Last year gave us a slew of terrific new shows (Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Romantics Anonymous, The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, The Grinning Man, Superhero) that suggested powerful creative forces at work in new British musical theatre. It would have been nice to report that 2018 kicks off in a similar vein with Leon Parris' musicalisation of comic strip Bananaman, premiering in a go-for-broke production by Mark Perry at Southwark Playhouse.
Alas, this jolly, knowingly tacky, overlong offering proves as exhausting as it is delightful. Intended as a family show suitable for age six and upwards, it often resembles a much cleaner, less bad taste version of The Toxic Avenger – also featuring a mild-mannered protagonist who morphs into a superhero when exposed to a certain substance, in this case, bananas. Like that piece it possesses a juvenile jokiness that becomes wearisome; however, where Toxic had moments of revoltingly funny outrageousness and characters – however weird – we came to care about, Bananaman is required to keep it child-friendly at all times with the result that the humour is relentlessly one-note, most principal roles are too sketchily drawn to be of real interest and the plot is simultaneously tedious and hard to follow.
The music matches the humour: it too is relentless. To be fair, it's frequently melodic but almost entirely lacking in character, as though Pariss has absorbed the scores of Little Shop Of Horrors, Bat Boy and Joseph, removed any subtlety and prescribed that everybody belts their faces off. At all times. Nearly two and a half hours of that is pretty hard to take. The cast all have terrific voices, which is just as well, but the sound design is so dreadful that harmonies and lyrics are almost impossible to decipher when more than two people are singing.
Likeable Mark Newnham provides what little heart the show has as Eric Wimp, secretly in love with Emma Ralston's big-voiced independent-woman-in-training, while Matthew McKenna has some moments of genuinely funny cluelessness as his potassium-fuelled, masked and caped alter ego, as feeble of brain as he is impressive of muscle. Marc Pickering comes close to stealing the show as his gloriously camp nemesis Dr Gloom.
Mike Leopold's two-tiered set cleverly evokes a cartoon strip come to life, and Grant Murphy's rough and ready choreography has some rousing sections.
Despite the undeniable energy and commitment of the entire cast, and a couple of witty lines, the material feels desperately thin, and lacking in originality and variety, to justify over two hours of playing time.
42nd STREET, is the song and dance, American dream fable of Broadway, featuring the iconic songs 42nd Street, We’re In the Money, Lullaby of Broadway, Shuffle Off To Buffalo, Dames and I Only Have Eyes For You. With the West End’s biggest cast, this is a musical like no other, entertainment doesn’t get bigger than this.
Young Peggy Sawyer is fresh off the bus from small-town America and just another face in the chorus line on Broadway’s newest show. But when the leading lady gets injured, Peggy might just have the shot at stardom she’s always dreamed of…
Staged in a very special pop up venue with authentic 1940s cocktail bar and bandstand, this scorching new production whisks you straight back to the style, sass and red-hot soul of a New Orleans jazz club where the party’s just about to begin… Nomax is single, broke and drinking his sorrows away when five guys named Moe – Big Moe, Little Moe, Eat Moe, Know Moe and Four-Eyed Moe – appear out of nowhere to help him straighten out and sing and dance his way to love! Featuring the irresistible hits of the original king of jazz Louis Jordan, including Is You Or Ain’t You My Baby, Early in the Morning and Saturday Night Fish Fry, Five Guys Named Moe is directed by Clarke Peters (The Wire) with choreography by Andrew Wright (Half a Sixpence, Singin’ In The Rain).
The bourbon’s flowin’ and the music’s swingin’, so come on down… ain’t no party like a Five Guys party!
Louis Jordan – often called “the Father of Rhythm & Blues” and “the Grandfather of Rock ‘n Roll” – ruled the R&B charts of the 1940s like no other performer.
