Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Book by Chris Bush, Music & Lyrics by Richard Hawley. The Gillian Lynne Theatre, 166 Drury Lane, London WC2B booking to 31 April 2024. 5*****: William Russell.
Standing at the Sky’s Edge. Book by Chris Bush, Music & Lyrics by Richard Hawley. The Gillian Lynne Theatre, 166 Drury Lane, London WC2B booking to 31 April 2024.
5*****: William Russell.
“One of the best musicals in years.”
The winner last year of the Olivier best musical award this show created in 2019 at the Crucible, Sheffield, presented then at the National Theatre in February has now arrived with one or two cast changes in the West End in splendid shape. Chris Bush has taken three families who lived in Park Hill estate, a monstrous wall of appartments housed in blocks four to 13 storeys. Work started in 1957 and the project was seen as the worl od the future, but things did not go well for it or for the people living therel But the corners have been turned. It is a juke box musical since the songs by Richard Hawley were not written for it but have been taken and used as appropriate. The result is a wonderful portrait of people facing up to problems – Sheffield lost its steel industry send on man into the depths of despair while his wife rises to the challenge of what to do next, it faced up to drugs, to vandalism and to what were seen at the start as a new way of living becoming once again somewhere for people to live. Pretty well everything worth saying has been said. Director Robert Hastie has marshalled a large cast brilliantly, the magnificent set by Ben Stones shows an apartment used by all three couples sometimes separately, sometimes leading their lives simultaneously, while behind them towers the rest of this city in the sky where the band is placed. The immigrant daughter, who comes from Liberia, has problems settling down, becomes pregnant by a local boy, and then in time she is a nurse in the NHS. The lesbian who has arrived in what she sees as somewhere smart to live falls out with her very difficult partner, over the years finds someone else, and then returns to her first love. The steel worker loses his wife and his will to live.It all takes a little following as the passage of time is indicated by vast illuminated signs giving the year the significance of which, while clear to the local audience, is not necessarily clear to outsiders and every now and then the Sheffield speech adds to the confusion. But none of this matters, This is a wonderful account of any street anywhere and how its residents cope as the world around them changes not always for the better. The performances are all splendid , ring true and the songs are put across with power – sound designer Bobby Aitken has worked wonders. If seeking something to see when in town then this should be top of your list.
Cast
Alana Anderon, Jonathan Adnre, Elizabeth Ayodele, Jonathan Bentley, Adam Colbeck-Dunn, Vicquichele Cross, Jamie Doncaster, Caroline Fitzgerald, Luca Foster-Lejeune, Nya Fox-Scott, Joel Harper-Jackson, Renee Hart, Sharlene Hector, Samuel Jordan, Jerome Lincoln, Mel Lowe, Eric Madgwick, David McKechnie Sean McLevy, Rachael Louise Miller, Baker Mukasa, Alastair Natkel, Chioma Nouka, Laura Pitt-Pulford, Adam Price, Lauryn Redding, Nicola Sloane, Sam Stocks, Lillie-Pearl Wildman, Karen Wilkinson, Rachael Wooding.
Creatives
Director – Robert Hastie.
Set & Costume Designer – Ben Stones.
Choreographer – Lynne Page.
Otchestrator & Arranger – Tom Deering.
Lighting Dewsigner – Mark Henderson.
Sound Designer – Bobby Aitken.
Musical Director – Alex Betschen.
Vocal Coah – Charlie Hughes-D’Aeth.
Singing Coach – Fiona McDougal.
Fight Director – Kenan Ali.
