Me & My Girl (Chichester)

[showgirl]

I quite enjoyed this, though it took a while to win me over and it is a long, slow show so you have to be in a patient mood. It would've been great to see someone other than Matt Lucas as the male lead (I was so hoping that, after the voice issue, he and Ryan Pigden might share the role), so though I can't fault his performance, he seemed wrong for the part and I couldn't warm to him.

Otherwise I didn't notice the issues @caiaphas did a few days earlier and though I remember little of the London production, it's hard to believe it was so spectacular with such good ensemble staging as this one - and some of the costumes were fabulous; I was quite transfixed by a few dresses, though putting one cast member in unflattering jodphurs was a mistake.

It was really quite toe-tapping stuff at some points and I and the lady next to me agreed that we felt like getting up and dancing - don't recall that from the previous version, either. Also, as previously noted, a standing ovation in the Festival Theatre is rare but quite a few people stood at the end. I genuinely had a good time overall but for those less enthusiastic, this does at least offer an escape from reality for a few hours in an air-conditioned theatre.

[emsworthian]

I am going to see this in early August and the feedback I've heard locally divides into two camps; those who haven't seen a production of this before say it is great fun but those who have (especially those who saw Robert Lindsay or Gary Wilmot as the lead) say "Ah, but it could have been so much better. " (Regarding Showgirl's point about feeling like dancing in the aisles, someone who saw it with Lindsay in it said that people were dancing in the aisles at that production)

Several people have compared it to  "Present Laughter" at the start of Chichester's season; a dud male lead carried by the female leads.

Anyway, I shall make up my own mind when I see it.

[CG on the loose]

I’m braving ‘getaway Saturday’ to see it today - hoping that, having not seen the 80s production, I fall into the “great fun” camp!

[mrbarnaby]

I really hope when I go that Lucas is off

[frankubelik]

It's fine, but that's it. It never really came to life for me despite the hard working and large (for Chichester) cast. A lot of the staging is far too busy and without focus and I question some of the updated arrangements. There is a very strange dream ballet in Act 2 which slows things down and was (for me) completely unnecessary. That said, Matt Lucas was ok - he could do with being a little less "cock-er-nee" but his Sally was overwhelmingly bland. The Lambeth Walk is relentless though and the whole thing looks as if it's ready for a transfer (finale costumes etc...) Could do with a bit more pace in the book scenes too. Needless to say the audience loved it.

[mrbarnaby]

Saw this last night- what a stinker. Charmless, the tone completely wrong.

Caroline Quentin showing no sign of being the ‘Dragon’ that she’s branded as.

The female lawyer was woeful - and totally unfunny.

The whole thing is joyless . You know it’s bad when they can’t even turn The Lambeth Walk into a showstopper.

[mrbarnaby]

Jul 24, 2018 6:35:08 GMT frankubelik said:

It's fine, but that's it. It never really came to life for me despite the hard working and large (for Chichester) cast. A lot of the staging is far too busy and without focus and I question some of the updated arrangements. There is a very strange dream ballet in Act 2 which slows things down and was (for me) completely unnecessary. That said, Matt Lucas was ok - he could do with being a little less "cock-er-nee" but his Sally was overwhelmingly bland. The Lambeth Walk is relentless though and the whole thing looks as if it's ready for a transfer (finale costumes etc...) Could do with a bit more pace in the book scenes too. Needless to say the audience loved it.

To be fair, Chichester audiences love any old crap.

[wickedgrin]

This production is like drinking warm champagne without the fizz!

Me & My Girl is a joyous show with humour and romance at it's heart but this production is leaden and fails to take off at any point. A huge disappointment!

This is due to a lack of pace throughout - especially the dialogue sections which seemed to be endless and mostly unfunny but mainly some massive miscasting.

Matt Lucas is a triple threat - he cannot act, he cannot sing and he cannot dance. He may have still been struggling with his throat infection, but that does not excuse his inability to dance and be (for a comedian) remarkably unfunny. He has no connection with his "girl" of the title at any level and this undermines the whole show. Alex Young as Sally faired better with an affecting "Once You Lose Your Heart" in the second act - the only time the show fluttered to life, although why she was made to look so geeky with glasses was a mystery.

The casting of Jennie Dale ( a brilliant performer ) as the family solicitor Parchester was a massive mistake, totally wrong and unfunny - her number "The Family Solicitor" which is a comic number died the death!

Caroline Quentin as the Duchess was delightful and seemed to be having a ball throughout but nothing like the gorgon initially described in the script deeming her "thawing" later in the show totally redundant.

The part of Lady Jaqueline (who's simply after any man with money) was played by an actress who was the double of Megan Markle - which did raise some giggles from my party which provided some much needed merriment!

