Strike up the Band - Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Lovely CHEESE! 

This was a bizarre show. The premise was unusual, the plot ridiculous and the tone inconsistent. I enjoyed it very much, but can understand why it has been a 'lost' Gershwin musical until now. There were many bemused murmurings at the interval and the murmurers didn't return to see the second act.

Basic plot: Horace J. Fletcher, the owner of a successful cheese factory in America, declares war on Switzerland over a trivial trade issue. Subplot: two (kind of three) love stories. It's set in 1927. There were several references to Donald Trump, whom Fletcher (played by Richard Emerson) resembled uncannily in terms of outlook and attitude. Maybe the plot wasn't that far-fetched after all...😬

One of the reasons why I enjoyed this was because I liked the songs, and the singing was superlative. I could have listened to Charlotte Christensen (Anne Draper) all day long. Her delightfully 20s blue tunic was good too. I also enjoyed the tap dancing joyously executed by Sammy Graham.

The character/performance that 'made' the show was George Spelvin (David Francis), the spy (at least, I think that's what he turned out to be in the denouement). I'm not sure whether it was the script, Francis's characterisation, or both, but the humour he brought was a different kind of humour to the show's dominant punny/word-play humour. It was weirder and more surrealist, and I found it and him laugh out loud funny. His character pretended to be several different people and they were all hilarious.

The tone of this oeuvre was inconsistent. It was 80% comedy - and really, really ridiculous comedy - but some it was supposed to be taken seriously by the audience, namely the burgeoning romance between Joan Fletcher (Beth Burrows) and Jim Townsend (Paul Biggin), and Townsend's various acts of integrity and heroism. But in the context of a risible plot (featuring a spurious cheese-related war fought by employees of a cheese factory, soldiers enjoying said war, yodelling), you couldn't take anything seriously. I have no problem with a ridiculous plot (see: Comedy of Errors, The Mikado) but I do have a problem with jarring, implausible changes in tone.

The bit that came closest to genuine pathos was the scene on the boat returning from Switzerland, in which Fletcher and Mrs Draper (Pippa Winslow) shared mildly affectionate feelings for one another, while struggling with seasickness.

Next: Don Quixote