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See Michael Ball in dazzling show
A MAJOR new production of classic Broadway musi- cal Mack & Mabel comes to Wales Millennium Centre on December 1-6 starring double Olivier award-winning Mi- chael Ball as Mack Sennett. Based on the real-life ro- mance between Hollywood legends Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, Mack&Ma- bel tells the story of a group of pioneering filmmakers who changed the world sur- rounded by the great fun of the silent screen: heroes in capes, girls tied to the tracks, glamorous Bathing Beauties and the chaos of the Keystone Kops. Mack & Mabel features an outstanding score by Jerry Herman and is widely ad- mired for its classic Broad- way hits including I Won’t Send Roses and Time Heals Everything. In a production by a multi-
MAJOR PRODUCTION: Michael Ball
award winning team, with di- rection by Jonathan Church and choreography by Stephen Mear, this dazzling musical
In The Spotlight By GERAINT DAVIES
Beatles as distant as Bach if you’re 15
THEY say that everything is cy- clical – ‘what goes around comes around’. This is nowhere truer than in education. Last week, I read a press release
from the examination board AQA heralding their “startlingly novel” new GCSE music syllabus, which was to include a large element of (shock, horror!) pop music. The implication was that this heralded a new type of music exam which better catered for the interests of the youngsters and would therefore be more accessi-
ble.Amove away from all that dry- as-dust classical stuff! My first thought was that the music in question – songs from the Beatles’ 1967 album
Sgt.Pep- per’s lonely Hearts Club Band such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – is about as distant from the mu- sical experience of your average 15-year-old as Beethoven or Bach. I would also make the point that I totally understand and would sup- port the inclusion of these songs from a musical standpoint. An understanding of a range of musi-
cal features such as structure, tex- ture, harmony, instrumentation and so on can only gain from the study of these songs. I did, however, find it hard to suppress a wry smile at the head- lines that this news created in some national newspapers.What was all the fuss about? I remember similar headlines
in the early Eighties, when popu- lar music was first introduced (often to entertain the more-dis- illusioned pupils). Many of the trendier music teachers at the time (I was never one of those), keen to be seen as ‘getting down with the kids,’ saw it as the new way forward in music education. When the new GCSE exam was introduced in 1988, exam boards were forced to recognise the va- lidity of pop music. Some readers will remember studying songs from another Beatles album, Help, as part of the syllabus of the Welsh Board (WJEC), alongside classical pieces such as Zadok the Priest, Petrouchka and Egmont. This was all a long way from the
ideals of the old O-level exam and caused a lot disagreement -– no, uproar – among many in the mu- sical fraternity. In some quarters, it still does. Music exams became (and still
are) as likely to contain questions about pop or musical theatre as about classical music. All styles were nowequally relevant. This is all very laudable and it
has undoubtedly led to a greater number of pupils studying music at this level. In truth, the exam boards sometimes did themselves no favours by dumbing things down too far. I remember some exam questions that were better suited to a pub quiz than to the exam room and these have given detractors ammunition. Questions such as: ‘What fa- mous Welsh singers are heard in the following extracts?’Answers: Tom Jones,Cerys Mathews, Aled Jones. Or multiple choice questions
such as: ‘Which musical styles are heard in these extracts (choose from the following : reggae /opera /penillion/heavy metal)?’
Musical
comedy is both a poignant love story and a riveting trib- ute to the grit and glamour of the era of silent movies. The showreceived eight Tony Award nominations when it opened on Broadway in 1974. Having performed numer-
ous times at Wales Millenni- um Centre, including in 2010 as Edna Turnblad in Hair- spray, Michael Ball returns in the role of Mack Sennett, the great comedy director of the silent screen. Michael’s recent credits include the BBC television drama That Day We Sang, which reunited him with Sweeney Todd co- star Imelda Staunton. Thea- tre credits include the title role in Sweeney Todd (Chich- ester Festival 2011 and West End), Hairspray, Les Miséra- bles, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Passion, Aspects of Love, The Woman in White and The Phantom of the Opera. Ball
co-produced Chichester Fes- tival 2010’s West End transfer of Love Story. The production is directed
by Jonathan Church, Chich- ester’s artistic director. Cred- its include Singin’ in the Rain (West End and tour), Taken at Midnight (West End) and Am- adeus, The Last Confession (Toronto, Los Angeles and Australia tour), The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (West End) and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (West End).
Design is by Robert Jones. Choreography is by Stephen Mear, Chichester’s associate choreographer. The UK and Ireland Tour of
is co-produced with Playful Productions. Mack and Ma- bel will be at Wales Millenni- um Centre on December 1 - 6. Tickets: £19 - £54.50. Premium seats: £61-£64.50. Age guid- ance 8+ (no under 2s). For more information or to book tickets visit:
www.wmc.org. uk or call 02920 636464.
Join in an evening of musical memories
JOIN Mandy Starr and guests for a musical evening at Beau- fort Theatre and Ballroom, Ebbw Vale on Friday June 12 at 7.30pm. Mandy Starr and friends, in- cluding Samantha Link, Peter Lewis, Robert Knight and the ever-popular Beaufort Male Choir, will bring you an even- ing of melodies and memories from many of the world’s most famous musicals and operas, from Rogers and Hammerstein to Puccini and songs from re- cent popular West End and Broadway shows. They say go and sing along as
they take you on a whistle-stop tour of the classics. A one-off performance exclu-
sively for the Beaufort Theatre not to be missed. Tickets are on sale priced at £10/£8 concessions and availa- ble from the box office on 01495 355800 or by visiting www.blae-
naugwentvenues.com
5 Culture
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