This new musical is the Dorothy Reynolds-Julian Slade mixture
as before, which no doubt will vastly please those who like their
entertainment light and sentimental. But since the era of Salad
Days, their first great triumph, taste in music has toughened,
and the sentimental ditties in this new show seem superficial
and repetitive to a degree, so that not one of the tinkling numbers
can be said to stick in the memory.
Dorothy Reynolds herself, as a nice middle-aged aunt, is the
best thing in this story of an aggravating schoolgirl with inhibited
feelings of romance, and a penchant for white racing cars. Nicholas
Garland directs in some attractive lightweight settings by Brian
Currah. (Frances Stephens) |
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In this show, they have forsaken fantasy, and there are no
magic pianos (Salad Days) or flying heroines (Follow That Girl)
or marvellous beanstalks (Hooray for Daisy). Instead, if one
can judge by the synopsis on the sleeve, they have settled for
a small-town story of such slightness that one can imagine even
radio's Mrs Dale protesting, if asked to stretch it out for one
of her daily quarter-hours.
The tunes tinkle along pleasantly, with lyrics full of quaint
old-fashioned phrases like 'Strike me pink' and 'Going places'
and 'Boopa-doopa'. I failed to detect any notable vocal talent
among the cast. |
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Dorothy Reynolds finally got to play leading roles in her
own musicals with Hooray For Daisy and Wildest Dreams, although
she had also played in Salad Days and Free As Air. She didn't
do Follow That Girl. After Wildest Dreams Reynolds concentrated
on her career as a straight actress, although she did appear
in one other musical, Sail Away. She was married to Angus Mackay,
who in Wildest Dreams played a man as diffident as the curate
he portrayed in Hooray For Daisy! He had earlier been seen in
London in a small role in The Sleeping Prince at the Phoenix
Theatre and then worked extensively in repertory. Although he
did some unpublished recordings of early Julian Slade songs (from
musicals written while Slade was at Cambridge) Mackay didn't
venture into musicals again, and was seldom seen in leading roles.
Anna Dawson continued to work in musicals for several years
and graduated to a series of highly successful partnerships with
comedy greats (see her entry in Unsung Heroines for a full account
of her career). John Baddeley, a fine actor for long associated
with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, trained at Birmingham
Theatre School. He only did two London musicals (Wildest Dreams
and Follow That Girl in which he may be heard on the original
cast recording in 'Taken For A Ride' and, briefly, in 'Song and
Dance'). >>> |
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He also played in several provincial productions of
musicals that didn't get to London, including Good Time Johnny,
First Impressions and Quick, Quick, Slow. Rosamund Burne also
appeared in another London musical, Four Thousand Brass Halfpennies,
at the Mermaid Theatre. John Davidson had played small roles
in Hooray For Daisy! and Follow That Girl. Edward Hardwicke,
another refugee from Hooray For Daisy! went on to become a useful
actor, perhaps best remembered for his television role as Dr
Watson opposite Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes. Norman Jones
was another who had got onto the Slade-Reynolds list with Hooray
For Daisy!, but had first appeared in a musical in 1951 - Bet
Your Life. He went on to play in two other musicals, Pardon My
Language and Slade's Nutmeg and Ginger.
Bernard Dickerson and Annette Gibson, who played in the Cheltenham
production, had previously been seen in Hooray For Daisy! at
the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Denis Quilley, the original Mark
Raven, was the show's only real 'name', one that was associated
with many other British musicals in a distinguished career that
has flourished and survived. >>> |
