Hutch
Riverside Studios (Studio 3)
Reviewed on Friday 18th May 2013
Hutch is a bio-drama charting the early, successful years of Lesley Hutchinson's (affectionately known as Hutch) career when he played and sang in the cabaret houses of Paris and London. This is a play about love, focusing on Hutch's intimate friendship with Cole Porter and subsequent affair with the English Lady Edwina Mountbatten.
The plot takes place during 'The Jazz Age' and the scene is humourously set by the characterful and very likeable Zelli's Girls, who flirt their way around the audience with quirky and imperfect choreography. The hummable and beautifully romantic music of Porter and his contemporaries accompanies the play and is used both as a tool for commentary as well as realistically within the action. The script and plot is, on the whole, successful - it is factually and emotionally engaging, although I did feel that Act Two was a little too long.
I am a strong advocate of live music and the on-stage grand piano, double bass and violin provided many moments of actor-musicianship from various members of the cast. While this was great to see, I feel that when casting actor-musicians, a balance with the other requirements of a character need to be kept. Although Sheldon Green gives a good performance as Hutch, he lacks life experience and emotional intelligence to pull off the role.
It seemed to me that the production could have done with more musical direction. The sounds were all there but at times felt disjointed. Green does not have the 'sepia voice' mentioned repeatedly throughout the script and the duet he sings with Imogen Daines towards the end, which is intended to be the emotional climax, was a bit of an ear full and thus missed its purpose.
Thankfully there were some touching moments from the whole cast, especially Nell Mooney who played the jealous yet eternally-loyal wife to Porter and Sid Phoenix who found the subtleties within the conflicting emotions that Porter felt towards his friend. A stand out performance came from Janna Yngwe who makes a cameo as cabaret star Jesse Matthews. I could not take my eyes off her as she roved around the stage and injected energy and humour into the show at just the right moment.
At the end of the show Chris Hutchinson (Hutch's son) makes a short speech about what a remarkable man his father was which provides a very touching moment. The speech emphasises that the play is based on events which really happened. The subject of Hutch is inspirational and the content gives a nice snapshot of the era which is mostly engaging. I only wish that a little more care had been given to the realisation of the production onto the stage.
Reviewed by Ted McMillan
Hutch runs at Riverside Studios until Saturday 8th June 2013
Visit www.riversidestudios.co.uk for further information and tickets
Photo Credit: John Watts
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