Review by Stephen Gilchrist
It is unusual for this theatre website to review non-professional productions so I am delighted an exception was made in this case since I cannot praise too highly, Stewart Nicholl’s breathless production of the 1947 Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn/Stephen Longstreet musical ‘High Button Shoes’. One of the highlights of my theatre year is visiting Nicholl’s final year students. Last year it was the ‘forgotten’ British musical ‘Grab me a Gondola’ which I did not think could be bettered. I was wrong. This year he tops last year’s production. However, I would dispute the nomenclature of ‘amateur’ or ‘non-professional’, not just because of the quality of the production but also because the hugely talented cast consisted both of BA (Hons) Musical Theatre final-years students who are now mainly graduates and have ‘Spotlight’ entries. If that doesn’t make them professional, I don’t know what does!
The show was created by Broadway first timers (though all three had previously worked in Hollywood) and directed by Broadway legend George Abbott and I do not believe has been revived in the UK since its original London production almost eighty years ago and which featured in the ensemble a young Audrey Hepburn and Alma Cogan. The more shame on producers who have ignored it.
Ten years before Harold Hill and ‘The Music Man’ there was ‘High Button Shoes’, a comic tale of a town and a family becoming entangled with two grifters who will do anything to market “snake-oil” schemes (“He Tried to Make a Dollar” as the opening song goes). Harrison Floy, and his shill, Mr. Pontdue, the template for Hill and Marcellus, try to sell the development of a New Brunswick housing estate to the residents using the good name and reputation of town luminaries, the Longstreet family. Unfortunately, the land set for development turns out to be a swamp!
The show and Nicholl’s production is gorgeously old fashioned and performed in exactly the right style to the Styne/Cahn numbers, funny, tuneful, sometime lyrical. Everybody dances with, precision, elegance and technical virtuosity, and sings powerfully, most of the time. This is a dancing showand I’ll bet a dime to a dollar that it could not have been choreographed better or danced with more verve if it was in a West End House. It is a triumph for Nicholls, particularly in the second act opener, a long ensemble dance number (“The Bathing Beauty Ballet”, to the song “On a Sunday by the Sea”) which was also the highlight of the original production, as originally choreographed by Jerome Robbins. It is staged (as was the original) in the manner of a Mack Sennett silent slapstick film with a chase after a bag of money. I used the word ‘breathless’ and I certainly do not resile from that epithet, but perhaps ‘breathtaking’ is more appropriate when pitching this dance number.
As to the cast, all have their moments in the sun, such is nature of the show and the direction, and all excel as triple threats. Undoubtedly tomorrow’s stars will emerge from this production. Fergus Edwards (a genuine triple threat) is outstanding as fast-talking Floy (played on Broadway by Phil Silvers) as is Tom Stalley his henchman, Pontdue. Georgie Butler and Joe Harris as ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’ Longstreet are endearing, especially so in the glorious polka ‘Papa Won’t You Dance With Me’ and the amusing patter song ‘I Still Get Jealous’. Butler has a soaring voice which will take her far. And talking about soaring voices the gorgeous Holly Dack as daughter ‘Fran’ matches her note for note in ‘Can’t You Just See Yourself in Love with Me?’ and ‘You’re My Girl’.
The direction by Nicholls is so fast, furious and masterfully handled. that you forget about the deliciously dated book and the broad comedy (typical of its time). The light blue and white, airy, simple design by Elliot Squire does not distract from performance and sets the action perfectly. The music by an excellent four-piece band in orchestral reduction by Rowland Lee, is led by MD Brady Mould on keys
There is no ‘snake-oil’ here. This is a genuine, legitimate first class 5 Star product!