EIF: A Grand Night for Singing
Edinburgh Academy Junior School
As part of the Covid version of live EIF performances, a medley of songs from the legendary song writing duo, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, whose joint talents created a plethora of popular musicals, has been reimagined by music director Wayne Marshall.
Performed over two acts by a five strong ensemble, the 90 minute musical concert showcases an esoteric storyline from big name musicals of yesteryear that includes Carousel, Oklahoma!, The King and I, South Pacific and The Sound of Music as well as lesser known ones such as Cinderella, Allegro and Me and Juliet.
The ensemble, that’s made up of lyric soprano Danielle de Niese; Anna-Jane Casey; Damian Humbley; Richard Morrison and Kim Criswell (who has also arranged the staging) take turns to be centre stage across the piece.
The small orchestra sits within a simple geometric stage set where lighting changes its colour across the piece. Alongside, the five singers, who introduce the event with a vocal overture of the programme, weave on, off and around the stage with an array of equally changing costume colours in a variety of evening wear. Whilst the performances are all technically accomplished, they are somewhat formal in their stylised delivery.
The three women do a sultry version of I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair from South Pacific, whose new style feels more like a striptease number, and didn’t seem to chime with the steely determination that a woman would feel at that stage of the love game. Shall We Dance? from The King and I is sung at a not very danceable pace, though de Niese and Humbley manage some distanced steps followed by a brief masked polka. Something Wonderful, also from The King and I, is a traditional, straightforward rendition, beautifully delivered by de Niese. This musical also provides the final song, I Have Dreamed, that is performed with physical and vocal gusto by the full ensemble.
A Grand Night for Singing, conceived and created by Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Walter Bobbie, may have taken Broadway by storm at its opening in 1993, but this type of entertainment, with its easy listening atmosphere that would best suit an afternoon audience, has a passé feel.
Afficionados of these rather old fashioned musicals may be familiar with the more obscure songs and able to make sense of the names the cast were given in the programme, but their connection to what happened on stage could be a mystery to others.
Despite the presence of surtitles, and although Covid restrictions would not allow audience singing in a ‘follow the bouncing ball’ kind of way, there was little sense of foot tapping to the tunes, something that might have helped stave off the cold in the very draughty venue. Quite early in the performance, audience members were donning wraps, jackets, tops and coats, as the not inconsiderable breeze found its way through the necessarily open-sided venue. It may have been a grand night for singing for the cast, but it was a cold one for the audience. So be warned and be prepared for the weather.