Born into a musical family (his father was a local music teacher) in Brinkley, Akansas, Jordan majored in music at Arkansas Baptist College before heading to Philadelphia and then New York. After serving stints with jazz bands and swing orchestras on both the clarinet and saxophone, he was invited to join the legendary Savoy Ballroom Orchestra under bandleader Chick Webb where he began singing lead and regularly dueted with a young Ella Fitzgerald.
He broke off in 1938 to form his own group (as singer, saxophonist and bandleader), pioneering a wild – and wildly popular – amalgam of jazz and blues. The syncopated shuffle rhythms of Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five became known as “jump blues” or “jumpin’ jive,” their appeal stemming from a lively evocation of good times and a swinging style that ranged from hot jazz to bluesy boogie.
Throughout the Forties he launched 57 singles onto the R&B charts, 18 of which went to number one including Choo Choo Ch’Boogie (18 weeks), Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens (17 weeks), Saturday Night Fish Fry (12 weeks), Caldonia (7 weeks) and Jack, You’re Dead (7 weeks), all of which feature in Five Guys Named Moe. From 1943 to 1950 he was dubbed “King of the Juke Boxes” and occupied the top position for a total of 113 weeks, peaking in 1946 with seventeen songs in the upper reaches of the R&B chart. His popularity led to starring roles in a series of musical film shorts including Caldonia, Look Out Sister,and Reet, Petite and Gone.
A SCORCHING PRODUCTION ... AN EXUBERANT TRIBUTE TO THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC
The Stage
Jordan supplied a good deal of the slang of early rock and roll and his freewheeling style and incorporation of electric guitar and organ provided a bridge between big-band swing, jazz and rhythm & blues. His hit Saturday Night Fish Fry is a worthy contender for the label of first rock and roll record and contains many of the genre’s key ingredients: distorted electric guitar, use of the word “rocking,” party-themed lyrics, and danceable, uptempo music. Jordan’s breathless, manic, half-spoken delivery, can even be seen as an early example of rapping.
SASS, SOUL, SEX APPEAL. PURE ENTERTAINMENT, TOTAL FUN!
WhatsOnStage.com
As well as Fitzgerald (who he partnered with on several records) Jordan’s peers and contemporaries included Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby and through his tenure at Decca Records he had a huge influence on labelmate Bill Haley whose breakthrough single Rock Around the Clock was produced by regular Jordan collaborator Milt Gabler. Jordan’s influence has been acknowledged by Ray Charles, Little Richard, Roy Brown, Wynonie Harris and rock ‘n roll pioneer Chuck Berry, who declared on The Tonight Show, “I identify myself with Louis Jordan more than any other artist.”
He was married five times and died of a heart attack in 1975.
In 1987 he was inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, just three years before the premiere of Five Guys Named Moe, which, along with Buddy, sparked the modern trend of “jukebox musicals,” a genre which continues to dominate both the West End and Broadway today with Mama Mia! (ABBA), We Will Rock You (Queen), Jersey Boys (Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons), Beautiful (Carole King) and countless others.
His biography, Let the Good Times Roll by British jazz historian John Chilton was published in 1997.
DEX LEE
Know Moe
Most recently appeared in The Wild Party (The Other Palace). His theatre credits include: Grease (Curve, Leicester); Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (Royal Court Theatre); In The Heights (King’s Cross Theatre and Southwark Playhouse) Hairspray (UK Tour); Carrie (Southwark Playhouse) and The Scottsboro Boys (Garrick Theatre).
EDWARD BARUWA
Nomax
Theatre credits include: Motown (Shaftesbury Theatre); Peter Pan in Concert (Adelphi Theatre); Dessa Rose (Trafalgar Studios); Little Shop of Horrors (Aberystwyth Arts Centre); Sister Act (UK Tour); Smokey Joe’s Café (Landor Theatre); Avenue Q, (Noel Coward Theatre & Gielgud Theatre); Les Miserables (Queens Theatre); Porgy and Bess; (Savoy Theatre), Dancing in the Streets; (Cambridge/Aldwych Theatre); Jerry Springer the Opera (Cambridge Theatre); Miss Saigon (Original UK Tour); The Rocky Horror Show (European Tour); and The Wiz (Hackney Empire). Feature Film credits include: Florence Foster Jenkins and London Road.
