Uppingham Theatre: Rutland Musical Theatre in South Pacific
Uppingham Theatre: Rutland Musical Theatre in South Pacific. All week until Saturday 11 April 2009.
Bad times demand good tunes and they don't come much better than in South Pacific.
The plot of this Rodgers and Hammerstein blockbuster may be utter tosh but its happy music is guaranteed to lift the credit crunch blues and send satisfied punters singing as they leave the theatre.
I last saw this sultry farrago on film at a Nottingham fleapit where the manager had the bright idea of turning up the heating in the cinema to sell more ice creams.
It gets pretty warm at Uppingham Theatre where the thermostat seems permanently set at max but it all fitted in with the collective heat generated from the stage where director John Hackett has again succeeded in drilling a local cast of enthusiastic amateurs into West End performances.
The story is based on a James Michener novel set at a US naval base on an exotic island during the Second World War.
The two strands of romance feature the love of a venerable French planter for a lively American nurse and the fascination of a naive young lieutenant for a mysterious native girl.
The broad humour of the navy personnel balances the schmaltz.
In Mr Hackett's production Sally Montague's choreography is suitably nimble, the children are charming - Alice Crackwell and Angus Cooper share roles with Georgia Ambrose and Michael Jordan - and the full-bodied vocals are uniformly excellent.
Oakham's Rod Dawkins gets the best from both male and female choruses as well as appearing on stage and conductor Martyn Ford makes four fiddles sound like a cascade of strings, backed by punchy brass and felicitous woodwind.
But it is the high standard of the principals' singing that is quite remarkable for a local company.
Phillip Sendall is in magnificent form as the lovelorn Emile de Becque, while Ruth Laverick is suitably perky as Nellie Forbush, belting out showstoppers with gusto and dancing divinely.
Andy Lee is a bellicose Luther Blissett and Margaret Wainwright a cheeky Bloody Mary, and though Richard Hodgson looks almost too young to be playing Lieut Joe Cable he possesses a fine high tenor voice.
Hit follows hit in quick succession.
They include Younger Than Springtime, There Is Nothing Like A Dame, Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair and Honey Bun, and although various reprises of Some Enchanted Evening may jar after a time, Rodgers' marvellous score still sounds fresh as paint after 50 years.
The show continues until Saturday evening, with tickets available from Freeway Travel on 01572 822702.
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Weather for Stamford
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Light sleet
Temperature: -5 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
