Play On! Book by Cheryl L.Wesr, Music by Duke Ellington, conceived by Sheldon Epps. Lyric theatre,Lyric Square, King Street, Hammersmith, London W6 to 22 February 2025,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Too much of a good thing.”

Ellington's music, a marvellous band delivering a superb sound and a cast who dazzle as the inhabitants of a Harlem nightclub some time in the 1940s – could one ask for anything more? Well a decent story line for a start. The book is based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night - to start with, at least, but pretty well gives up bothering as the evening goes on and song follows song until one is more or less poleaxed, One can have too much of a good thing. It also has quite the least convincing performance by an actor pretending to be a man since Julie Andrews in Victor, Victoria – visually at least because Tsernaye Bob-Egbe as Viola, a would be singer songwriter, who pretends to be Vyman to get ahead in Harlem as song writing turns out to be a man's world. performs her numbers with consummate style. So forget the plot, sit back and let the energy, the music and the talent on display overwhelm you even if by the end you may well be suffering from a headache and a surfeit of Ellington – there are some 25 numbers performed. The ingredients are fine, although one could do without the periodic interruptions by the ensemble doing some dancing, but the messily constructed adaptation of the Shakespeare lets the whole thing down and what should soar becomes overwhelmingly leaden. One should want more. Given less one probably would.

Cast

Tsernaye Bob-Egbe – Viola/Vyman

Koko Alexandra - Lady Liv

Earl Gregory – The Duke

Cameron Bernard Jones – Rev

Lifford Shillingford – Sweets

Tanya Edwards – Miss Mary

Llewellyn Jarnal – Jester

Gleanne Purcell-Brown – Ceecee

Jarmela Richard-Noel, Natalia Brown, Amber Cayasso, Freya Karlettis – Female Ensemble

Andrew Coulson, Alex Okoampa, Dylan Blake-Colbet, Tanaka Bingwa – Male Enselble

Creatives

Director – Michael Buffong

Musical Supervisor & Arranger – Liam Goodwin

Orchestrator & Arranger – Benjamin Kwasi Burrell

Musical Director – Ashton Moore

Choreographer - Kenrick H20 Sandy MBE

Production Design – ULTZ

Lighting Designer – Johanna Town

Sound Designer -Tony Gayle