Nice Work If You Can Get It - Upstairs at the Gatehouse

[notmymuse]

On 12th December until 27th January, the UK premiere www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it

It was reasonably well received on Broadway in 2012 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice_Work_If_You_Can_Get_It_(musical) so may be worth a look

[mallardo]

The presence in the cast of Kelli O'Hara and Matthew Broderick helped it on Broadway but it's a decent show in the Crazy For You mould - music by Gershwin. The book by Joe DiPietro (Memphis, Toxic Avenger) is clever and funny.

[Dr Tom]

I was there for the first preview tonight. Sold out.

Before the show John announced it was 21 years to the day since the theatre hosted its first show. It was also the first ever performance of Nice Work in the UK, quite an achievement.

It’s a fun show, although I think it would have struggled in the West End. Works in this fringe type environment with an appreciative and older crowd.

The usual Gatehouse layout. Audience on two tiered sides, get there early for a good seat choice. Only four rows so you’re always going to have a close view. Band raised high on one side. Lower raised area on the other side. Simple staging and the cast bring things on and off.

I got a good central front seat. The usual danger that you’re a fraction of inch away from being tap danced on or getting hit by a flailing arm, but the cast did remarkably well in the small space, including some innovative touches.

You’re more likely to get by flying salad or cream (I had a very narrow miss).

In very good shape with only a few fluffs and a tiny bit of mic feedback. As so often in the venue, the band overpowers some of the lyrics, whilst others are crystal clear.

This is largely a jukebox musical but there is a plot (even though I heard a woman near me in the interval thinking it was just unconnected scenes). It can be a bit hard to follow as there’s a lot of people disguising themselves as others and mistaken identity (and some of the cast legitimately double up on roles too).

If you’ve seen Oh, Kay! (musical), which I caught in New York a couple of years ago, the plot is for all intent and purposes identical, even with many lines intact. Just the songs have been swapped for some of the most memorable Gershwin songs. The crowd clearly liked them, song helped by singing along and other shared helpful comments with one another.

The gun warning. There is a gun waved around but it’s never fired and only briefly in the show. The language is family friendly but there’s a lot sold on sex, including a bathtub scene, so not really one aimed at children although there were a few in the audience.

Still some things to tidy up including the odd wardrobe malfunction (I now know they wore Calvin Klein boxer shorts during prohibition).

I was very impressed by the lead Alistair So as well. Good singer and dancer who I remember from The King and I. Very easy on the eye too, clean shaven and much better than his headshots suggest. And generally a talented and hard working cast.

Running time is 2 hours 30 minutes (maybe slightly shorter if they don’t do an introduction every night). And if you’re there half an hour early queued up the stairs, you’re bound to have the cast squeeze past you as they nip in and out.

I think this has already sold well in advance as the Ovation musicals tend to do. It’s a real rarity and worth a trip if you like these traditionally styled musicals.

[Phantom of London]

Do we know if the performers get paid there?

[Dr Tom]

Jan 3, 2019 1:54:06 GMT Phantom of London said:

Do we know if the performers get paid there?

I believe so. It’s a professional production.

I also recall seeing the pay values advertised for a previous production by Ovation.

[firefingers]

Payment was roughly inline with similar venues like Southwark Playhouse when I worked there.

[stevej678]

I thought this was sensational, topping even The Producers at the Royal Exchange as the pick of this year's festive musicals.

The glorious Gershwin music and the full ensemble numbers in an intimate setting like Upstairs at the Gatehouse was an absolute treat.

I wasn't familiar with the story but as a farcical comedy I thought it really worked, with so many great one liners and laugh-out-loud moments which just kept on coming. 2 hours 25 minutes absolutely flew by.

It's an outstanding cast. Charlotte Scally is a riot as the high-pitched interpretative dance queen Eileen Evergreen, her bathtub scene singing 'Delishious' a particular highlight.

There's some lovely interplay between Abigail Earnshaw and Fraser Fraser as the social climber Jeannie and the dim-witted Duke, culminating in their Do It Again duet, while David Pendlebury and Harry Cooper-Millar as the besieged fake butler and hapless police officer were also a hoot.

Adam Crossley did a great job covering for Alistair So as Jimmy Winter. There was a pre-show announcement that Adam (dance captain and usually in the ensemble) had learnt the lead role in the past 24 hours. He did a phenomenal job and gave a remarkably assured performance.

As strong as the entire company is here though, the star of the show is Jessica-Elizabeth Nelson as Billie. On the surface, Billie appears to be a no-nonsense hard-faced bootlegger but she quickly falls for the charms of her intended victim. From the hilarious seduction number Treat Me Rough to the heartache of But Not For Me, Jessica-Elizabeth gave a powerhouse performance, every bit as S'Wonderful as the iconic Gershwin song. I thought she brought real heart to the production, revealing a vulnerability beneath the surface of Billie while showcasing superb comic timing and sublime, gorgeous vocals. A star in the making.

