Gay's the Word

Synopsis

Ivor Novello affectionately sends up his own Ruritanian extravagances in this irrestistible backstage musical comedy. Stage star Gay Daventry, bankrupted from the flop of her latest operetta, opens a drama school and finds - after various misadventures - that the one quality needed to get her back in the spotlight is, to name the show's hit song, Vitality! Other numbers include If Only He'd Looked My Way (subsequently recorded by Frank Sinatra), Bees Are Buzzin' and the enchanting On Such A Night As This, all combining Novello's melodic talent with Alan Melville's sharp wit.

Our Review:

Andrew Girvan - 8 February 2012

Having "struck a dud" with her latest production, leading lady Gay Daventry (Sophie-Louise Dann) is encouraged to profit from passing on her skills to the next generation by the failed show's ingénue, Linda Severn (Helena Blackman).

The result is a backstage comedy set in Daventry's freshly formed acting academy where the theatrical jokes fly and a quartet of "old pros" - Doreen Hermitage, Eileen Page, Myra Sands and Elizabeth Seal - are recruited and murderously lament over a life spent teaching stage craft to impossible pupils rather than treading the boards themselves.

Dann is excellent from the off, belting over the eight-strong ensemble in the opening pastiche and wringing every last laugh from her first solo number "It's Bound to be Right on the Night".

Both Blackman and love interest Peter Lynton, played by Josh Little, are suitably dreamy as the young lovers with Little also able to unleash a Kenneth Williams-style comedy in additi...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 22 February 2012:

The audience is only 66% bigger than the cast, but it’s a full house. It’s performed on the set of the play which occupies the same theatre most of the week. Only 400 people will get to see it (including 2 extra performance!). It hasn’t been revived since it was first produced over 50 years ago. Its crying out for a major staging & if it got one could be the sort of hit Me & My Girl was second time around (though they might have to change the title!). It’s simply wonderful. Ivor Novello’s musical comedy starts on the stage of Manchester Opera House as the run of a musical flop ends before it gets to London (actually, the show within a show – Ruritania – is rather good). Actress Gay Daventry has lost a fortune backing the show. With start-up funding from a rich(er) fellow actor she gives up the stage and sets up a school of acting in Folkstone, surrounding herself with veteran teachers of singing, acting and dance. She struggles to make a living despite the arrival of a rich student and sub-letting to some smugglers. Of course, it all ends happily – this is 1950′s musical theatre. The show has some great tunes and it’s very funny. Stewart Nicholls production sparkles. I think they’ve taken some liberties with the book but it adds to the freshness rather than spoils the original. It’s cramped in this tiny space (with audience all round) but this somehow improves audience engagement and enhances intimacy more than it detracts from the spectacle. But it’s the cast wot does it and boy what a cast. Sophie-Louise Dann gives one of the finest musical comedy performances I’ve ever seen; she sings beautifully and is a master at comedy. Helena Blackman continues to impress with a particular affinity & suitability for this period, as she showed in Noel & Gertie last year. There’s a quartet of veteran ladies – Doreen Hermitage, Eileen Page, Myra Sands & Elizabeth Seal – who almost steal the show with the second act opener ‘Teaching’, Josh Little is an excellent romantic lead and the ensemble sparkles. We even get a cameo from Frank Barrie. It is a huge treat and it must have a life beyond here. Bring on the Novello revival! ...

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