ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE
Performed at Stopsley High School - November 2001
Having been castigated by the loyal followers of Dunstable Operatic for my mixed review of their recent 'Oliver', you would expect me, in the interests of self preservation, to steer clear of any show which contained the emotively subjective terms Youth and Charity. And when that highly laudable project is produced by a member of a family that is the nearest thing that Luton has to a theatrical dynasty, and includes in a small but important role your own trouble and strife, the words discretion and valour spring most readily to mind. But if a theatrical review is worth anything it must be honestly felt and objectively delivered regardless of its provenance. Rubber stamps marked wonderful are cheap but meaningless.
'All Kinds Of People', is the sixth in a series of Putting It Together Productions by Stuart Farrar and follows the same tried and tested format as the previous offerings, namely a number of hit songs from various famous musicals tenuously linked by a rudimentary storyline. Given that this particular story, the goings on at a threatened Musical Academy, suffered from a combination of underdeveloped characters and overdeveloped plot it is not difficult to see that the artistic success or failure of the show rests very much on the musical talents of local theatre. Actors, even the very good ones, were decidedly second fiddlers to the razzmatazz created by quality singers and choreographers and cloaked in the inspired backdrop of David Houghton’s lighting.
Amanda Seal’s stunning You Can Always Count On Me, Lisa Farrell’s beautiful rendition of Cry Me A River, a slick Razzle Dazzle, and Caroline Smith’s inventive Steam Heat registered highest on my own particular clapometer but most of the sixteen numbers, under Simon Router’s vigorous and imaginative orchestra and Duncan Askew’s skilled sound direction, scored heavily.
If this was a show where you left the theatre whistling the lighting plot you also left admiring Stuart Farrar’s audacious cheek. His slender unfocussed story, written in collaboration with Steve Reinsford, played as an unwelcome dramatic guest at a glorious musical party. John Giles hapless academy assistant Humphrey, with the half mast trousers and the inept persona, was the nearest we got to real acting in a script that left many others floundering in a sea of non narrative one liners. But Mr Farrar’s skill lies not in his writing but in his ability to use it as an uneasy base to launch his catchy and uplifting songs. Songs which at times, especially Big Spender, seem to come out of nowhere but which were delivered with such verve and professionalism, both on and offstage, that you really didn’t care. All Kinds Of People was not, as the programme said, a sparkling new comedy. It was a twenty first century in your face Stuart Farrar brand of dramatised revue. And in those terms it zinged. As for the trouble and strife, she sent in Sondheim’s Clowns and, unsurprisingly, nobody laughed.
Roy Hall