For me, Nice Work If You Can Get It blows last year's Ovation production of Top Hat out of the water and is quite simply unumissable. When the full company take to the stage for numbers such as Fascinating Rhythm it really is a sight and sound to behold. In between the big numbers, the show delivers a blast of glorious comedy with production values that more than match the likes of Southwark Playhouse, The Other Palace and the Menier, all topped off by a warm and friendly welcome. Several of the remaining performances are sold out but there's no doubt this will be a very nice ticket if you can get one!

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

[Dr Tom]

Just illness for Alastair So I take it, or has he left the show permanently? He was excellent when I saw it.

[Someone in a tree]

Thanks to everyones high praise I’ve booked tickets for the final performance

#lovethisboard

[robertb213]

Bit of an enjoyable shambles this afternoon - the lead actor is still off sick so Adam covered again, script in hand (he did a great job). Then there was a show stop for 15 minutes towards the end of the first act while they figured out how to do the next scene with the reduced cast. Then during the interval, the lead actress decided she couldn't carry on either due to illness so her role was read from another script in the second act by a man! Bless them, the cast worked really hard around the various issues and it was still a good show 😀

[Phantom of London]

Jan 3, 2019 8:22:36 GMT Dr Tom said:

Jan 3, 2019 1:54:06 GMT Phantom of London said:

Do we know if the performers get paid there?

I believe so. It’s a professional production.

I also recall seeing the pay values advertised for a previous production by Ovation.

Jan 3, 2019 11:15:05 GMT firefingers said:

Payment was roughly inline with similar venues like Southwark Playhouse when I worked there.

Thanks for that, with that information I am now booked for Tuesday!!!

Saw this a couple of times on Broadway.

[fossil]

I saw this yesterday and watched a terrific show. I wish I could also say that I heard a terrific show but the balance of the sound was awful. Despite the actors being miked up they were often drowned out by the over-loud band. It is such a shame when the hard work of the performers is being spoilt by the poor sound engineering. I know this is not a problem of the venue as I have I saw Top Hat last year and that was fine.

[stevej678]

Jan 14, 2019 16:12:23 GMT fossil said:

I saw this yesterday and watched a terrific show. I wish I could also say that I heard a terrific show but the balance of the sound was awful. Despite the actors being miked up they were often drowned out by the over-loud band. It is such a shame when the hard work of the performers is being spoilt by the poor sound engineering. I know this is not a problem of the venue as I have I saw Top Hat last year and that was fine.

Funnily enough, it was the opposite way round for me! I found the same issues watching Top Hat last year but for Nice Work, despite being sat by the band, it was fine! Looking forward to watching this for a second time at the weekend.

[Steve]

Assistant choreographer, Amy Perry, woke up this morning in Aberdeen, got a call that the leading lady was indisposed, and that she was the only one who could fill in as she knew the choreography (naturally), arrived at the theatre at 4pm, and after 3 hours of rehearsal, went on as Billie, and frankly, she was fabulous, even with script in hand.

I had seen Perry act a few times before, most recently and most memorably as Gertrude McFuzz, the bird with one feather for a tail in "Seussical," at Southwark Playhouse, in which I felt she and Marc Pickering were the standout comic performers, for their committed comic attitudes (in her case, a perfectly pitched insecurity about having only one tail feather).

And it is that charisma and comedic instinct that paid off in Perry's performance tonight, in which a deer-caught-in-headlights Gertrude McFuzz got to insecurely fret and bumble over the inferiority of her (this time metaphorical) tail feather all over again, as Billie Bendix, the lowly bootlegger who takes a fancy to high society Jimmy Winter, the open and charming Alistair So.

The plot of this show goes haywire, and down the bill, the delightful Amdram feel of some American accents not quite mastered, and some performances more cheerful than convincing, led me to stop caring too much about the resolution, but Perry and So were a captivating coupling, as were Fraser Fraser and Abigail Earnshaw as two loveable dopes who fall for each other, with Fraser loveably slow, and Earnshaw loveably ditsy.

I also loved Charlotte Scally as high-pitched comic caricature, Eileen Earnshaw, whose must have learned her blunt and blocky improvisational dance moves from the Ministry of Silly Walks, and her pinched facial expressions from the Ministry of Silly Faces. A hoot, as was Harry Cooper-Millar's bumbling policeman.

If some of the other acting was slightly less convincing, the choreography was not, being as buoyant and exciting as I could imagine for a small space.

Overall, this evening was a delight, for the Gershwin tunes, for the choreography, and the above-mentioned performances. An evening saved by Gertrude McFuzz, a flightless bird that caught an Easyjet, and had more comic tail feathers than advertised.

3 and a half stars.

[showgirl]

There's probably (to some here) a really obvious reason but why couldn't Daniel Evans at CFT do this or something similar as the main house musical this year? Some Gershwin (or Cole Porter) would be wonderful - & no doubt popular.

[Someone in a tree]

Last nights performance was really great, I especially liked the two leads