Hull New Theatre – until 23rd March 2024
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
5*****
Hessle Theatre Company brought the music and magic of Gershwin to Hull last night and what a fabulous show it was. The company were formed in 1922 and since 1958 have brought many premier musicals to the New Theatre stage and last night was no exception.
Set in 1930 the story starts backstage at Bela Zangler’s (Ian Appleyard) theatre where Zangler’s Follies have performed their last show of the season. Bobby Child (Ben Bailey) has always wanted to perform on Broadway and sees auditioning for Zangler as the way in, but things don’t go to plan as stamping on Zanglers foot, at the end of his audition, gets him, not surprisingly, rejected!
Bobby is the son of a rich banking family, and his very bossy mother Lottie (Gina Garton) needs Bobby to go to the rundown town of Deadrock, Nevada, and serve a foreclosure notice on the theatre which owes money to the bank. To get away from his mother, overbearing fiancée Irene Roth (Georgia Wormald) and his shattered dreams, Bobby flees New York and arrives in Deadrock.
Deadrock is in cowboy country and Polly Baker (Elinor Kirby) is the only woman within a fifty-mile radius and doesn’t take any nonsense from the men of the town. Her father, Everitt (Kevin Hickson) receives a letter from the bank saying that they are going to repossess his theatre and doesn’t know what he can do to save it.
After meeting Polly and seeing the theatre Bobby pulls in a few favours and gets in touch with Tess (Sarah Brodie) from Zanglers Follies to come to Deadrock to put on a show with the rest of the Follies and save the theatre. We meet the cowboys in Lank Hawkins (Richard Foot) Bar and Hotel and mayhem ensures when the Follies decide to put them in the show with them and try to teach them to sing and dance. The men of the town haven’t seen many women, especially glamorous show girls so it’s a bit chaotic! When Polly realises who Bobby is and what he is doing in Deadrock she rejects him and his plan. Can Bobby and Polly save the theatre, why are there two Bela Zangler’s and will Polly ever see Bobby for the person he really is?
The full cast of this show are outstanding, their singing, acting and dancing were first rate and their comic timing made the whole show very easy to watch. It came across that is had obviously been very well rehearsed and the cast seemed to be enjoying it as much as the audience.
The band, led by musical director Sarah Lucy Penny, were amazing and I hadn’t realised how many of the songs I actually knew. They included “Embraceable You”, “Someone to Watch Over Me”, “I Got Rhythm” and many more.
Hessle Theatre Company absolutely deserve full houses every day for this must-see production, so please go and watch it. You won’t be disappointed!!