There were some rather odd dance breaks inserted - most notably a samba in the middle of "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" which was totally incongruous and resulted in a chaotic dance sequence.

However, the production looked sumptuous with gorgeous costumes and sets (which was reminiscent of Downton Abbey) and a large cast, and I have to report that a packed house really enjoyed it and Chichester must be hoping for a transfer into town to appeal to the American tourists and the old folk. We shall see...…….

[galinda]

I was thinking of seeing this but some of the reviews are putting me off.

It was between this and Flowers for Mrs Harris.. (can't be bothered going to Chichester twice!)

[Deleted]

I hope this transfers. I just cannot be faffed to schlep to Chichester.

[Deleted]

I didn't spot the Meghan Markle comparison but did wonder why she had been made brunette when her song mentions being blonde. But that might be the reason for the creative decision.

[wickedgrin]

Yes, the song lyric made no sense at all!

[alicechallice]

Jul 24, 2018 8:21:12 GMT mrbarnaby said:

Jul 24, 2018 6:35:08 GMT frankubelik said:

It's fine, but that's it. It never really came to life for me despite the hard working and large (for Chichester) cast. A lot of the staging is far too busy and without focus and I question some of the updated arrangements. There is a very strange dream ballet in Act 2 which slows things down and was (for me) completely unnecessary. That said, Matt Lucas was ok - he could do with being a little less "cock-er-nee" but his Sally was overwhelmingly bland. The Lambeth Walk is relentless though and the whole thing looks as if it's ready for a transfer (finale costumes etc...) Could do with a bit more pace in the book scenes too. Needless to say the audience loved it.

To be fair, Chichester audiences love any old crap.

What an unbelievably condescending thing to say.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2018 17:43:43 GMT alicechallice said:

Jul 24, 2018 8:21:12 GMT mrbarnaby said:

To be fair, Chichester audiences love any old crap.

What an unbelievably condescending thing to say.

You sound surprised. It's not the first time something like this has been said on here, this board can be notoriously ageist at times.

[viserys]

Has anyone else been since? Has Matt Lucas been missing any more performances?

I'll be there on Friday and I'm trying to tell myself that I'll be having a good time, having waited for both a revival of Me & My Girl and a chance to visit the fabled Chichester Festival for a long time.

[SageStageMgr]

Popping along to this tonight...

[Steve]

Saw today's matinee, and agree with the lukewarm reviews on here. For me, both Caroline Quentin and Matt Lucas were miscast, but Alex Young practically saved the day all by herself.

Some spoilers follow. . .

To put this in context, the miscasting here is not as horrific as the Menier's Barnum, but it is pronounced.

Caroline Quentin does her usual likeable self, putting zero bite into savage pronouncements, such as the one about the upper classes "not doing love," (one can dream about the clipped fury a Penelope Keith could give a line like that) and the like, thus throwing the whole stiff-upper-lip vs charming-wideboy clash out of balance.

Worse, Matt Lucas doesn't do charming wideboy at all. In fact, he is only convincing doing vulnerable, when, alone on stage, he feels abandoned by love.

Thus, the whole set-up is neutered, and all the jokes fall flat. I remember how Robert Lindsay dazzled, eyes twinkling, teeth flashing, hat twirling, and engaged the love of the audience totally. He was a Bill Snibson for the ages, a man we could root for, to smash that world of snobs to pieces, and rebuild it, and the audience, in his own playful image.

Lucas tries to be bold, a sort of child version of Lindsay, a Pee Wee Herman oddball silent movie comedian type crashing his way into the set, but his muted persona betrays the pizzazz, the vulnerability within seeping into his performance and infecting the audience with concern instead of exuberance.

Coupled with Quentin making the toffs too likeable, the effect is a dissonance that mutes all laughter, and confuses the culture clash conflict. Where we should exalt in the uniting of two charged poles, instead our dramatic battery is flat.

Thank goodness for Alex Young. She has an exhilarating exuberance, that Lucas lacks, and her Sally lifts the mood of the show with her every appearance. Not only did she have the show, she also had the tell, able to quell her joyful spirit temporarily, to put across an affecting "Once you lose your heart."

Also on the plus side, if Quentin's characterisation was questionable, her singing was not, swelling even her high notes into fullness.

And Siubhan Harrison took her man-eater caricature of a character and ran with it, delightfully filling the stage with verve and attitude.

There is a lot to like here, with the aforementioned "The sun has got his hat on" particularly lively, both in movement and song, utilising almost the entire ensemble.

Overall, for me, a mixed bag. 3 stars.

[SageStageMgr]

Wow!!! This blew away even my best expectations.

