21 May 2010 at 13:24
Monday Night Was Music Night - In Manchester!
Having heard Neil Sedaka in concert at the Mermaid on Radio 2’s long running “Friday night is music night” and reminisced about our family outing to York Opera House to see him in 1992 also recounting the continuous singing (v.badly) to all the hits on every car journey in-between – hubby got quickly online and booked opening night at Manchester Opera House 2nd row – not for him and I…for “your family” I ask wryly anticipating the response “but won’t you feel left out?” to which the reply came “No – you go – I’ll look after the dogs” by this read : Would rather chew his arm off - after all he is a metal-head and this musical is truly saccharine enough to dissolve the strongest of fillings.
So off we go – obligatorily chanting tunes for the 3hr journey and on arrival getting parked within 10yards of the main doors for 55p (yes read it and weep NCP) the evening was off to a swell start.
The Theatre was at “almost full capacity” (a little artistic licence perhaps by a well meaning usher…I, myself, always add at least 20%) to whom I gave an appreciative nod and took that as ¾ full. Certainly not to be sniffed at!
As anticipated the Kenwright production successfully crow-barred in over 40 well know tunes from Neil’s extensive back catalogue telling of, in as much detail as necessary, the rise, fall and subsequent reincarnation of one of the greatest American songwriters of the 20th Century – with in-excess of 40 million records sold between ‘59 and ‘63 his notoriety as a recording artist was halted until ’72 – in short what happened in between time was The Beatles, Protest Songs and the Vietnam War leaving no space for bee-bop and tra-la-la’s (Bobby Darin amongst others met with a similar experience).
The show celebrated the man and his music telling the story in a candid, humorous fashion -his
Lead character was played eloquently by Wayne Smith – (a Bill Kenwright TV discovery) who brought an endearing charm with light humour making essential reference to Neil’s precious Jewish upbringing by labouring the “Kafka Cord” gag: portrayal of the Jewish Mom/Son relationship.
From start to finish the audience all hummed, sang and clapped to every number and with extra vigour during Calendar Girl, Happy Birthday Sweet 16 and Amarillo (one I could definitely live without – thanks to Mr. Kay) Just for the record my moments were I Go Ape, Love Will Keep Us Together, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do and The Hungry Years.
A couple of oddly bizarre moments ensued with the brief introduction of Elton John into the mix (clumsy but cute) helping to explain and credit the UK and his own record label Rocket as backbone for Neil’s successful re- introduction to his beloved America in the 70’s with his biggest hit Laughter In The Rain.
Thinking back there was an inexplicable atmosphere among the staff which only became clear during the interval when Neil and family were spotted within the audience (in fact 4 rows behind us!)This realisation only added to the anticipation and momentum of the 2nd Act – would he….wouldn’t he? Introduced on stage by BK as “possibly the nicest most genuine man I have had the fortune to work with” Neil alighted sprightly (now 72) to the stage where he confessed to have being emotionally overwhelmed by the performance – endless memories and archive film of his family in much earlier days contributed to this maybe more so than watching the actors and hearing his songs.
The delightful gent spoke of his enormous thrill to see such a show brought to life by a talented cast and crew such as these. As clearly defined within this production this is by no means end-of-the-road for Neil who spoke of higher ambitions; in essence “tonight Manchester, tomorrow The West End next stop Broadway!” This only furthered to highlight the directors astute interpretation and understanding of what makes this man tick.
To everyone’s delight he stole the entire show by giving two impromptu numbers on the Grand (I suspect a keyboard within its case due to the lack of pedals or lyre!) Laughter In The Rain and Calendar Girl, the latter genuinely unexpected by the band as he hollered “G Major” 4 bars in at which point the drums and bass kicked in!
Leaving the stage to rapturous applause with a standing ovation plus me waving like a loon – he waved back!!! Well – it was quite an eye-catching sequin jacket – Is it just me or does no-one dress UP for theatre anymore? Mrs Sedaka certainly did - perhaps it was she who got the wave…?
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