A revue musical celebrating the works of composer / lyricist Robert Purvis as performed by the third year Vocal Studies And Performance students at Arden Theatre School on the school's main theatre stage this afternoon was an aural treat indeed.
Purvis is (more or less) an unknown composer, and yet he has worked with the greatest and his music is full and lush, extremely singable, lyrical, tuneful, emotive, and infused with beautiful dance rhythms at the writing's core. In fact, complete with everything necessary for a Musical Theatre score. Why has the general populace never heard of him? Hopefully this revue of his works might change that.
The setting of this performed "song cycle" was backstage, in the wings and behind the curtain, during the run of a show seemingly set in the 1940s. The opening close-harmony full chorus entrance was stunning, and the live band (all ten of them!) hidden cleverly behind the reversed curtain (ie.. they were the audience!) sounded excellent throughout under the direction of Ben Attfield.
A long dance music sequence followed when the cast did absolutely nothing. This was a shame. We needed dance and movement here, and the sequence was too long for them to do nothing but simple mimes. It felt awkward and stilted. Where was the dancing?
However, once that was out of the way, and the cast allowed to do what they obviously do best - sing, the songs flowed and the music swelled, and we loved every single minute of it. At least until they came to a piece of music called, 'Ragtime', which was of course written in ragtime, and the cast danced.... a waltz! It was the first real dancing the cast had done, but sadly the waltz did not fit this style of music at all. Hey ho...
Another irritating thing about this concert was the lighting design. In general there was simply insufficient light. Faces were obscured, in shadow, or only partially lit for the most part; whilst principal singers were tasked with singing their entire songs in shadow or half-light. Most annoying.
The revue lasted about one hour without interval, and it was a superb introduction to some excellent tunes / songs, and tantalising new musicals which I would love to see in their entirety, and our 11 students tasked with performing these made a lovely ensemble, all obviously individually talented, but together, their harmonies were divine. On a more personal note, my two favourite songs this afternoon were 'Angel Song' performed by India Watts, and 'Moon's Lament' sung by Bethan Chittenden.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 2.2.24
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