Jerry’s Girls by Larry Alford, Wayne Cilento & Jerry Herman. The Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, London SE1 to 29 June 2024.

3✩✩✩ Review: William Russell.

“Herman heaven especially for lovers of his musicals.”

The Broadway composer Jerry Herman wrote great show tunes. Mostly, but not always, they were for his leading ladies and when a new one took over and wanted a song all her own he replaced the existing one with something remarkably similar and equally effective. The opening number for Hello Dolly is not the one Barbra Streisand sings in the film version and when Ethel Merman took over on Broadway she got a new romantic ballad. Sometimes, oddly enough, the best one was for the chorus rather than the leading lady – Hello, Dolly is not a solo and neither is Mame. This pleasing review was cobbled together on Broadway decades ago with rather bigger names than we get at the Menier but the three divas, Jessica Martin, who has been around for a while, Cassidy Jannson and Julie Yammanee rise to the demands placed on them by director Hannah Chissick. Indeed one would be hard put to it to think of a better trio. It takes place in a dressing room as the three sit in front of their desks and get read to perform, doing so sometimes in the room and sometimes front of a vast red curtain, usually for the one’s they perform together. Out of context – Herman’s shows include Cage Aux Folles – it is a bit like eating a box of Cadbury’s milk tray at one sitting. But the ladies all have voices to admire, the band is good and the result is enough to make one want to see a Herman show again – and guess what? Hello Dolly is headed for the Palladium this summer. The way the show is constructed is adept enough but one does miss the occasional male voice – not all his songs were for women, especially those in Cage aux Folles or Mack and Mabel – and maybe a little narrative to put things in context about his career would have helped. But that would be to stage a completely different show and for those who love musicals there is more than enough to love there already. If musicals are not your cup of tea then it will not persuade you that they are but you will not be driven to leave at the interval either. The trio change dresses in a twinkling, perform a trio or a duet, and then seize their individual chance to shine, with the greatest of ease spending lots of energy in the process. For those who like musicals Jerry’s Girls is pretty well a case of Herman heaven.

Cast

Jessica Martin, Cassidy Janson, Julie Yammanee - The Girls.

Creatives

Director – Hannah Chissick.

Musical Director – Sarah Travis.

Set & Costume Designer – Paul Farnsworth.

Lighting Designer – Phlip Gladwell.

Sound Designer – Mike Walker.

Theatre, musical. 18 May 2024.

Photo Credit – Tristram Kenton.