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GUYS AND DOLLS
BOS Musical Company
Regent Centre
Christchurch
October 2003

SOMETIMES a musical can be nothing short of pure escapism, with the magic beginning from the second the overture begins. The fact that I had to change seats at that point to avoid persistent chatterers should have warned me that theatre is like a game of dice, and some you win, some you lose.
Sadly, this show fell into the latter category and, apart from very few moments, never had that spark to ignite it and give it life, and it seemed a very long evening.
The ‘oomph’ factor was conspicuously absent, especially in chorus numbers, and the lack of chemistry between Martha Jenkins’ Sarah Brown and Peter Burdon’s Sky Masterson made for rather lacklustre and uninteresting performances.
But, on the positive side, the company has a real find in young Lee Webb who, although somewhat too young for the ’14 years engaged’ Nathan Detroit, had lashings of stage presence and personality and a fine voice to boot. And Kimberley Cullum’s Miss Adelaide also came to life with a vengeance.
There were good characterisations too from Mark Roberts (Benny Southstreet) and John Ponting (Nicely-Nicely Johnson), with the latter’s Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat the highlight of the evening.

Linda Kirkman
Courtesy of the Bournemouth Daily Echo


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