Crucial to this style of show, amongst others, are pace, continuity and a slick dancing troupe. There were, at times, delays in scene changing, which required the cast to pick up the pace again. The Follies Girls also had their work cut out and whilst the choreography from Lara Crombie was competently carried out, the necessary sparkle and vitality were not much in evidence. Having said that, Gershwin's music and lyrics were a pleasure to hear again, and there were several quite respectable individual performances.
As Bobby Childs, Kevin Rawcliffe, whilst not quite a Fred Astaire, put a great deal of effort into his many successful dance routines. The New York playboy element of the character was a little underdeveloped whilst Teresa Harper, as the small town girl Polly Baker, was vocally and visually a natural and gave an engaging performance. Mike Bailey gave a sound portrayal of Bella Zangler whilst Lank Hawkins, a man non-too-keen on the theatre being saved, was well played by Alan Hitchens, as was Everett Baker by Don Howcroft. Joyce Walters played Bobby's mother with style, whilst the expected man-eating character of Irene Roth (Louise Steggals) was not fully developed.
Knowing that director Nora Howcroft would have required maximum effort to be put into the production by all concerned, I was sorry not to have enjoyed it more.
