Kings Theatre, Edinburgh
4 stars
For a particular generation, Al Jolson was the only song and dance man who mattered. Yet, while this Lithuanian immigrant helped usher in the talkies with his turn in The Jazz Singer, which followed some of the most energetic live shows of his era, beyond his ruthlessly driven performances was an insecure and often nasty piece of work. This revival of Stephen Mo Hanan and Jay Berkow’s 1999 Off-Broadway show doesn’t fudge from Jolson’s vanity, philandering and wife-beating across a quartet of marriages, and this revival co-produced by Festival City Theatres is far from the feelgood vehicle for Allan Stewart as advertised. For such a seasoned song and dance man to play someone so unpleasant and still come up smelling of roses is quite a theatrical feat, regardless of the fudge on the blacking up issue.
The play’s conceit is to place Jolson in a radio interview in 1949, the year before his death, and have him skim through a past defined by the early demise of a mother he never replaced, and punctuated with a series of Sunday matinee show-stoppers. The effect, as Stewart works the room, is of a none-redemptive Scrooge squaring up to a role-call of ghosts played with versatile brio by Christopher Howell and Donna Steele. Steele in particular all but steals the scenes she’s in.
Festival City Theatres might think about inviting the producers of Michael Jackson homage Thriller Live, currently running at the Festival Theatre, along to see Stewart and co. Because, while their show is not without merit, Jolson and Co is a masterclass in how to turn real lives and great songs into popular drama without compromise.
The Herald, March 5th 2009
ends
4 stars
For a particular generation, Al Jolson was the only song and dance man who mattered. Yet, while this Lithuanian immigrant helped usher in the talkies with his turn in The Jazz Singer, which followed some of the most energetic live shows of his era, beyond his ruthlessly driven performances was an insecure and often nasty piece of work. This revival of Stephen Mo Hanan and Jay Berkow’s 1999 Off-Broadway show doesn’t fudge from Jolson’s vanity, philandering and wife-beating across a quartet of marriages, and this revival co-produced by Festival City Theatres is far from the feelgood vehicle for Allan Stewart as advertised. For such a seasoned song and dance man to play someone so unpleasant and still come up smelling of roses is quite a theatrical feat, regardless of the fudge on the blacking up issue.
The play’s conceit is to place Jolson in a radio interview in 1949, the year before his death, and have him skim through a past defined by the early demise of a mother he never replaced, and punctuated with a series of Sunday matinee show-stoppers. The effect, as Stewart works the room, is of a none-redemptive Scrooge squaring up to a role-call of ghosts played with versatile brio by Christopher Howell and Donna Steele. Steele in particular all but steals the scenes she’s in.
Festival City Theatres might think about inviting the producers of Michael Jackson homage Thriller Live, currently running at the Festival Theatre, along to see Stewart and co. Because, while their show is not without merit, Jolson and Co is a masterclass in how to turn real lives and great songs into popular drama without compromise.
The Herald, March 5th 2009
ends
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