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Elaine C Smith, centre in the white coat, as Susan Boyle among the hopefuls at the Glasgow audition for Britain's Got Talent - Pictures: Keith Pattison I Dreamed
a Dream Birmingham
Hippodrome ****
SUSAN BOYLE has managed the rare distinction of having a musical written
about her life story, so far that is, without having to shuffle off her
mortal coil first. And,
bizarrely, not only is the 51-year-old Scot very much alive but she is
in the wings and even appeared at the end of the show,
which is about her remember,
to sing the song that changed her life,
I dreamed a Dream from
Les Miserables. She also sang the beautiful Who I was Born to Be, written for her by young Oklahoma singer-songwriter Audra Mae, a grand niece of Judy Garland, and the only original song on Boyle's first album. Both garnered standing
ovations and it is a pity that Boyle does not perform concerts, the lady
looks like she could be fun with no airs or graces and a sense of
mischief about her – the most unlikely pop star ever. And it takes
a heart like an anvil not to say she deserved a break after
seeing her life unfold in the musical written by Alan
McHugh and Elaine C Smith – who also plays Susan. The pair have had to use
theatrical slight of hand with Smith explaining at the start that she is
Susan's inner voice, the person Susan would be, saying the things Susan
would say if she did not get so tongue tied and nervous in front of
people, she was even thinking the things Susan
would think. McHugh and Smith also suffer
from the fact Boyle, apart from Who I was Born to Be, sings
cover versions and although I
Dreamed a Dream won her fame it can hardly
be said to be her song just as Nessun Dorma cannot be claimed by
another unlikely Britain's Got Talent star,
Paul Potts.
Since Rose Laurens gave
J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie to the world in 1980 the English version of
the song has been covered by everyone from Aretha Franklin and Neil
Diamond to the cast of Glee. The solution is another theatrical device, using it in snatches as a recurring theme among a collection of songs from the era which are slotted in seemingly, at times, because a line or so fits in with the story – though as to why four coal smeared miners in helmets would be singing Daydream Believer as they clocked on, or possibly off, apart from the line about the six o'clock alarm going off, is anyone's guess. The significance of the 16th
century Scottish ballad about Mary Hamilton, The Four Marys, fine
song that it is, was also lost but the music does give some poignant
moments though, such as when Boyle sings
Someone to Watch Over Me at the raucous karaoke contest and an
emotional moment at the end of the first act when her father dies. Her mother, played with great
sympathy by Karen Mann, sings the hymn How Great Thou Art, while
Boyle sings The Prayer and her dead father sings Scarlet
Ribbons. Musically it should be a mess, it
shouldn't work – but it does. Her father is
played by James Paterson who
shows his opera background with a fine tenor voice. But back to Boyle. When fate
dealt her cards at her birth she got a real stinker of a hand but she
did have a joker – her voice. It was a difficult birth for
elderly parents Bridget and Pat. She was the
last of nine children and was deprived of
oxygen during the delivery – never a good start and it meant she was
always going to be different. She had learning difficulties and, with
the cruelty of children the world over, was
bullied at school where she was apparently
called Simple Susan. Director Ed Curtis gave
us a stark, black and white scene to show the unhappy
childhood. Then, when she did have a glimpse of normality with a
boyfriend, John (Gordon Cooper), her father put a stop to it and forced
them apart. Lonely spinsterhood and unemployment beckoned. But she still had her voice.
She won the Happy Valley Karaoke Completion and encouraged by her
singing teacher Fred O'Neil (David Haydn) finally entered
the third series of Britain's Got Talent when she apparently sang
in public for the first time since her mother had died. The audition gives an insight
into the appeal of the programme with the delusional, talentless
no-hopers and mentally unbalanced weirdoes that it
attracts and, sadly, which in turn
attract viewers - and Boyle
was firmly seen in that category. Looks and
dress sense were hardly a strong point and she had a hairstyle that
looked as if she had a severe electric shock. Smith played the
audition scene to perfection. People had
roared at her silly wiggle, this was cruelty TV
giving everyone a good laugh at another of life's unfortunates.
