Review: Copacabana at The Watermill, Bagnor

Barrie Theobald • Published 7 Aug 2010 09:00 0 Comments

THE compact stage of The Watermill is hardly the place one would think of to stage Barry Manilow's glitzy musical, yet by sticking to a format that has served the theatre so well in the past it succeeds by again only using a small cast of talented actors/musicians.

Through aspiring song writer Stephen (Edward Baker - Duly) and his alter ego Tony, we enter the fantasy world of Lola (Laura Pitt-Pulford), newly arrived from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and determined to make the grade as a New York showgirl - and what an eventful life she leads!

Aided and abetted by Tony and his pals Luis (Adam C Booth), Willy (Robin Colyer), McManus (Joe West), cigarette girl Gladys (a terrific characterisation by Karen Mann) and the nightclub's musical director (Neil MacDonald), Lola is engaged by Sam (Julian Littman) the owner of the famous Copacabana before being abducted by Sam's rival Rico (Anthony Reed) and transported to Havana as a replacement for his fading star Conchita (Basienka Blake).

Not only did director Craig Revel Horwood bring out all the far-fetched humour in the piece, he also wove some lively dance routines into the production, with Cassie Pearson and Sally Peerless portraying the scantily-dressed showgirls of the period.

The production is on now and runs until Saturday, September 4.

Tweet

This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 05 Aug 10

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

You must be logged in to post. If you have not registered with us, please do so now.

Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users do not have to complete word verification once logged in and can also take part in competitions and other registered user only features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our The Guide archives.

Follow @windsorobserver