It’s no secret I adore movie musicals, and Hollywood ones are my happy place. So when this show popped into my inbox, I was interested. I know Liza Pulman’s solo work and her ongoing commitment to Fascinating Aida, as well as Joe Stilgoe’s jazz trio, so I was keen to give this collaboration a space.
Mention Hollywood musicals and three names loom large: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. All began their careers before or during the Second World War, but came from very different backgrounds. Judy was a child star who grew up in front of the camera; Gene came from theatre, notably Broadway’s Pal Joey; while Fred danced with his sister Adele from childhood, through vaudeville and into Broadway and the West End.
Pulman and Stilgoe (an excellent pianist and gifted singer with a cheeky chappie smile) ensure all three feature in this light tribute to the silver screen and its songbirds, while dipping into other eras and composers. They open with “City of Stars” from La La Land, before racing through Singin’ in the Rain and “I Got Rhythm” from An American in Paris, both associated with Kelly, and into several medleys.
Rodgers and Hammerstein are deservedly represented, although State Fair, their 1945 starting point, is mentioned but not included. We hear “Something Good” from The Sound of Music alongside Stephen Schwartz’s “For Good” from Wicked!. Act two brings a delicious love-song medley featuring Oklahoma‘s “People Will Say We’re in Love” and Carousel‘s “If I Loved You”.
The first half is perhaps the lighter, more vivacious side of Hollywood. Mary Poppins‘s “Spoonful of Sugar” sits alongside a lively “If I Only Had a Brain” from the iconic The Wizard of Oz, complete with double bass and kazoo. Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady numbers jostle with a piano mashup spanning Jaws, The Godfather, The Deer Hunter and Star Wars.
Pulman has a lovely soprano voice, tackling everything from Cabaret‘s “Maybe This Time” to Garland’s “The Trolley Song” from Meet Me In St Louis. Her harmonies with Stilgoe on “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof, chosen for its connection to her grandfather’s Jewish roots, are particularly touching. She also delivers a rousing “All That Jazz” from Chicago, with revised lyrics, bringing Roxie Hart’s theatricality to the stage. Her Roxie appears before us with the devotion to movies of a child opening a Christmas box.
A Fred and Ginger medley draws on their nine RKO films, introducing Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern to this show’s composer roster. These movies were glamorous, opulent screen fairytales of boy meets girl, although Astaire was already 34 when they first teamed up in Flying Down to Rio.
A Sondheim medley, combining “Not While I’m Around” from Sweeney Todd and “No One Is Alone” from Into The Woods, offers a thoughtful reflection on care and protection, while reminding us how much more of his work deserves exploration on screen.
Finally, “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound of Music gets the audience involved and on its feet, producing an “accidental” standing ovation. West Side Story‘s “A Place for Us” then provides a fittingly gentle close.
4 stars.
Hooray for Hollywood was at Wilton’s Music Hall until 7 Nov. A Christmas-themed version of the show, Hooray for Holly, is on 14 Dec at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.
For more on Liza Pulman, go to her website. For her work with Fascinating Aida, go here.
For more on Joe Stilgoe, go to his website.
You can also read my interview with both of them.