This isn’t going to be a proper review. I used to review books for a couple of national magazines, and I was terrible at it, so this will be just a list of feelings and thoughts. Probably in no particular order.
The eagle-eyed among you may notice that this is the first post I’ve made on this site in a little over three years. I intend to rectify that — not because the world needs to know my thoughts, but because I like writing, and restricting it to posts on social media seem such a waste. It’ll also act as an aide-mémoir for me, as I’m not known for my amazing memory.
It’s also not a coincidence that my dry spell is being broken after seeing a new piece of theatre, and my having to record what I saw. I’ll mention some of the characters, but not the actors, as the show proved to be so popular that they ran out of programmes! Which is a shame: I go to the theatre a lot, but I don’t keep theatre programmes; I would’ve kept this one.
Last night I drove 162 miles from my home in York to central Cambridge to see a new musical: Unfolding. Everyone who knows me knows my love of musical theatre, but driving for well over three hours to see a new show performed at a community theatre was a new experience. Why did I do it? Two reasons: 1) the book, music and lyrics were all written by a friend (Emma Vieceli, who also starred in it) and I wanted to support her new venture, and 2) I’d already heard half a dozen of the songs as she’d released them on Spotify, and they filled me with confidence.
So, I bought 10 tickets, and got some mutual friends to come along and see it.
Unfolding is a show about penfriends —Rose, living in England, and Mark who lives in New York (the state, not the city). From school age they write to each other, regularly, telling each other about their lives and their dreams. Mark is bookish and maybe a bit of a disappointment to his parents because of that; Rose is also bookish, but her parents are supportive.
Unlike most penfriends, this long distance friendship thrives, and never evolves from paper to email — there’s something special about receiving a letter or card in the post that email can never reproduce. So Rose and Mark write, and write often, until sometime in the year leading up to Rose’s 40th birthday Mark’s letters stop.
There’s more plot than that, of course, and it all (mostly*) makes sense, but as I mentioned at the top, this isn’t a proper review. This is mostly a random collections of thoughts about the show.
So, here are some random thoughts:
Emma (as Rose) was perfect. It’s almost as if the show were written for her <insert wink emoji>! Her singing voice is exceptional, and equalled by her acting; she makes the smaller, more intimate moments of the show work, with a degree of authentic believability you would hope to see from a seasoned professional actor. At no point did I start seeing her onstage as Emma-who-I-know instead of Rose.
Emma was ably supported by a talented ensemble, including Rose’s three best friends, Mark from the USA and a chorus of character-rotating performers, who played every other role. The talent on show last night was impressive, and you could almost lift the show from its community setting to the West End without thinking too much.
The band performed well, and the volume of the music almost never overshadowed the voices of the performers—a pet peeve of mine. Emma’s husband also played guitar as part of the band. Honestly, the talent in that household is sickeningly high. Let someone else have a go, Emma and Pud!
The show worked well in the relatively intimate setting of the ADC Theatre (max capacity 228) and would scale up well to bigger venues. That said, it is an intimate show, and I could see it doing really well at, say, the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden, which is only marginally bigger.
I do have two (very) small niggles, and one absolutely major one, though.
But who are you, and why do you get to have thoughts? Well, five reasons:
- I’m an enormous consumer of musical theatre and am able to consider the different parts that make up a show in context as a result of decades of consuming them.
- I’m a professional editor (of books) by day, and have a deep understanding of stories and story structure.
- I used to be a professional theatre director, and can bring that perspective.
- I’ve co-written two plays that toured regionally (extensively) and nationally (a more limited run).
- I’m a bloke with a computer and his own blog.
The two small niggles (and they are small, and I still wholeheartedly recommend the show in its current form):
- I would have liked to have seen the supporting cast get a greater share of the musical numbers in Act 1. This is very much Rose’s show, but the first act did feel very weighted toward her in terms of song allocations (and this is in no way criticising Emma’s performance, which I absolutely cannot fault). Act 2 saw the numbers spread out more across the principals, and it was stronger for it.
- I would have liked to see more of Mark in Act 1. It is imperative that we care about Mark, but we’re only given the opportunity to do so through Rose’s words, not his own, so when we properly meet him later in the show, he has a lot of ground to make up.
*And the major niggle:
- Rose, as written, is a sensible woman, with friends who adore and support her, but (and this is so outrageous I can barely believe it was written into the script) she prefers Roast Beef Monster Munch to Pickled Onion flavour. How her friends can even look her in the eye is a step too far in terms of suspension of disbelief. Mark, on the other hand, prefers pickled onion flavour, thereby showing himself to be a man of taste and integrity. A very minor slip-up by Emma Vieceli in an otherwise wonderful character study.
And I mentioned the West End twice in this random collection of thoughts. I visit it often, and have watched more shows there than I care to recall. Tickets at the ADC Theatre for Unfolding were £20 a seat. Would I pay six times that to see it in the West End? Yes, and I’d consider it money well spent.
Last night was the final night of the show’s inaugural run, but if you didn’t see it, don’t worry too much: I am confident the show has a bright future. And if Emma ever decides to give up writing and drawing comics for a living, she absolutely has the talent to make it in the world of musical theatre as a creator and as a performer. Just lose the Monster Munch wrongness, Emma; it’s fooling no-one!
#teampickledonion
