Salad Days - Putney Arts Theatre
MANY moons ago on my first trip to New York I was taken to see a show, Shangri La, which I thought was slick, chic, elegant and marvellous.
It was, in fact, none of those things but it was my first Broadway show “on Broadway” and I was naïve. Some time later, my American host was in London and I took him to the hit show Salad Days.
As we left the Vaudeville Theatre, he said: “Now I understand why you thought Shangri La was so good.” A typical New Yorkers put down, he could not see that charm, innocence and a slight touch of the amateur could be a great show.
My Fair Lady was THE SHOW then and all else paled into insignificance; Salad Days you could take or leave and he left it.
However, there were still enough people who enjoyed it to give it an initial run of 2,283 performances at The Vaudeville Theatre from August 1954 to February 1960 and to justify at least one major London revival in 1966 – and others not so memorable.
Salad Days is certainly no My Fair Lady but it is nonetheless a good show.
On the skeleton of a story the author Dorothy Reynolds and composer Julian Slade have hung some amusing scenes, romantic ballads, patter songs and point numbers which carry you through the evening on a cloud of enjoyment.
There are no songs of social significance, no terrorised heroines in operatic settings, no pirouetting pussies nor revolting French students – the men are nice and the girls are sweet. Terrence Rattigan’s Aunt Edna would have loved it and probably did!
The plot, if one can call it that, concerns a boy, Tim, and a girl, Jane, just down from university and on the threshold of their life. Neither of them are sure what they want but he knows he must get a job with one of his uncles and she knows she must get married.
An old Tramp asks them to look after his magic piano for a month. They do. Tim’s quest for a job with his uncles takes them into nightclubs, onto space ships and into diplomatic trouble; their parents, particularly their mothers, look on and occasionally comment.
The piano is lost and the rest of the evening follows their attempts to get it back. Ultimately, all is resolved to everyone’s satisfaction and the play ends with the tramp asking another young couple to look after his piano……
Part whimsy, part revue it is a show which in the wrong hands could be cloying and embarrassing. However, in the sure hands of the Swanbank Music, a charitable Am Dram association, it is perfection.
All the players, although amateur, are as comfortable in their roles as any professional cast and one or two performances deserve to be seen by a wider audience.
One in particular was outstanding – Roger Dipper as Troppo, the mute assistant to Tim and Jane – reminded me of a young Marcel Marceau. His mime was amusing and convincing and he showed at times an extremely effective acrobatic skill – to read from his CV that he is only 15 makes one wonder at it’s veracity.
It is a performance which would do credit to a Jim Dale or Michael Crawford and I foresee that here is a star in the making if he continues in the profession.
Another effective performance (in fact three, as he played three different characters) was given by Joe Puttnam with an evil leer and a camp malevolent humour that brought the house down every time he appeared.
Although the Tim and Jane sang well and filled their parts adequately, sadly from the front they gave the impression that they had well passed their salad days and were a comfy old married couple – not quite what the authors had intended.
Of the remainder of the cast, Billie Stephens shone as Tim’s mother, although it was a miniscule part and not worthy of her talent (I would love to see her as Mrs Sally Adams, so Swanbank take note – Call Me Madam is worth a thought for your next production!).
Philip Austin was a suitably silly upper class twit and Alice Cowan was a good counterpart and foil to his performance; Humphrey Gale was a delightful PC Plod and Farah Dhanani a suitably sensuous and sexy nightclub singer.
In fact, all of the cast are worthy of mention and only space inhibits me from doing so.
Despite one or two clumsy scene changes, Jonathan Winfield’s direction kept things moving along happily and Tasmyn Salters’ choreography was not too challenging for her amateur cast; all in all, a happy evening and a good entry for one’s memory book.
Salad Days by Dorothy Reynolds.
Music by Julian Slade.
Directed by Jonathan Winfield.
Choreography – Tamsyn Salter.
Lighting – Jonathan Wilson.
Musical Director – Iain Cowden.
CAST: Rosalind O’Dowd; Daniel Harvey; Billie Stephens; Martin Chapple; Pam Taylor; Guy Brew; Joe Putnam; Jenkin Thomas; Alice Cowan; Philip Austin; Sally Manton; Roger Dipper; Humphrey Gale; Farah Dhanani; Alexandra Taylor.
Presented by Swanbank Music.
Putney Arts Theatre, Ravenna Road, Putney, London SW15.
From Wednesday, November 8 – Saturday, Nov 12, 2006.
Ticket inquiries: 020 8643 8227.