‘Fatou’ by Fatoumata Diawara
28 October 2011
I first saw the young Malian singer Fatoumata
Diawara providing backing vocals for the legendary Oumou Sangaré at the 2009 WOMAD
Festival (reviewed here in July 2009). I saw her again at this year’s WOMAD
Festival where she appeared on the BBC Radio 3 Stage with her own band to
perform songs from her forthcoming debut album. That album, ‘Fatou’, was
released in September and I’ve been listening to it this week. Fatoumata
Diawara comes from Southern Mali and sings in the Wassalou style, familiar to me
from Oumou Sangaré (reviewed here in March 2009) and that other great
contemporary Malian singer Rokia Traoré (reviewed here in December 2008). Like Rokia
Traoré, Fatoumata Diawara now lives in France and her music shows some European
influences. Her voice is gentler than Oumou Sangaré and more laid-back than the
breathy intensity of Rokia Traoré. And the songs on ‘Fatou’ are lovely –
gentle, catchy, joyful, distinctively West African but easily accessible to
European ears. Perhaps not as musically ambitious as Rokia Traoré or quite so
concerned with political messages as Oumou Sangaré (though she does deal with
some important social issues) Fatoumata Diawara has created an album which is
sophisticated easy-listening.
Labels: Albums, Music
'South Pacific' by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II
21 October 2011
‘South Pacific’ by Rodgers and Hammerstein
was the first musical I played for as a member of a pit band. It was a
production by the excellent Westwood Musical Society at the Key Theatre in
Peterborough in 1991. We did more than a week of performances, at the end of
which I knew the score inside out and could recite huge chunks of the dialogue.
But, being in the orchestra pit, I never actually saw the show and some aspects
of the plot have never entirely made sense to me. Twenty years later I’ve
finally got around to seeing ‘South Pacific’ for the first time. We were at
Milton Keynes Theatre last Saturday to see the acclaimed production from the
Lincoln Center, New York. It was a very straightforward revival which didn’t
attempt anything particular innovative or revisionist but it was excellently
done. In the same way as Shakespeare seems to have inserted lots of famous
lines into ‘Hamlet’, Rodgers and Hammerstein seem to have stuck a load of very
well known songs together to make a musical. It’s an impressive show that
includes ‘Some Enchanted Evening’, ‘There is Nothin' Like a Dame’, ‘I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair’, ‘A Wonderful Guy’ and
‘Happy Talk’. The music was wonderful and the cast were very strong,
particularly Samantha Womack as Nellie Forbush and the operatic baritone Jason Howard
as Emile de Becque. I enjoyed the choreography (by Joe Langworth) but I could
have done with more. I’m always a little disappointed with a musical that
doesn’t have a really big dance number. And though I now finally understand the
story, ‘South Pacific’ is not the most impressive of plots. Nevertheless the
music is so good it doesn’t need much assistance and I really enjoyed the show.
Labels: Musicals, Theatre
'Comedy Carpet' by Gordon Young
14 October 2011
 |
| Comedy Carpet, Blackpool |
It was great to have the opportunity to see
Blackpool's new Comedy Carpet – an amazing artwork by Gordon Young featuring
the catchphrases, jokes and names of more than 1,000 comedians which was
unveiled by Ken Dodd at the foot of Blackpool Tower earlier this week. There
has been massive worldwide interest in the Comedy Carpet: it was temporarily
the most searched for term on Google. The ‘carpet’ is built from concrete and coloured
granite and designed to withstand both the thousands of feet that will walk
across it and the Blackpool weather. Encountering it for the first time is a
compelling experience: the various catchphrases are all in different fonts,
colours and sizes and face in different directions so you have to keep walking
around to see the words that are initially upside down to you. This draws you
in as you keep spotting another familiar phrase and trying to remember who said
it. While there were plenty of old favourites I found quite a few lines I didn’t
recognise and I kept smiling as I got the gist of another pun or witty aphorism
for the first time. I suspect we will all have our favourites and I certainly
found myself returning to the large words “I’m playing all the right notes – but
not necessarily in the right order”. See:
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/lifestyle/legend_unveils_comedy_carpet_1_3857375Labels: Comedy, Exhibitions
'One Man, Two Guvnors' by Richard Bean
7 October 2011
On Saturday we made a first visit to the
lovely Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury to see the National Theatre production of
‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ by Richard Bean. Based on Carlo Goldoni’s 1746 play ‘The
Servant of Two Masters’, this production has been a big commercial hit for the
National Theatre and a star vehicle for James Corden, reunited with the director
Nicholas Hytner for the first time since ‘The History Boys’. Set in Brighton in
1963, ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ is broad tongue-in-cheek comedy played for laughs
but it’s very well done and extremely funny. The Waterside Theatre was
completely sold out and much of the audiences was in stitches throughout. There
was plenty of audience participation and ad-libbing, some great physical comedy
and a wonderful cast. It is interesting to note that Goldoni was criticised for
taking the usually completely improvised Commedia dell’Arte tradition and
writing it down but, in doing so, he succeeded in preserving the style for
centuries. The action of ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ is supplemented by a four-piece
Beatles-style band (playing original songs by Grant Olding) who spring from the
orchestra pit to play in front of the curtains during each scene change. They
are joined, in turn, by a series of members of the cast (including Corden on
xylophone) who perform a variety of party-pieces. James Corden is very funny
and clearly the star of the show but Oliver Chris also stood out as the public-school
educated bully. It was an excellent, feel-good evening in the theatre.
Labels: Comedy, Drama, Theatre
'Fawlty Towers' by John Cleese and Connie Booth
7 October 2011
On Friday we returned to the tiny theatre
in Toddington to see TADS take on ‘Fawlty Towers’. This was a straight
presentation of two episodes of the much cherished 1970s sitcom by John Cleese
and Connie Booth. I must admit I was dubious as to whether this would work on
stage. ‘The Germans’ and ‘Basil the Rat’ are so familiar that most of the
audience could probably have chanted along with the dialogue. And the
characters of Basil Fawlty, Sybil, Manuel etc. have become so iconic there was
a real danger that any attempt to act these parts again now would just seem
like impersonations of John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs et al. It
was
great testament to the skills of the
TADS actors, excellently directed by James Sygrove, that they managed to create
a believable set of characters that drew you into the plot and (almost) made
you temporarily forget the originals. When Basil said “Don’t mention the war –
I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it”, the line was perfectly in
context (and therefore very funny) rather than sounding like the repetition of
well-worn catchphrase. The Fawlty Towers scripts were very much of their time
and some elements sounded a little uncomfortable to contemporary ears. But
Fawlty Towers is excellent farce and the timing in the TADS production
generated some hilarious moments (even though we knew they were coming). With a
large cast crammed onto a small stage, it was some achievement to get the
slapstick to work so well. Matt Flitton stood out as Basil Fawlty – a wonderful
performance – but all the actors were impressive, particularly Susie Condor as
Sybil Fawlty and David Sachon as The Major.
Labels: Comedy, Drama, Theatre
