Richard Rodgers

The duo that put together Bernstein Revealed at St James Studio has reprised a former show of similar format, Rodgers Revealed, this time at North London venue JW3.  Edward Seckerson and Jason Carr draw upon their vast knowledge of the scores and the stories behind them to create an intimate evening exploring the life and music of one of the most popular composers of theatre music.

Incredibly prolific, Richard Rodgers wrote more than 40 musicals and over 1,000 songs – more than Franz Schubert, and as Seckerson points out “with much smarter lyrics!”  Most of these were penned by Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, two personalities that could not have been more different.

As with Bernstein Revealed, the results of years of in-depth research are engagingly delivered by host Seckerson, and further enriched by banter with the equally knowledgeable and eloquent Carr illustrating points at the piano, and songs sung by a West End leading lady, this time by Olivier Award nominee Anna Francolini.

There is a good balance of old favourites, such as South Pacific‘s Wonderful Guy and the heart-renderingly beautiful What’s the Use of Wondrin’ from Carousel, and rarely performed jewels like the poignant Nobody’s Heart from Jupiter and The Gentleman is a Dope from Allegro, initially a flop, but is soon to receive its European premier at Southwark Playhouse.

As ever, Carr plays his arrangements superbly with both sensitivity and great virtuosity, as the occasion demands. By sharing the contexts of the songs, such as ballerina Natalia Makarova’s backflips in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, both Seckerson and Carr furnish us with an insight into these riveting instrumental solos.

Francolini sings with a wonderful Eartha Kitt style purr, captures the New York cadence beautifully in Manhattan and fairly bites on the rhymes in the lyrics. Her light delicate touch on To Keep My Love Alive, ending on a rich low note was a masterclass in delivering a comic song.

The team also indulged in an amusing moment of musical interpretation of Rodgers’ work (which Rodgers himself notoriously took great exception to – to the point of publicly berating the stars that had the temerity to do it) on Falling In Love With Love.

Serendipitously, on the night of the European Referendum, we were treated to Stephen Sondheim’s witty number This Week Americans, which features some dry observations on the behaviour of certain Europeans. Sondheim’s relationship with Rodgers was difficult, but fruitful and it was particularly interesting to hear this infrequently performed item from their collaboration Do I Hear A Waltz?

I also enjoyed the encore medley of Edelweiss, Hammerstein’s last lyric, and Carr’s excellent jazz arrangement of My Favourite Things, but the song of the evening was without question Francolini’s extraordinary rendition of Bewitched from Pal Joey.  Tortured, fascinated and potently attracted to a man she shouldn’t be, Francolini lets us in to the character’s internal struggle with the rights, wrongs and inevitabilities of the issue, so that the listener hears the lyrics wholly anew.

A magical evening greatly appreciated by the audience.

Fiona-Jane Weston