EMILE RUDDOCK
Eat Moe
Recent theatre credits include: Crazy For You (Watermill Theatre); Kiss Me Kate (UK Tour); The Scottsboro Boys (Garrick Theatre and Young Vic Theatre); Avenue Q (Rugby Theatre); 42nd Street Gala (London Palladium and Dominion Theatre) and 42nd Street (Rugby Theatre).His film and television credits include: The X Factor 2015 (Backing Dancer); The 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony and Got to Dance 2013 with ‘The Pulse Collective’.
IAN CARLYLE
Four-Eyed Moe
Recent theatre credits include: Showboat (Sheffield Crucible); Sister Act (National Theatre Dublin); Notre Dame de Paris (International Tour); Jesus Christ Superstar (UK National Arena Tour); We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre) Porgy and Bess (Savoy Theatre); Miss Saigon (UK Tour)and Disney’s The Lion King (Lyceum).
IDRISS KARGBO
Little Moe
Credits include Wicked (Apollo Victoria); Shrek The Musical (UK Tour) Scottsboro Boys (Young Vic); Disney’s The Lion King; (Lyceum); Thriller Live! (Lyric Theatre) and Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane). Film credits include Been So Long.
CLARKE PETERS
DIRECTOR
Clarke Peters has a long-established and wide-ranging career in theatre, television, radio and film. His many stage credits include: King Lear (Shakespeare in the Park), David Mamet’s Race, Chicago, The Iceman Cometh (New York), Guys and Dolls, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Mourning Becomes Electra (National Theatre), Porgy in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Savoy Theatre), Driving Miss Daisy, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Little Shop of Horrors, Blues in the Night and, of course, the hit jazz musical Five Guys Named Moe also written by Clarke. Other theatre credits include: Othello at Sheffield Crucible, the home of his directing debut of Blues for Mr Charlie followed by King, The Musical in the West End.
Clarke’s films include: Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer, Notting Hill, Mona Lisa, Bad Education, Marley and Me, Freedomland, The Benefactor, Endgame, Mandela: The Prison Years and Nativity!
Clarke is also well known for his very varied and popular television career which includes regular appearances in The Wire, Tremé, Jericho, The Divide, Chance andThe Corner. He has also guest-starred in Jonathan Creek, Holby City, Underground, Show Me a Hero, Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise, True Detective, Memphis Beat, London Spy, Damages, Life on Mars and Law and Order – Trial by Jury and Person of Interest.
DAVID CAMERON
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR / CHOREOGRAPHER
David is a performer, choreographer, director and teacher.
He received his BFA from Howard University School of Fine Arts in Washington DC where he worked with the DC Repertory Dance Co, the DC Black Repertory Theatre Co and Yelode Acting Co. He taught at the Duke Ellington High School for the Performing Arts in Washington, where he helped formulate the Acting curriculum.
He was the Resident Director for the original Australian, West End, and English national touring productions of Five Guys Named Moe, the Associate Choreographer for the Broadway production and the Associate Director for the 2002 English national tour.
Other Broadway credits include: Ain’t Misbehaving, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Treemonisha and Owen’s Song. Off Broadway: Child of the Sun, NEC`s Salute To Black Classics, The Lion in Winter, The Mojo and the Sayso and Spiritual Journey. Film credits include Aurora with Sophia Loren, Guts and Glory, The Gorilla, Genesis, Juba and Other Jewels and All God’s Children.
He now resides in the Netherlands where he has staged the vocal group 21st Century for Arjan van Dijk Produktiebureau, was the Resident Director for Mahalia, The Young Messiah and The New York Spirit for Stardust Theatre and created the musical staging and choreography for the American Song Book Production of Larry….This Funny World. He was also the host and lead male vocalist in the Dutch Production of The Soul of Motown.
