It was a delight to return to Buxton’s Opera House for Present Company’s offering of High Society; a show I have seen before only once, after the film of course. Unaware, prior, that this would be an amateur production - an expression I despised back in my days of AmDram, because of the negative connotation - I had high hopes, but an open mind, of being blown away by the Cole Porter score and suave sophistication of the story and setting. Sadly, I was left a little underwhelmed by the first half, mostly because of the lack of polished and in-sync choreography - pre-empting moves by looking down at other cast members’ feet is a bug bare of mine and should never happen.
Socialite Tracy Samantha Lord is engaged to working class ‘neanderthal’ George Kitteredge (Philip deVoil) but her ex-husband and neighbour CK Dexter Haven remains in love with her. Matters are complicated even further when a magazine reporter and his photographer partner(-to-be) are in town to cover Tracy's wedding, after persuading their editor to drop a feature on her father’s shenanigans. Report Macaulay Connor also winds up falling for the beautiful bride-to-be, whilst photographer Liz Imbrie is pursued by Tracy’s Uncle Willie. As Tracy tries to decide on the ideal husband, each suitor works hard to convince her he is the best choice. Her sister Dinah is close to Dexter and provides comedy and much needed youth to the piece.
Technically, the show was poor. Mic sound levels were up and down, lighting was nothing special, and the conductor / musical director failed to bring the chorus in on time for the opening number. However, vocally it was quite impressive and fulfilled my expectations. The stand-out performances were from Tracey’s mother (theatre veteran Judith Hanson); and sister Dinah (Madison Naylor), supported by CK Dexter Haven (Jon Morris) and Liz Imbrie (Alice Hands), whose characterisation and vocality were brilliant. Leading Lady Rachael-Louisa Bray, who played Tracy Lord, is clearly a trained and seasoned performer, well-placed for the role, but was hardly equal to her peers.
Mention should go to two members of the Lord family’s House Staff - Jack Warriner and Warren Smith - who’s singing voices were a joy to hear. The stand-out musical number for me was ‘Throwing A Ball Tonight’, and the trio between Tracy, Dinah and their mother, whilst the expected showstoppers ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ and ‘Well Did Y’Evah?’ (especially the reprise) were treated as throw-aways. There was also a short period where three songs were performed in quick succession, whether in the script or otherwise, which didn’t seem to work as Dexter even appeared to miss an entrance to the group dance number - ‘Let’s Misbehave!’ Tracy’s accordion playing during ‘I Love Paris’ was unconvincing and Uncle Willie’s dancing in ‘She’s Got That Thing’ was somewhat embarrassing. A real positive though was ‘It’s Alright With Me’ between Tracy and Mike and the iconic ‘True Love’ was lovely despite the random ‘normal’ presence of Dexter.
All-in-all I much preferred the second half and could see real potential for the show being ‘great’. It is just a shame that the production team didn’t give their final push of passion that the cast so rightly deserved. Well done to all on-stage and I look forward to attending future productions - maybe their forthcoming ‘A Sentimental Affair’ at Derby Guildhall Theatre in February.
Reviewer - John Kristof
on - 24/8/18
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