Cut
to the Chase at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
04.09.2014
This
cute, clever little musical is enjoying its European première right
here in Hornchurch, and it could hardly have wished for a more
stylish staging.
Like
Dennis Potter's Singing Detective, it pays affectionate tribute to
the film
noir
world of private dicks and dumb blondes, all lovingly recreated in
this Cut to the Chase production.
The
story is a familiar one: Sam Galahad, “a two-bit keyhole peeper”,
battles crooked cops and heavy hoods to track down the killer of
magnate Adrian Wasp, and his own long-lost love.
It's
told by faded cabaret singer Buddy Toupée, in the shadowy world of
the Red Eye Lounge, with Galahad's office and other locations
suggested by impressive visuals stage left.
There
are references to the originals, and sneaky snippets - “just the
facts, ma'am” “here's looking at you” - peppered throughout, as
well as some ripe pastiche - “trailing perfume like a whispered
prayer”. The programme gives us a helpful run-down on the genre.
The lyrics – in the Blonde Song, for instance – are often witty
and slick: Bartok/bar-talk. The music is used as punctuation, or
under dialogue, as well as in the dozen or more numbers that adorn
this two-hour show, until our anti-hero finally plays the tape and
takes the rap. None of it memorable, though Mansion Hill and the
Childhood Days trio were polished, and the Don't Know What I Expected
motif survives the parking-lot test – still humming it as we drove
away. “Jenny”, the most obviously sondheimlich
of
the songs, is a lovely, lush mirror-ball flashback to Galahad's old
flame of ten years ago.
The
performances are pretty near perfection: Greg Last, MD for the show,
has a ball as virtuoso manqué Buddy, surely the part he was born to
play. The commercial for his cassette compilation – gloriously
reprised as telephone hold musak – is priceless.
Sean
Needham triumphs as Galahad, the voice and the character nailed
absolutely. And Sarah Scowen plays all the blondes in this twisted
tale, gloriously guying the genre, in particular as chanteuse Carol
Indigo, “the one, the only, the tipsy”, belting out her big
number. Mr Last is at the keyboard throughout, Scowen plays trumpet,
and Needham gives us a mean harmonica obbligato in the title number.
The piece is often performed with just three, but here two more
excellent actors – Simon Jessop and Steve Simmonds - take turns on
drum and trumpet, as well as assuming stock characters like
underworld hoodlums Joe Paisley and his sidekick Rocco.
There
are many reasons why a fringe musical remains unknown after more than
twenty years. There is no shortage of sharp, witty dialogue, and the
music adds an enjoyable dimension to an oft-parodied art-form. And
Bob Carlton and his creative team have given the piece their best
shot, with a superb staging and spot-on performances. But compared
to, say, Pick Yourself Up, or the Queen's classic Return to the
Forbidden Planet [due another revival this November], this doesn't
quite cut the musical comedy mustard.
production photo: Nobby Clark
production photo: Nobby Clark
The Detective and The Blonde from Queen's Theatre Hornchurch on Vimeo.
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