This is a magnificent show. Chichester has a strong track record of productions, particularly musicals, which then transfer into the West End. I shall be very surprised if this one doesn’t soon join the list.
It pounds along with very familiar Gershwin numbers, such as Embraceable You and Naughty Baby. Bobby Child (the ever-fabulous Charlie Stemp) engaged to a woman he doesn’t love, wants to be a dancer rather than running the family bank. So he escapes to Nevada where, after various plot twists, he helps to restore a derelict theatre and falls in love with the daughter of the owner. And they all lived happily ever after – or something.
Susan Stroman’s choreography is glitteringly original. In I’ve Got Rhythm the ensemble groups and regroups like a musical kaleidoscope. She knows how to get the best – spectacularly so – out of her accomplished cast too. Carly Anderson is terrific as Polly – she sings with passion and verve and dances in a whole range of styles. Tom Edden excels too as the Hungarian theatre impressario, Bela Zangler, who eventually comes out to Nevada to see what’s going on.
And as for Charlie Stemp, well, of course, he’s a show-stealer. His style lying somewhere between Tommy Steele and Fred Astaire spliced with his own magic, he oozes so much charisma and talent that he gets a round of applause simply for his first appearance on stage – like a grand old man of Theatrical Status. And yet he’s only 28 and it’s just six years since his first big show: Half a Sixpence at Chichester. It’s well deserved though. Stemp dances and dances – tap dancing on tables, leaping like Rudolph Nureyev, throwing Anderson and others into the air and much, much more. And it’s all done with (apparently) effortless lightness and elegance.
Review by Susan Elkin