It was time to play that joker fate had dealt
her. Smith, who has a fine voice
herself, managed to recreate the unforgettable
magic, another Paul Potts moment, when Boyle
went from the loony lass good for a laugh to
global superstar in just a few bars. The contrast of her fame in
the second act to her humdrum struggle in the first is cleverly marked
as we see Boyle collapse under the weight of expectation and media
attention, some of it cruel beyond belief.
But the Press and media were
not the only ones to blame, as the musical seems to imply. The
producers of BGT and ITV were making millions out of the show and were
happily fuelling the publicity machine – as they still do. A line
about their duty of care, or rather lack of
it, might not have gone amiss. The musical documents a modern
day fairy-tale. Boyle's voice is not as polished, trained or
accomplished as many but she has a purity of tone and a clarity you
can't teach and it is a very honest voice.
Boyle, you feel, lives her life through that voice - and,
most important of all, people like it. She is almost an anti-star, a rebellion against the norm. She is too old and too ordinary and, without being unkind, she is hardly hot stuff, as they say; there will be few Susan Boyle posters up on teenagers' bedroom walls methinks while banks of scantily clad, lithe bodied dancers, pyrotechnics and laser shows just would not work in a Boyle performance. Yet despite all of that she is
a star and her albums sell in their millions. The musical could have ended
up as sentimental tosh, or a mawkish wallow but, although
it is sympathetic, it shows
quite a few warts, has a tale to tell and has
plenty of gentle humour, perhaps stemming from McHugh's background as a
writer of panto. The set is a bank of old TVs
that look as if they have been rescued from a local
tip but the ramshackle video wall designed by Morgan Large works well to
set scenes without being distracting. Boyle, a big Rab C Nesbitt
fan, was once asked who she would like to play her in a story of her
life. She said immediately Elaine C Smith. She
got her wish and Smith does not let he down. She is just magnificent
leading a cast who are all superb in what is a very human story. A mention as well
for an excellent seven piece band under musical
director Kennedy Aitchison. As a show it is rather like
Boyle's first BGT appearance. The curtain rises and, to be honest, I was
hardly expecting just how good it
turned out to be. It is full of charm and humour-
real old-fashioned, feel-good theatre. To 02-06-12. Roger
Clarke
***** JUST how popular Susan
Boyle has become since shooting to fame on Britain's
Got Talent was underlined in red when the
51-year-old singer made a surprise appearance on stage at the end of the
opening night performance of her life story. The packed audience rose to
their feet cheering, whooping and applauding the modest Scottish lass
who overcame many obstacles to become a global sensation. And when she treated them to
her version of that song from Les Miserables, and her voice briefly
broke through emotion, the customers loved her even more and Susan
rewarded them with a second song from her repertoire - Who I was Born
to Be. "I had a frog in my throat,"she chuckled. Then she took even more
applause with the cast of the show, and gave a special hug to Elaine C.
Smith who plays the remarkable star so beautifully. Elaine was playing a church
organist in Calendar Girls in 2009 when, during the interval,
Lynda Bellingham and Patricia Hodge - who had been taking a peek
at the telly - ran out of their dressing rooms saying "Did you see this
wee woman from Glasgow? What a volice! I was crying". On being told the singer was
like her, from Scotland, Elaine laughed: "I don't want to see it - I'll
end up playing her in the story of her life". How prophetic. Now Ms Smith
has become a star playing a star. Her acting and singing are first
class. You'd swear it was Susan, at times. This musical life story
includes much humour, sadness and drama as Susan has to cope with the
sudden impact of fame....pursued by newspaper, TV and radio reporters
and photographers. But she survived the pressure and is now comfortable
with her unexpected fame. A fine cast has been brought
together for this musical, and James Paterson is in splendid voice as
Susan's dad. Directed by Ed Curtis, with
Kennedy Aitchison's musical direction, this dream of a show runs to
02.06.12 Paul Marston
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