 Broadway smash and three years later a film starring Doris Day.

It also happens to be Mrs Front Row Dress’s joint favourite musical of all time (Oklahoma, since you asked).

After a light lunch and a bottle of pinot in the lovely conservatory at “Amelie and Friends” we amble across the car park in the watery spring sunshine to take up our seats in row D, noticing en passant that I am possibly the only member of the audience without grey hair, mainly thanks to for “Just for Men”.

Two time Olivier award winner Joanna Riding, looking every inch an ingénue half her age, is feisty Babe Williams, union rep at the Sleep Tite pajama factory, battling her bosses for a 7½ cents pay rise to bring them in line with the rest of the industry. Hadley Fraser’s newly appointed factory superintendent Sid Sorokin falls in love with her within the first ten minutes and they argue on and off for two hours before ending up wearing one pair of pajamas between them belting out the title song. The sight of Fraser’s manly chest causes Mrs Front Row Dress to have a giddy turn the likes of which she’s not experienced since 1990, when Tom Selleck blew a kiss in her general direction from the red carpet as we hunted for autographs at the premiere of Three Men and a Little Lady.
 

What lifts this show into a different league are the songs, which keep coming at you like the Hit Factory Live. Hey There You With The Stars In Your Eyes, This Is My Once-A-Year Day, Small Talk, Steam Heat, a riotous cocaine sniffing Hernando’s Hideaway, even the ones you haven’t heard before make you feel as if you’ve known them all your life. Claire Machin as wise cracking secretary Mabel and Peter Polycarpou as David Brent-esque time and motion man Vernon Hines bring down the house with I’ll Never Be Jealous Again, as Mabel advises Vernon on the best way to keep his girl.
 

Joanna Riding and Hadley Fraser are perfect as the battling pair, Benedick and Beatrice with tunes, believable and likeable and with pipes to die for. Despite the star wattage emerging from the two leads, what really gives this production its edge are the performances of the supporting cast. Along with Claire Machin and Peter Polycarpou, Alexis Owen-Hobbs as ditzy blonde Gladys and Eugene McCoy’s would-be seducer Prez threaten to steal every scene they are in. In fact the sheer joy emanating from the entire company makes me worry about their energy levels for the evening show following two hours later.

Richard Eyre and choreographer Stephen Mear have done a grand job. Their high octane staging never lets up and together with the punchy band led by musical director Gareth Valentine gives the good folk of sleepy Chichester an exciting shot in the arm.

With the success of Top Hat and Singin’ In The Rain proving that the West End still has an appetite for classic musicals, a move to the smoke must surely be a consideration.

 
Booking until 8 June 2013, sheer joy - The Pajama Game