REVIEW
TITLE Me and My Girl
VENUE Huddersfield Light Opera Co at the LBT
By David Lockwood
THIS year marks the centenary of Huddersfield Light Opera and, to commemorate the occasion, the company have gone for the tried and tested favourite Me and My Girl.
It is more than just an apt choice on several fronts, as the society first produced the Noel Gay musical back in 1954, when one of the company’s most legendary performers, Doreen France – now MBE and still very much a household name in Huddersfield’s theatreland – took on the role of Sally Smith.
The show also contains that often-used expression ‘the feel-good factor’ and is certain to retain its appeal to more mature theatre-goers with a number of well-known songs such as The Sun Has Got His Hat On, Leaning On a Lamp-post, the title number Me and My Girl and of course The Lambeth Walk, which led to it being re-christened ‘The Lambeth Walk Musical’ when re-written by Stephen Fry in 1984, with Emma Thompson and Robert Lindsay as the two leads.
And with plenty of knockabout comedy, Me and My Girl is such a perfect vehicle for one of the company’s mainstay performers, Neil Broadbent, as the cheeky Cockney who finds himself transported into the world of aristocratic society when he discovers he is the legitimate heir to the title of the Earl of Hareford.
His comedic talent, honed to perfection over several years in the society’s annual pantomime, made Neil a shoo-in for the role, and he successfully resumes a winning partnership with Zoe Cook, who displays her dancing skills (and a very believable East End accent) as his Cockney girlfriend Sally Smith.
And although Bill and Sally hold the stage for the bulk of the show, there is ample opportunity for other company stalwarts to impress, most notably Laraine Taylor who was outstanding as Maria, Duchess of Dene, and provided the glue to hold the production together, with a superb portrayal as the matriarch of the Hareford family, accent, mannerisms and deportment simply perfect.
Elsewhere there is a wealth of experience on stage, with (dare I say) veteran Richard Cook as Sir John Tremayne, Paul Bennett (Parchester), Wendy Smith (Lady Battersby), Granville Stead (Sir Jasper), Sharon Whitehead (Mrs Brown) and Bob Warmington (Charles) to name several.
There was also another fine performance from one of the company’s newer members, Holly Comber-Moccia as Lady Jacqueline who provides a dollop of ‘sauce’ in her pursuit of the new Earl and his new-found worldy goods.
As well as some well-known music there is plenty of comedy content, although it is very much of the Good Old Days variety: ‘Aperitif sir? – No thanks I’ve have my own; ‘What is that?’, it’s bean soup sir; ‘Yes I know what’s it’s been, but what is it now?’ – You get the idea.
But it’s nevertheless guaranteed to get plenty of laughs throughout the production by Steve Tetlow and Pam Strickland, (MD Craig Ball) which ends on Saturday, when there is also a matinee.
