REVIEW | Songs For A New World, Upstairs At The Gatehouse
Songs For A New World cast. Photo by Clarissa DebenhamWritten by Cathie
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
Tucked into a corner of quaint Highgate Village lies the hidden gem of Upstairs at the Gatehouse theatre. This is a phenomenal production unlike any other you will find in London at the moment. Songs for a New World is classified as a song cycle. Therefore the show, running at 1 hour 45 minutes, is entirely sung without any spoken dialogue. It’s a show comprised of short stories which loosely connect via exploring the conundrum of human experience and emotions. The songs range from solos and duets to entire cast performances and are in turns hilarious, heartbreaking and full of hope for ‘a new world.’ Without a definitive plot, this is a difficult balancing act which this show manages to make effortless and sincerely delivered under Kai Wright’s direction.
One of the strongest elements of this show is the truly incredible cast. This awesome foursome of performers comprises of Christopher Cameron, Eleanore Frances, Lizzy Parker & Luke Walsh. Cameron has an earnestly powerful voice which brought many of the audience to both tears and squeals of laughter. Luke Walsh has a charming, warm voice and excels at making rags to riches solos sound as enchanted as any fairy tale. Lizzy Parker is a study is subtle strength and portrays her characters with seamless charisma and angelic chords. Eleanore Frances was the standout for me in this incredible cast as she played her characters with fabulous wit, warmth and dynamic vulnerability. Her song as Mrs Claus telling off Santa was unexpected in February but made my entire night.
Equally of note are the brilliant musicians who perform together and led phenomenally by Musical Director Liam Holmes. It is rare to hear a show where the musicians play with such passion and emotive pizazz as these musicians.
The stage design is another strength cleverly filled with knickknacks and antiques which evoke themes of hidden worlds, lost stories and unknown worlds of wonder. This is strengthened by the many lightbulbs hung above the staging area and flicker and glow with different well timed intensities throughout the songs.
I sincerely hope this cast make a recording of the songs as their renditions will haunt me for a long time to come. One song lyric in particular was “You don’t know me yet but you will”. It’s hard to find lyrics more apropos for this show as it deserves to be remembered as a soulful powerhouse of musical theatre. If you enjoy beautiful ballads, a stunningly talented cast and a show which will leave you longing for more then this is the show for you.
At Upstairs At The Gatehouse until 3 March.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
