Ain't No Angels (Role Play Productions)
Let me caveat this review with the fact that I have only been able to see a rehearsal without costume, without live music and without any light or sound effects that can add so evocatively to any performance. Having said that if my intuition is anything to go by (and it has never let me down yet) I would be inclined to take everything I am about to say and increase it by a factor of ten as those missing pieces to the greater jigsaw of this production can only make it so much stronger as an audience pleaser.
Ken Wragg the mastermind behind the concept has taken the lives of two music icons and created a story that gets under the skin of who they really were, delves into the recesses of their generally tempestuous relationships and attempts to reveal why both were challenging characters (with notoriously short tempers) to live and work with, yet equally successful in their careers.
It's difficult to think of two names that in the opinion of the average person would bear few if any similarities than Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra, outside of always wanting to sing there was little obvious to compare them. Jolson was almost thirty at the point Sinatra was born and their styles were from different eras, Jolson originally from Lithuania emigrating to the USA in 1891, Sinatra born in Hoboken, New Jersey although admittedly to Italian immigrant parents.
Creating a situation in which to bring these characters together has been achieved in a sort of existential future, years after both have died as they are forced to watch each other relive key events in their lives and review whether they made the right decisions or not. Presiding over this process is a character called Wellbeloved (think Clarence Odbody from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’) played along with a vast array of supporting characters each uniquely created in a colourful performance by Chris Wolverson.
Paul Roberts and Paul Lumsden are both grittily realistic in the central performances as Jolson and Sinatra respectively, both likeable in their public persona but, hiding flawed characters that saw them both career through four marriages and probably make as many if not more enemies than friends during their lives. Relationships, in particular Jolson with Ruby Keeler (married when she was only 19 and he already in his 40s) and Sinatra with Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow (the latter some thirty years his junior) are played with earthy realism and yet still entertainingly.
Taking on at short notice, one of the two multi-character female roles for the two nights at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall is Charlotte Middleton, look out for some splendidly robust appearances as Sinatra’s mother Dolly. Sian Jones takes on an equal array of characters including Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow a suicidal Marilyn Monroe and provides what I suspect will be the showstopping moment with a powerful performance as Judy Garland of ‘The Man That Got Away’.
As the lyrics of that song go ..... there’s nothing sadder than, a one-man woman, looking for the man that got away ..... I beg to differ, something equally concerning would be two performances (5th and 6th June 2018) of this splendid story that don't have a full audience, during which they will be educated, entertained and taken to every facet of emotion. So don’t let that happen and book your tickets while they are still available, I assure you that you will have no regrets.
Book Here
Ken Wragg the mastermind behind the concept has taken the lives of two music icons and created a story that gets under the skin of who they really were, delves into the recesses of their generally tempestuous relationships and attempts to reveal why both were challenging characters (with notoriously short tempers) to live and work with, yet equally successful in their careers.
It's difficult to think of two names that in the opinion of the average person would bear few if any similarities than Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra, outside of always wanting to sing there was little obvious to compare them. Jolson was almost thirty at the point Sinatra was born and their styles were from different eras, Jolson originally from Lithuania emigrating to the USA in 1891, Sinatra born in Hoboken, New Jersey although admittedly to Italian immigrant parents.
Creating a situation in which to bring these characters together has been achieved in a sort of existential future, years after both have died as they are forced to watch each other relive key events in their lives and review whether they made the right decisions or not. Presiding over this process is a character called Wellbeloved (think Clarence Odbody from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’) played along with a vast array of supporting characters each uniquely created in a colourful performance by Chris Wolverson.
Paul Roberts and Paul Lumsden are both grittily realistic in the central performances as Jolson and Sinatra respectively, both likeable in their public persona but, hiding flawed characters that saw them both career through four marriages and probably make as many if not more enemies than friends during their lives. Relationships, in particular Jolson with Ruby Keeler (married when she was only 19 and he already in his 40s) and Sinatra with Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow (the latter some thirty years his junior) are played with earthy realism and yet still entertainingly.
Taking on at short notice, one of the two multi-character female roles for the two nights at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall is Charlotte Middleton, look out for some splendidly robust appearances as Sinatra’s mother Dolly. Sian Jones takes on an equal array of characters including Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow a suicidal Marilyn Monroe and provides what I suspect will be the showstopping moment with a powerful performance as Judy Garland of ‘The Man That Got Away’.
As the lyrics of that song go ..... there’s nothing sadder than, a one-man woman, looking for the man that got away ..... I beg to differ, something equally concerning would be two performances (5th and 6th June 2018) of this splendid story that don't have a full audience, during which they will be educated, entertained and taken to every facet of emotion. So don’t let that happen and book your tickets while they are still available, I assure you that you will have no regrets.
Book Here
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