Review: THE THEATRE CHANNEL Episode 5, The Classics of Broadway

Photo credit: Edward Johnson

The Theatre Channel brings us the fifth instalment of their online series, ‘The Classics of Broadway’.

Episode 5 features Freddie Fox (Channel 4’s Cucumber & Banana, ITV’s White House Farm), Bonnie Langford (9 to 5, 42nd Street), Marisha Wallace (Dreamgirls, Waitress), Mazz Murray (We Will Rock You, Mamma Mia!),Gary Wilmot (Flowers for Mrs Harris, The Prince of Egypt) and The Café Four - comprised of Sadie-Jean Shirley, Alex Woodward, Alyn Hawke and Emily Langham - with the latter two also sharing a duet.

Freddie Fox welcomes us, or should I say ‘Willkommen’ with his version of the song from Cabaret, followed by ‘Money’ from the musical of the same name.  The producers and directors made it clear in a post-preview Q&A that it was very important for them to choose Cabaret as not only does the setting of the Theatre Café lend its self perfectly to this musical, but because it was so important at the time of release and the topics covered make it such an important Broadway classic. 

The Broadway classics covered are the big ones that you would expect with Bonnie Langford belting out ‘I Get a Kick Out of You’ from Anything Goes, Gary Wilmot performing ‘Luck be a Lady’ from Guys and Dolls and The Café Four ironically singing ‘Coffee Break’ from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The producers did, however, throw in what they felt was an undeservedly neglected musical, Bye Bye Birdie. Alyn Hawke and Emily Langham perform ‘Put on a Happy Face’, which really is apt for the time right now. 

It’s hard to pick a star of the show when you have such a collection of brilliant performers but you really can’t take your eyes off of Mazz Murray and Marisha Wallace. 

Mazz Murray gives us a wonderful rendition of ‘Everything’s Coming up Roses’ from Gypsy. The staging for this is wonderful and director Bill Deamer talks at length about how he wanted to give a hint of what was to come for the character, and he uses the lights and the staging to foreshadow that. 

Marisha Wallace performs ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story on top of The National Theatre and other than being vocally flawless, the inclusion of this song is also a message of hope. That somewhere, someday there is a place for everyone and that theatre will survive this pandemic and come back stronger than before.

This episode is impressive and give us a snippet of the theatre that we are all missing. Times are difficult and for The Theatre Channel to be able to produce such wonderful pieces of theatre is incredible. What makes it even more wonderful, and hats off to the amazing behind the scenes team, is that Director and Choreographer Bill Deamer had to self-isolate whilst directing these pieces, meaning it was done almost completely over Zoom!

You may be wondering why there isn’t any Rodgers and Hammerstein amongst the Broadway Classics but a spoiler was given that they will be getting their own episode later on, so watch this space Besties!

****’ Four and a half stars

Reviewed by: Emma Littler

If you wish to catch up on the previous four episodes before taking in Episode 5 you can purchase the package for £40 here.