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Over (and over and over) here
September 2-8, 2002
By Matt Wolf
Variety
London -- For a while, it seemed, one
couldn't move for American work. No, I'm not talking the nonevent
of "On an Average Day," the West End's Kyle MacLachlan/Woody
Harrelson starrer. Or ever the Gwynnie vs. Madge parlor game
that kept the British tabloids tattling for much of May and
June.
A substantial American presence has been
in evidence on London stages this summer. From downtown New
York darlings Kiki and Herb to the vibrant one-night
only Ado Annie of Klea Blackhurst, from a once-scandalous
Wallace Shawn play to a deeply silly San Francisco import
(an idiotic faux happening called Euphor!um), Yanks have been
thoroughly represented onstage if not always off.
The BBC Proms gave itself over August
17 to an evening of Richard Rodgers, with Yale grad David
Charles Abell conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra in his
Proms debut. The first half featured rarity "Symphonic Scenario"
from "Victory at Sea," an epic TV doc 50 years old this year.
But it was an abbreviated concert version of "Oklahoma!" that
probably accounted for the sellout audience of 6,000.
The cast coupled well known locals (Maureen
Lipman as a thin-voiced Aunt Eller, the part she played in
the National's 1998 revival) with well-liked visitors (Brent
Barrett, taking the night off from since-closed "Kiss Me,
Kate" to offer a lustily sung Curly). But it was
Blackhurst's delicious Ado Annie that proved the evening's
abiding delight, triumphing in a part that -- let's face it
-- can in the wrong hands be pretty tiresome. Equal parts
imp and vamp, Blackhurst stopped just short of blowing off
the Albert Hall's roof, mindful this was an ensemble occasion
and not an exercise in ego.
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