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CITY OF ANGELS by Larry Gelbart, Cy Colman and David Zippel
Venue: Prince Of Wales 1993
Directed by: Michael Blakemore



Cast

Stone Roger Allam
Orderlies Matt Zimmerman
Jonathan Avery
Oolie Haydn Gwynne
Alaura Kingsley Susannah Fellows
Stine Martin Smith
Buddy Fidler Matt Zimmerman
Shoeshine Derek Richards
Gabby Debra McCulloch
Big Six Mike Tezcan
Sonny Louis Hammond
Jimmy Powers Maurice Clarke
The Angel City 4 Annette Yeo
Zoe Tyler
Neil Rutherford
Ben Parry
Barber Martin Wimbush
Donna Haydn Gwynne
Munoz David Schofield
Pasco Jonathan Avery
Bobbi Debra McCulloch
Irwin S Irving Matt Zimmerman
Peter Kingsley Andrew Halliday
Margaret Joanne Farrell
Luther Kingsley Robert Wilson
Dr Mandril Martin Wimbush
Mallory Kingsley Sarah Jane Hassell
Mahoney Matt Zimmerman
Mortimer Billy J Mitchell
Gaines Derek Richards
Anna Jeanette Ranger
Carla Haywood Susannah Fellows
Del Dacosta Matt Zimmerman
Pancho Vargas David Schofield
Werner Krieger Robert Wilson
Gerald Pierce Andrew Halliday
Avril Raines Sarah Jane Hassell
Margie Jeanette Ranger
Bootsie Lesley Windsor
Gene Matt Zimmerman
Cinematographer Billy J Mitchell
Studio Cops Mike Tezcan
Louis Hammond
Swings Lesley Windsor
Stuart De La Mere

Review

City of Angels is the second leg of the West End's spring musical double and seems set fair to emulate the success of Crazy For You a few hundred yards away. Unlike that show, Larry Gelbart's book is a genuine original, though again it harks back to an old theme, the forties film noir, narrated by the detective hero, an ex-cop wondering where his next case is coming from and regretting it when it arrives, brought to him by a beautiful woman who obviously has a lot to hide. But it's what Gelbart does with it that counts, for not content with providing us with one story he adds another parallel plot, concerning the travails of the writer, a best-selling novelist whose book is being tampered with by a megalomaniac producer / director. As the fictional detective gets on with unravelling the mystery, interspersed with beatings-up, so the writer fights his own battles, not only with the monstrous Buddy Fidler but with his own wife, Fidler's film star spouse and secretary and the young starlet determined not to disappear from the story before the end of the movie. Stone, the detective, and Stine, the writer, are intertwined, two sides of me same man, and an inspired touch is to have the fictional episodes played in monochrome and the real-life sequences, sometimes more bizarre than the screenplay, in gaudy colour.

It is a brilliant concept, adeptly carried out by the director, Michael Blakemore, and illustrated musically by some superb work by the composer, Cy Coleman, and lyricist, David Zippel. Coleman's music is beautifully of its period, sentimental ballads with vocal group accompaniment, moody orchestrations of sinister themes, and Zippel's lyrics, are, it would not be going too far to say, in the class of Cole Porter, Ira Gershwin and Dorothy Fields, full of throbbing romance, deep cynicism and witty rhymes, a joy to listen to and astringently sung. Moreover, all the performances match, Martin Smith's increasingly frustrated writer and Roger Allam's fictional hero with exactly the right square-jawed profile, Susannah Fellows' alluring Alaura and sensual Carla, a notable doubling by Haydn Gwynne, who proves to have a strikingly deep singing voice, of the detective's faithful blonde secretary and Fidler's openly accommodating one, Fiona Hendley as Stine's unsettled wife and Stone’s tragic former girl friend, Henry Goodman's tigerishly wisecracking Fidler, Maurice Clarke's smooth balladeer and David Schofield's avenging Mexican cop, all supported by an exceptionally strong ensemble, playing vivid cameo roles. It all adds up to one of the most clever and exciting musicals for many years.