Play On! - Talawa Theatre with The Belgrade Theatre at Birmingham Hippodrome ‘till Sat 09 November 2024 – Touring ‘till 22 February 2025.

“A partial performance of what might be a great show.”

‘The show must go on. Come rain, come sleet, come shine. The show must go on.’ Thus (or something like thus) says the incomparable Cosmo Brown in ‘Singing in the Rain’, just before he destroys some scenery during the song ‘Make ‘em Laugh’. And the show did go on last night at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Or at least part of it.

Talawa Theatre’s production of musical ‘Play On!’ had been seriously afflicted by a rash of illness running through the cast, to a point where the show could not go on, at least not in its entirety. Instead, this indominable cast, with Cosmo’s immortal words ringing in their ears no doubt, managed to deliver a perfectly serviceable evening’s entertainment in the form of a selection of staged musical extracts. Director, Michael Buffong, provided some narrative context as we went along.

On the evidence of this, ‘Play On!’ has all the elements necessary for a really great production. Some exceptionally strong singers delivered evergreen numbers by Duke Ellington with power, commitment and style. Energetic choreography cleverly blended modern street dance and old-style jazz moves. There were snippets of sharp dialogue. We were also thrown enough bones to get a feel for the show’s Shakespeare inspired plot.

This is a gloss on ‘Twelfth Night’. So we have a lovelorn ‘Duke’, here a world famous singer/song writer (Earl Gregory), The distant ‘Lady’, a night club singer everyone is in love with but who will love no one (Koi Hedgemon). Her uptight butler becomes an uptight night club manager (Cameron Bernard Jones). Belch, Aguecheek, Feste and Maria in the source material are echoed by an engaging gaggle of conniving comic characters. Malvolio’s letter scene is replaced with Ellington Classic, ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing’. And there is an amusing reference to his infamous ‘cross gartering’ in the form of a hideously lurid yellow zoot suit.

Sadly, no matter how excellent its parts, the success of a musical can only be judged on how well those parts work together to deliver an integrated, cohesive and engaging piece of storytelling. The parts on display last night were excellent indeed. And on the evidence provided, this is probably an excellent show. But this cannot be said for sure.

We can only send the indisposed cast members our best wishes and hope they recover swiftly, so Birmingham audiences have a chance to make up their own minds. Due to the circumstances, we have not been able to award a star rating.

Cast

Tsemaye Bob-Egbe - Viola

Kori Hedgemon – Lady Liv

Earl Gregory – The Duke

Llewellyn Jamal - Jester

Cameron Bernard Jones - Rev

Lifford Shillingford - Sweets

Tanya Edwards – Miss Mary

Gleanne Purcell Brown – CeeCee

Creatives

Author – Sheldon Epps

Book – Cheryl L West

Music – Duke Ellington

Director – Michael Buffong