Overview

Review

Gallery

Programme

It could be argued that Frank Loesser’s musical should have a more sharply satirical edge, but in one respect HumDrum’s rather cuddly production could not be more cutting.

Helen Stoddart’s voice as good-time girl Hedy La Rue could grate cheese at 100 paces.

It is deliberately shocking enough when she speaks, and in song it is sheer hilarity – this from a performer who normally sings with naturally beauty of tone and pitch.

In fact, to go as marginally off-pitch as consistently as she does is an art-from in itself.

The show tells of a window-cleaner called Finch who flies all the way to the top of the ladder of corporate America through a mixture of manipulative charm and single-mindedness.

Jay Cross generally catches these qualities well but is slightly weak and insecure vocally, most obviously in his duets with the admirable Kerri McLeod as the secretary who sticks with Finch. The president of the company, JB Biggley, is given a big, big performance by James George, and that heightens the comedy of his moments as a sporting cheerleader, pom-poms and all, and of his superbly-timed throwaway lines to the audience.

Jeanette Broad, as Biggley’s formidable secretary, and James Hume as his wife’s nasty, petulant nephew also perform with distinction for director Caz Gilmore.

And so does Steve Tanner’s fine band.

Mike Allen