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The Smallest Show on Earth
Belgrade Theatre Coventry
***** WHAT do you get if you cross Shepperton Studios and Tin Pan Alley? The Smallest Show on
Earth is a retelling of the glorious Peter Sellers and Margaret
Rutherford film plus some well-known and not so well-known tunes from
Irving Berlin including Blue Skies,
Shaking the Blues Away and
Stepping Out.
I was charmed by Liza Goddard’s rendition to Marlene of
Is He the Only Man in the World? Sloughborough, c. 1952, and the Grand and the
Bijou share the paltry pickings of the last days of cinema glamour. The Grand dominates in Deco glory under the
tutelage of the Hardcastle family, evil step-mother Ethel (Ricky Butt),
hen-pecked Albert (Philip Rham) and daughter Marlene (Christina
Bennington) while the Bijou, affectionately known as the Fleapit,
struggles with rats, an ageing staff, ageing equipment and serious
underinvestment in the flamboyant hands of Simon Spencer (Leo Andrew). His untimely death during a rowdy drinking
session at the Railway Arms delivers the Bijou to heir, struggling film
writer, Matthew Spencer (Haydn Oakley) and new wife Jean (Laura Pitt-Pulford).
They know nothing about running a cinema but, even if they did, the
Bijou broke all the rules. Pickled projectionist Percy Quill (Brian
Capron) and prickly pianist Mrs Dorothy Fazackalee (Liza Goddard) plus
her sweetly naïve son Tom (Sam O’Rourke) as Commissionaire keep the
place going on a shoestring. Change of ownership gives the Hardcastles a
chance to renew their derisory offer to turn the Bijou into a car park –
but the dedicated staff, nobbled at every turn by Ethel, deserted by
Matthew, find it is Jean who saves the day supported by unlikely heroine
Marlene from the Hardcastle camp whose mother was a star there in its
glory days. This is a morality tale of the triumph of good,
of ‘little people’, the power of love for the three couples Marlene and
Tom, Matthew and Jean and, finally, of Dorothy and Percy. The final
twist is a joy and I smiled for nearly two and a half hours. I loved the
song and dance numbers, heard beautiful songs I didn’t know, loved the
energy and, oh, fancy forgetting the probate solicitor! Robin Carter
(Matthew Crowe) was, pardon this, a ‘fairy godmother’ whose
resourcefulness contributes on many occasions including donning a dress
when Marlene’s nerves got the better of her. Directed by Thom Southerland, this is delightful,
joyous and a treat and runs to 17-10-15. Jane Howard
13-10-15
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