Soho Cinders
The Charing Cross Theatre, 24th Oct - 21st Dec 2019
Soho Cinders at The Charing Cross Theatre is a musical by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe that wears it’s light, bright, bubbly heart proudly on it’s somewhat under tailored sleeve. In the book written by Anthony Drewe and Elliot Davis the audience is transported to Old Compton Street which, despite it being less than a mile away from the actual theatre, a voice from an unseen narrator is used to describe the location, there being precious few clues to link the sparse, candy coloured, pastel blue and pink stage to the location where events are about to take place. Even when it becomes populated by the 16 strong ensemble cast for it’s rousing opening number Old Compton Street, it still remains unrecognisable as the dynamic, diverse, multi-ethnic melting pot that defines this Soho street, (the latter of which this production is far from being).
The narrators voice reappears continuously throughout the 2.5 hour show to help take us from one location to the next, priming our imaginations with enough details to mentally build the sets that remain noticeably absent throughout Will Keith’s production. These stylistic decisions conspire to make this feel more akin to a radio recording than a fully realised piece of musical theatre, and as such Soho Cinders still feels somewhat tied to it’s concert performance roots, which was how the show was first presented in 2011. Unfortunately Jack Weirs lighting design also fails to bring its own sense of location to the stage, more often than not providing a more perfunctory role as it guides the audiences eye to where the most relevant action is taking place.
That aside, what we do get is an unconventional retelling of the old fairytale, Cinderella, where Robbie, (Luke Bayer), finds himself being supported financially by the older Lord Bellingham (Christopher Coleman), an interesting take on the Fairy Godmother given his motives are not exactly squeaky clean. Robbie also simultaneously finds himself falling in love with married mayoral candidate James Prince (Lewis Asquith). It’s around this unconventional love triangle that the story revolves, and revolve it must given that this production is performed on a traverse stage, with the audience located on two opposing sides. It’s something director Will Keith seems to struggle with as the actors are at times quite unsubtle in the way they divide their time between facing one side of the stage and then the other. This is most noticeable in the first half when the scenes are reduced to just two characters. Having said that, subtle isn’t really what Soho Cinders is all about, made perfectly clear as soon as we learn the launderette Robbie and his friend Velcro (Millie O’Connell) had hoped to inherit is called Sit & Spin, it seemingly about to fall in the hands of Robbie’s step-sisters Clodagh (Michaela Stern) and Dana (Natalie Harman) played, like most of the characters, in broad, stereotypical brush strokes.
All of this could have led to an under-baked evening were it not for the songs themselves, penned by the multi-award winning Stiles and Drewe who have been responsible for the music on productions like Mary Poppins, Honk and Half A Sixpence. The opening ensemble number gets things off to a good start, and act one also closes with a couple of real bangers, You Shall Go To The Ball and It’s Hard To Tell, (the thrust of which you can guess from the line “He’s hotter than Wassabe, but does he love Ken or Barbie?”). It’s no coincidence that these songs also work the best visually, given the sheer energy of the ensemble cast who make up for the absence of any real set during these highly entertaining numbers. That being said, the stand out number in the second act, They Don’t Make Glass Slippers is a beautiful virtuoso performance from Luke Bayer singing one of Stiles and Drewe’s finest, and makes for a truly moving moment.
With Panto season fast coming upon us, this production is not as awkward in it's intent as it might at first seem, and the big ensemble song and dance numbers mean you won’t be too upset at having to leave the house with the potential of missing Strictly Come Dancing as, on this big uncluttered colourful stage, it quickly becomes a not to dissimilar visual and musical feast. Whilst I personally would have preferred to have seen Soho Cinders bring something similar to the charm and sense of location that Amour was able to create with minimal staging in the same space earlier this year, there’s no denying that if you like your musicals uncomplicated, colourful and with a number of tunes you are sure to be humming to yourself on the journey home, then Soho Cinders is definitely the musical for you.
★★★
