Zanna, Don't!

Hello and welcome to my new blog, Musical Theatre Musings. Using this blog, I aim to relieve my friends and family of listening to me talk about geeky musical theatre gossip all the time!
I hope to review shows that I have seen and to discuss current strories in West End and Broadway musical theatre.

Starting as I mean to go on, I would like to talk about the production of Zanna, Don't! that I saw with Kieran last night (1st July 2009). It was playing at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate; a very small and fairly primitive theatre above a Wetherspoon's pub in the village. Needless to say, Kieran and I were a little anxious as we approached the venue that we had made an error spending time and money on the Northern Line to get there!
Once inside the theatre, the stiffling heat and small crowd did little to reduce our fears. The cast, however, did! As soon as the show started, I was hooked! Ok, so the sound design wasn't great; with lyrics often being lost, paricularly when an individual character was fighting against the rest of the ensemble and the band. It was not, however, a problem for the majority of the show and it did not detract from the overall performance enough for it to be an issue in my opinion.
The audience's proximity to the stage was the greatest aspect of the production in my eyes. Being in a crowd of fewer than 100, sat mere metres away from the cast, you were immediately drawn into the story; watching every subtle expression, every bead of sweat (and in this heat, that was plenty); everything was extremely exciting.
The young cast did a great job in selling the camp and heartwarming story. The plot, one of a topsy-turvey American highschool, is easy to dismiss as twee and nothing more than uplifting fluff. In a school where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality is frowned upon, where the chess champion in the school heartthrob and the captain of the football team the lead in the school musical, there is plenty of room for predictable jokes, but there are also momements of genuine emotion and poignancy.
This lovable story was balanced beautifully by the vibrant cast of twelve, who I can only imagine (/hope!) are great friends; their on stage chemistry was unmistakable. The happy-go-lucky matchmaking fairy (he is much less sickening than it sounds!) was played wonderfully by Mike Shearer, who had such energy and really kept the show moving. The innitially heart-breaking final scene showed Shearer at his best; you couldn't help but feel for the clearly devestated Zanna.
The straight couple in the show, Steve and Kate, played by Michael Cotton and Kate Malyon, were so believable in their characters, you really felt their pain and confusion as the story unfolded. They were matched wondefully by Michael Stacey and Bonnie Hurst; playing Steve and Kate's original boyfriend and girlfriend. Bonnie Hurst and Kate Malyon deserve particular praise; the former's feisty and extremely lovable portrayal of Roberta was fantastic, whilst Kate's vunerability, paired with her beautiful voice, was so great to watch. Their on-stage partnership seemed incredibly authentic too.
Nadeem Crowe played Tank, the popular school DJ, in the production and was great at bringing all of the scenes together. Crowe has a fantastic voice, and a wonderful energy that made it almost impossible to watch anyone else when he was onstage. His crushing good looks didn't hurt anyone either!
The band were seamless and created a must richer sound that you would expect from a keyboard/drum/bass combo. It was nice to be able to see the band at the back of the stage too, instead of usually being tucked away under the stage somewhere!
The sets were very simple, with a few benches being used to create anything from a bar to a bed. The size of the stage did hold the production back in my opinion, with dance numbers such as Ride 'Em and Be a Man longing to spread out into a larger space. This, along with the sound issues, however, and a limited lighting design, are just the restrictions of playing in such an intimate off-West End theatre as Upstairs at The Gatehouse.
All in all, Zanna, Don't was well worth seeing! It was refreshing to see some theatre that didn't have any of the flashy sets and costumes that many West End smash hits rely upon. This production was all about the music, and with a score as lively and uplifting as Zanna, Don't, you couldn't help but leave the theatre with a smile on your face!

Rating: ****

Thanks for reading!
I think we got love.

Flis xx