Alongside his wife, jazz vocalist Adrienne West, he created and toured Royal Court based on the works of Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole, and the concert series Evolution. They appeared together in George Gershwin: The Musical Gala and David was Executive Producer on her albums The View (Timeless Records) and With Love to Ella and Joe (Dot Time Records).
Underbelly Productions has today confirmed the new production of Clarke Peters’ Olivier Award-winning and Tony-Award nominated musical, Five Guys Named Moe, will extend its run at The Marble Arch Theatre until Saturday24TH March 2018.
Five Guys Named Moeis playing at the brand new Marble Arch Theatre which has been custom built for the production. The venue is designed to take audiences to an 1940s all-swinging New Orleans club, complete with festooned courtyard, bespoke cocktail bar, smoky corners and band-stand as a centrepiece. Performed in the round for the first time, theatregoers will be able to take their seats at the cabaret tables in the Funky Butt Club and have drinks served directly to their tables for an up-close and personal musical experience all around them.
First seen at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in 1990, Cameron Mackintosh brought it to the West End where it played for four years, subsequently playing on Broadway and around the world. Clarke Peters’(The Wire, Treme, Person of Interest, Porgy and Bess, The Ice Man Cometh)career defining musical features the irresistible hits of trailblazing ‘King of the Jukebox’ Louis Jordan, including Early In The Morning, Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby, Choo Choo Ch’Boogie and Saturday Night Fish Fry. The soundtrack of soul, blues, gospel and early r ‘n’ b is performed live on stage by The Funky Butt Club Band.
Cameron Mackintosh, Associate Producer said:“I couldn’t be happier that everyone wants more Moe and that the joint will continue to jump for several more months.”
Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, Directors, Underbelly said:“There really ain’t no party like a Five Guys party and that’s exactly what audiences have been finding out; they’ve been on their feet every night of Five Guys Named Moe. Everyone loves the party atmosphere in the brand new Marble Arch Theatre – our incredible purpose-built New Orleans style venue. Clarke Peters has brought his own show thrillingly to life in this brand new production and we couldn’t be more delighted to announce that we’re extending the run to 24th March 2018.”
Cllr Robert Davis MBE, DL, Deputy Leader of Westminster City Council and Cabinet Member for Business, Culture and Heritage said:“Westminster City Council is delighted that the public have responded so positively to this brand new production of Five Guys Named Moe at the stunning Marble Arch theatre. Extending the run of this internationally acclaimed musical will allow more residents, businesses and visitors to enjoy a fantastic evening of top class entertainment in a world-class, iconic location and we look forward to welcoming them to the venue over the coming months”
Five Guys Named Moe is directed by Clarke Peters with musical staging and choreography by Andrew Wright (Half a Sixpence, Singin’ in the Rain, Guys and Dolls), inspired by Charles Augins’ original choreography, set and costume design by takis (Side Show, In The Heights, Hairspray, The Good Person of Sichuan), lighting design by Philip Gladwell (The James Plays, Cymbeline, Trainspotting, After Miss Julie, Hairspray) and sound design by Ben Harrison (Cabaret, Dreamboats and Petticoats, Dancing in the Streets, The King & I, Starlight Express, Blood Brothers, Soul Sister).
It's impossible to come home from London feeling completely satisfied. Which is a good thing. There is always one more thing you wanted to see, another restaurant you didn't have time for, or a play or a musical you couldn't fit into your schedule. About a month ago I came home from a quick visit to London, and I just found out that I totally missed what seems to be at great show: Agatha Christies Whitness for the Prosecution at London County Hall!
Step inside the magnificent surroundings of London County Hall and experience the intensity and drama of Agatha Christie’s gripping story of justice, passion and betrayal in a unique courtroom setting.
Leonard Vole is accused of murdering a widow to inherit her wealth. The stakes are high - will Leonard survive the shocking witness testimony, will he be able to convince the jury, and you of his innocence and escape the hangman’s noose
Don’t miss this landmark stage production on London’s Southbank.
