Jim Cartwright’s story of the near silent waif who reveals her amazing talent for mimicking her musical idols has always been just a little to gritty for my taste.
Perhaps it’s simply the fact that bad language, in a Lancashire accent, delivered by downtrodden characters, detracts from the delivery of the songs but, when the show is placed in the incredibly talented and capable hands of the teenage actors and superbly creative adults of the West End Experience team, the production takes on a whole new life and really hits the spot.
The stage design for this production is the first quirky nuance that helps to make the show so special. The main stage has been extended out into the auditorium using a lower platform to create the “two-up-two-down” house and the theatre’s own kitchen, to the side of the auditorium, has also been incorporated into the set creating a massive space on which the actors can perform. The cast are all teenagers from the West End Experience school and, as such, the script has been slightly adjusted to remove some of the worst of the language and this new, softer, approach gives plenty of room for the comedy in the piece to shine through.
Despite having just a few days of full rehearsals two full casts were chosen, one for the matinee and a completely separate group for the evening show. At the performance I attended, Georgia Sansom took the role of Mari Hoff, the wayward mother of the title character, also known as LV, played by Ellie Bulpett. Sansom arrived on stage looking every inch the part and, throughout the show, wore a succession of outfits that Coronation Street’s Liz MacDonald would have been proud to wear. Her delivery was simply perfect and her comic timing, especially in the scenes with her best friend Sadie (Ellen Shersby-Wignall), impeccable.
As LV, Ellie Bulpett displays the innocent vulnerability of a girl who is almost too frightened to speak. Totally overshadowed by her mother she seeks solace in her music, firstly listening to the legendary divas in her, now deceased, father’s record collection and then by imitating them. The transformation from shrinking violet to showstopping songstress has always been one of the highlights of the show and Bulpett’s performance in this production is a shining example as her voice powers through the room.
Almost as painfully shy is Billy, the young telephone engineer who, as soon as he sets eyes on LV, is quite smitten with her. In this part Declan Mason, with just a nod, a look, or a raised eyebrow, shows off a consummate ability to speak without words and, once he picks up the courage to actually talk to LV, in another production design quirk, delivers most of his lines from outside the building, perched on a ladder, with his head poking through an open window.
Mari’s sometime boyfriend and unsuccessful showbiz agent, Ray Say, is played superbly well by Bailey Pilbeam. From the moment he hears LV imitating her idols he sees pound signs before his eyes and his manipulation of both her and her mother is as subtle as it is successful and, when he finally cracks and tells Mari exactly what he thinks of her, the total silence in the auditorium is deafening.
The main characters are supported incredibly well by the aforementioned Ellen Shersby-Wignall as next-door neighbour and Mari’s best friend Sadie, Thomas Bulpett as the night club owner, Mr Boo and by a couple of the evening cast, who provided the very amusing interval bingo game entertainment, Barnabas Mercer and Theo Gregory.
Craig and Rebekah Whiteley, together with their amazing team, have, once again, pulled the rabbit out of the hat and chosen a production that was loved as much by the packed-to-capacity audience as it was by the students who, very obviously, really loved having the chance to perform it.
Four stars ****