Actually, the mothers of Birmingham were as entertaining as the performance itself. Producer and lyricist Emily Beecher hosted the evening with a lot of audience interaction. After leading a dodgy mothers’ version of “Never Have I Ever”, which still had a third of the audience standing guiltily by the end, she passed the microphone round for confessions of “The most embarrassing thing my child has done……” Quite a few child-finds-Ann-Summers' products stories resulted. Then a collection of parenting tips that the audience had written out earlier were read out. This reviewer’s favourite was: “The ice cream van only makes music when it has run out of ice cream. #SavedAFortune.”
Getting back to the new musical….. The presentation was of all the songs in the show, with a little information about the five characters’ stories, and that they are linked by a playgroup that is at threat of being closed down by developers. It was staged very simply by director Hannah Chissick: the singers were in a row behind microphones and music stands, and Musical Director Amy Shackloth led her tiny band from her piano in the corner.
Composers Chris Passey and Verity Quade mostly went for a bright West End musical sound; but there was a rap song, there were influences of rock ballad and rock and roll and big band, and there was a very inappropriate adaptation of a children’s song: “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Boobs”. With an audience singalong. Some of the audience had smuggled in their own bottles of prosecco, and needed no encouragement.
Emily Beecher’s lyrics were deft, sharp and filled with rapid-fire wit. As was Emily Beecher in person. In between group songs and solos, she introduced us to all the cast; explained that every creative in the show is a mother; and described the research she had been doing in all kinds of places, listening to many other mothers tell their stories of the travails of motherhood: some hilarious, some dark, some touching. The script wasn’t shared, but I have full confidence in her story-telling abilities.
Emma Williams featured as alpha mother Pam. She was the personification of the Instagram mother, who is flawless in both appearance and behaviour: the ideal that mothers feel pressurised to attain. Williams had a wickedly subversive way of sending this up during the ensemble songs, and in her solo she gave a fractured brittleness to the insecurity that Pam actually feels underneath.
Belinda Wollaston was comfortable mother Esme, who has a very supportive wife, and no apparent life dramas, but is in the throes of postpartum depression. Wollaston had a laid-back charm during the ensemble songs, and this made her heartfelt solo (and she does have a richly luscious voice) all the more affecting.
Emma Odell was tragic mother Sophie. She was based on a mother whose older child had died when the younger one was still a newborn. Odell was warm and engaging during the ensemble, and heartrending during her solo.
Sinead Mathias-Madeiros was worried mother Michelle, speaking out for every parent of sons from the global majority. She was a brightly cheerful presence in the ensemble songs, and delivered her solo with quietly delicate lyricism and detail.
Jade Samuels was blue-collar mother Chantelle, and got the cheer of the night for being from Birmingham. After hosting the embarrassing stories segment with shy demureness, she went to the other end for her rap solo, giving fiery passion with tight restraint as she bawled out the developers.
This promises to be a very meaty, as well as entertaining
musical.
Reviewer - Thalia Terpsichore
on - 19.11.21
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