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| On Your Toes Leicester Haymarket Theatre May 2002 “It has to be love”…………why else would I be trekking up the motorway to sunny Leicester, for a revival of Rodgers and Hart’s ‘On Your Toes’?? LOVE for my personal hero Adam Cooper, and tremendous excitement at the prospect of experiencing him act, dance and sing in the starring role of Junior Dolan. We have tickets for the second night and it is packed - but I want to take the audience by the scruff of their collective necks and shake them , they seem unresponsive to the humour and miss out on some of the jokes, even the sly reference to ‘Swan Lake’ merely raises a polite giggle. But, they gradually warm up, and by my final viewing of this show on the glorious last night, the audience was roaring with laughter at every funny moment. A brief synopsis should suffice, as hopefully readers will have the chance to see this show in London at the Royal Festival Hall from August 7th until Sept 6th. Boy from vaudeville family becomes an academic professor of Music, adored by a worshipping student, and with a secret pair of tap shoes in his briefcase revealing the fact that he hasn’t lost his love of dancing. Professor falls for visiting Russian Ballet diva, who uses him to stir up some ol’ green eye from her straying boyfriend. A jealous fracas ensues, but our hero saves the day. The highlights of this FABULOUS performance are the show stopping ‘On Your Toes’ number, the glorious Princess Zenobia ballet- where you are in for a surprise if you thought that Adam can dance (but boy can he SWING), and the steamy ‘Slaughter on 10th Avenue’. The cast is just the best, at Leicester the roles were: Adam Cooper………………Junior Dolin Margeurite Porter…………..Vera Baronova Irek Mukhamedov………….Konstantine Morrosine Linzi Hateley……………….Frankie Frayn Kathryn Evans………………Peggy Porterfield Russell Dixon……………….Sergei Alexandrovitch And Greg Pichery, Gabrielle Noble, Simon Coulthard, Juliet Gough etc. In London, Adam’s wife Sarah Wildor will play Vera Baronova, whilst many of the original cast will reprise their roles. I had great fun joining in the ‘Education and Outreach’ day at Leicester, where the Haymarket staff took us round the scenes backstage, and assistant choreographer and dancer Greg Pichery took us through our paces in a simplified version of Up On Your Toes. So, Adam if you are still auditioning, perhaps there is a small role for yours truly(and I’m good with a broom and can make a strong cuppa tea !) Mandy XX |