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<b>music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Don Black, directed by Trudy Moffatt
Stephen Adler, Glyn Laverick & Trudy Moffatt,
Danforth Music Hall, Toronto
May 9- 28, 2006
</b>
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s <i>Song & Dance</i>, now receiving its Canadian premiere at the refurbished Danforth Music Hall, is not a single musical but a double bill. The first half is the staged song cycle <i>Tell Me on a Sunday</i> written in 1979. The second is a ballet choreographed to Lloyd Webber’s <i>Variations</i> for cello from 1978.
<i>Tell Me on a Sunday</i>, about a British woman’s failed series of relationships, has an insipid story but finds Lloyd Webber in one of his more inspired moods. The wonderful Louise Pitre does not at all seem British, but she digs deeply into every song and goes a long way through strength of personality and marvelous singing to make the woman’s four strike-outs in a row seem profound.
Choreographer Wayne Sleep makes <i>Variations</i> a witty, energetic exploration of the push and pull of male-female relations. The hunky Rex Harrington (injured on opening night and now replaced with Roberto Campanella) and the sylphlike Evelyn Hart remain in standard ballet mode, while the supporting cast of six dancers zestily mix dance styles of all kinds. In fact, it’s a fantastic tap duet for Ryan Foley and Jessica Dawson that steals the show. Yet, in the end you’re hungry for a real musical, especially one without such dreary sets and ugly costumes.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in <i>Eye Weekly</i> 2006-05-18.
Photo: Louise Pitre.
<b>2006-05-18</b>
<b>Song & Dance</b>