Programme
There are lots of slick and glitzy musicals doing the rounds at the present time. I think it is fair to say that this is not one of them. It is not so much a musical in the usual sense as it is a drama with music, wherein the songs are not so much woven into the story as crudely safety-pinned on top. That is to say that the songs, by and large, do not advance the story in any way, so that it feels more like a concert with dramatic segments crudely wedged in between the numbers. Moreover, the script for those segments is poor and contains huge holes that could make the story difficult to follow (luckily, I had read up on Eva before the show so was able to infer what was happening - but without that you could struggle). Worse, after giving us little clue as to what was going on in the lead-up, the scene surrounding Eva's final days of sickness is both overstretched and overly-sentimental so that the dramatic edge is washed away by a sunami of maudlin (the tears in my eyes at that point were mostly from the pain of my aching cringe glands!)
But in spite of all that, this is actually not a bad show! Yes, it is rough-edged, but it is also raw and powerful in a pithy sort of a way, and whereas the dramatic element is undeniably disappointing the same cannot be said of the music. Ok, the segue from "Ghost Riders" straight into "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain" was, to me, slightly bizarre (did Eva really do that?), but most of the rest, sung and played live on stage, is little less than glorious.
With most of the songs being sung, of course, by Eva herself, this show can only succeed with a special talent in the role, and that it gets in the form of actress/singer Sarah Jane Buckley (formerly of TV's Hollyoaks). With her golden hair and golden voice she not only looks but sounds the part and nails every musical number with great assuredness. Her rendition of "Songbird" I could happily have listened to on an endless loop all night long, and this was followed, in quick succession towards the end of the first act by two more fantastically sung numbers in "Fields of Gold" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." In fact, the best of the music, by and large, came in the latter halves of both acts. The opening to the second act, covering Eva's period of working with Chuck Brown, was musically not to my taste and did not make the best use of Sarah's (or for that matter Eva's) voice. It is in the ballads where Eva and her personator really excel and when we get back to more familiar territory we are soon hitting the heights again. Sarah's duet of "Imagine" with Suzanne Carley was delightful and the harmony when their voices merged on the chorus was magical. And the show ended on a high note with Sarah's beautiful rendition of "What a Wonderful World".
The rest of the cast provide capable support, especially in the music department - being by and large more talented musician/actors than actor/musicians (their efforts in the thespian department being at times a little cheesy).
Overall the show suffers from being a less than fully successful fusion of music and drama. Part of me feels this show would be much better reinvented as a simple tribute concert, but another part says that Eva's story deserves to be told and it would a criminal act to remove even this rather poor effort at telling it. Either way, what it benefits from is fantastic music fabulously performed and that alone makes it an enjoyable and memorable evening. So I guess what you would get from this show rather depends upon your expectations - expect a slick musical in the vein of "Cabaret" or "Evita" and you are sure to be disappointed; expect great music performed to a high standard and an opportunity to learn a little about the life of this now legendary entertainer and you are sure not to be.
A not wholly successful fusion of great music with flawed drama, but never-the-less a treat for all Eva Cassidy fans.
Don Gillan - www.stagebeauty.net
Reproduce this article: This article is Copyright. You may, however, freely reproduce this article in whole or in part provided only that any parts thus reproduced are fairly represented as to their original intent and that the attribution of the author remains attached - ie. "Don Gillan - www.stagebeauty.net"