I must preface my opinion by outing myself as a newbie. I’ve never seen the show before - or even listened to the soundtrack. Aside from knowing the “Lambeth Walk” and “The Sun Has Got His Hat On” the score was essentially new to me. Given the old-fashioned nature of the show, I didn’t have especially high hopes going into this. Which is why I opted for a £10 restricted view seat in the balcony row W, seat 119. This seat was a lot better than it sounds.

For anyone who didn’t know, they employ a thrust stage. It is directed by Daniel Evans so that little if any, action takes place at the rear of the stage and the experience is akin to watching the show from auditorium left in the round. Bargain! The parts you don’t see clearly are the projections of the train journey (around 30 seconds long) onto the gauze cut cloth after he overture and then the same in the second act. All in two 2 minutes of limited view, when the seats just beside are in the £30 region. And I question their value comparatively!

The show starts inauspiciously though and took me a good 30 minutes to warm to the “feel” of the evening. During the solicitor’s song, I was starting to wonder if it had been worth the trip. Her scenes/song fell very flat and I felt a little bad for the actress given how bad it was going.

But things improve steadily and, despite the somewhat mediocre score, I found myself smiling more and more as the act progressed. The Act I finale is “The Lambeth walk”, which is brilliant. A musical theatre production number at its most shameless and fun. Beautifully danced, so much energy!

Act 2 opens with the campest of camp; “The Sun Has Got His Hat On” is comically OTT and thoroughly enjoyable. Ridiculous musical theatre excess. The boys and girls in short shorts, with hula hoops, beach balls and towels is certainly to please everyone. Except perhaps the prudish well-to-do couple and their three teenage daughters in front of me, who loudly tutted and shook their heads in almost perfect Pavlovian unison after some particularly vigorous gyrating. There’s also a line about things being “gay”, which made me giggle. Very knowing.

I found the thin story surprisingly interesting, my attention never waned. Surprising, considering I would consider it very slow and safe - and perhaps a little tame by modern standards.

I really enjoyed the performances; Matt Lucas was way better than I anticipated. I didn’t think much of his Thenardiér (and that’s being polite) but this was a good fit for him. His singing is perfectly fine, his acting was goo... but his dancing... awful. Luckily, the production doesn’t make him do very much. But what he does do is like drunk Bambi on ice after filling out for winter.

Caroline Quentin... wow!!! I must confess to being a big fan of hers anyway, and she was the draw which made me do the long trek to see the show in the first place. I’m a big Jonathan Creek fan, mainly thanks to her, and she certainly doesn’t disappoint. She can act, as a given and her singing was so very strong (but then, she was in the original cast of Les Miserables and sang often on Whose Line is it Anyway and elsewhere). But just her general stage presence is so strong, I found I couldn’t take my eyes off her whenever she was onstage. A stunning example of how to own a stage.

One big issue I did have though, was her characterisation. She is referred to early in the second act as a “dragon” and is made out to be a real piece of work. She isn’t. At least so that we’re shown during the show. She is entirely likeable and fair throughout; joins in the “Lambeth Walk” and actually appears to want to HELP and bring “new blood” into the family. The other issue being that La Quentin is very hard to dislike in the role; rather than a scary matronly figure, she’s like a grumpy daft old Auntie with a smile in her eyes while she tells you off, because she knows she was just the same at your age.


A few other thoughts;

- The oldest audience I’ve ever seen anything professionally with. Aside from the disapproving family in front, I saw maybe a handful of people under the age of 60. Most looked 70+. Whether this is the show or the venue or both is a matter for debate. It took ten minutes to get from my seat to the toilet, because everyone moved so sloooowly!

- I was a little nervous about the conductor’s gap in the stage throughout. I’d feel a lot better if there were some kind of barrier or something around it. Made me nervous whenever anyone tapped/ran through the very narrow gap down stage of it! The actors must have to be constantly aware of it as they perform!

- Very full house, almost every seat sold, and the matinee was sold out. It’s doing very full provincially there at least.

- If (when?) this transfers, it needs to add 7-9 to the ensemble in my opinion. Although the cast was just enough for this stage, when they got in two rows, it showed how another one was sorely lacking. I know this is a huge expense though.

- This is a very well lit show, love the designs and they’ve certainly got a lot of lanterns and places to rig them front of house to get the effects desired. The sound was also excellent, loud, which I appreciated. Could hear every word.

- Goodness me isn’t Siubhan Harrison beautiful? I mean, she’s absolutely stunning. I admired her greatly as Sarah Brown in “Guys and Dolls”, and she’s lost none of the charm changing from a mildly frosty pure heart to a somewhat trashy ice queen. If I were casting West Side Story she’d be the only name on the shortlist.

[viserys]

Thanks for the reviews... interesting to read two so different opinions back to back. I shall add my thoughts tomorrow but I'm now looking forward to it a bit more again. And to feeling very young again for once

[emsworthian]

I too was at yesterday's matinee. I veer more towards SageStageManager's view than Steve's but both made some valid points.

First, I shall tackle the elephant in the room: Matt Lucas as the lead. To cast as the leading man in a musical someone who cannot sing or dance seems bizarre. Steve used the word muted to describe Lucas' performance and he did seem subdued in the first half. I wondered if he had a cold (That would at least be an explanation for his singing). However, he was more animated in the second half and I did find him amusing. I disagree that all the jokes fell flat. People around me were laughing. (Chichester audiences tend to be more subdued in their laughter - they rarely guffaw).
The strange ballet sequence to "Leaning on a Lamppost" has been mentioned on this thread. I don't remember this when I saw "Me and My Girl" in the West End many years ago and I wondered if it had been added to cover up Lucas' lack of singing and dancing ability.

I shall defend Caroline Quentin; perhaps she isn't fierce enough at the beginning but the whole thing is fairytale-ish rather than deep psychological drama and she had great stage presence. As to Steve's claim that the class conflict isn't fully brought out, we are entering a world more akin to P.G. Wodehouse than Marx and Engels. I thought the issue of having to choose between the woman you love and status and possession was highlighted enough (with references to the then monarch Edward VIII).

I got the Siubhan Harrison/Meghan Merkle resemblance (she also resembled Wallis Simpson) and I thought Harrison was terrific. So was Alex Young as Sally.

The other tragic bit of miscasting was Jennie Dale as Parchester. When I saw it years ago, Parchester was portrayed as an elderly ultra-respectable, rather mousy man. When he then launched into a song and dance act, it brought the house down. I can still remember him dancing around with a carnation in his mouth and I'm pretty sure his number got an encore. Here, with Jennie Dale, it just got polite applause. Although Jennie Dale has a great voice and can dance, she is simply completely wrong for the part.

The chorus was great fun, especially during "The Sun Has got His Hat On". I loved the orchestra and the washboard sequence at the end was an added bonus.

The "Lambeth Walk" was great. When I saw the show in the West End, I thought this number was too dragged out but here I wanted it to go on longer.

Verdict: enjoyable show with some flaws. Replace Matt Lucas (although not with Marcus Brigstocke, for goodness sake) and replace Jennie Dale and you have a sure-fire West End hit.

[Deleted]

I believe the dream ballet in Leaning On A Lamppost was added to the production when it transferred to Broadway in 1986. The full extended musical sequence is on the Broadway Cast Recording.

[emsworthian]

Aug 9, 2018 8:09:56 GMT @tbfl said:

I believe the dream ballet in Leaning On A Lamppost was added to the production when it transferred to Broadway in 1986. The full extended musical sequence is on the Broadway Cast Recording.

Thanks for the info.

[frosty]

Seeing this tonight, followed by the 'late night cabaret' with the cast in the Minerva bar afterwards. Reading the mixed reviews, I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure after a few gins and a bit of a singalong in the bar, I will think it's marvellous!

[Deleted]

Aug 8, 2018 22:36:42 GMT SageStageMgr said:

Goodness me isn’t Siubhan Harrison beautiful? I mean, she’s absolutely stunning. I admired her greatly as Sarah Brown in “Guys and Dolls”, and she’s lost none of the charm changing from a mildly frosty pure heart to a somewhat trashy ice queen. If I were casting West Side Story she’d be the only name on the shortlist.

I agree but what I've liked about her is that she hasn't necessarily traded on that in her different roles and she's an actress that I've realised that I've seen her in lots of things lately and she's one of those names where I'm really happy to see her in something and more often than not she delivers. She's adept at both drama and comedy and she's got a fabulous voice. She should be a bigger name than she is really. Many people will also be pleased to hear that she's a representative for the Equal Representation for Actresses (ERA) campaign too.

[SageStageMgr]

Aug 9, 2018 10:28:04 GMT @ryan said:

Aug 8, 2018 22:36:42 GMT SageStageMgr said:

Goodness me isn’t Siubhan Harrison beautiful? I mean, she’s absolutely stunning. I admired her greatly as Sarah Brown in “Guys and Dolls”, and she’s lost none of the charm changing from a mildly frosty pure heart to a somewhat trashy ice queen. If I were casting West Side Story she’d be the only name on the shortlist.

I agree but what I've liked about her is that she hasn't necessarily traded on that in her different roles and she's an actress that I've realised that I've seen her in lots of things lately and she's one of those names where I'm really happy to see her in something and more often than not she delivers. She's adept at both drama and comedy and she's got a fabulous voice. She should be a bigger name than she is really. Many people will also be pleased to hear that she's a representative for the Equal Representation for Actresses (ERA) campaign too.

That’s all great to hear and just makes me admire her more. I don’t know her personally and have only seen her in two things but both times she was a very capable performer.

And she’s attractive. So very attractive!