Harrogate Theatre
13 Feb 2004 – 6 Mar 2004

Company – Simon Bishop, Wendy Mae Brown, Amanda Posener, Ray Shell, Emma Jay Thomas

Directors – Hannah Chissick & Nick Winston
Musical Director – Jane Marlow
Choreographer – Nick Winston
Designer – Phil Witcomb
Lighting Designer – David Holmes
Sound Designer – Andy Hardy
Assistant Director – Phil Lowe
Production Manager – Paul Sheard
Stage Manager – Phil Lowe
Deputy Stage Manager – Caroline Burnett
Assistant Stage Manager – Hannah Lobb Technical Stage Manager – Daniel Sammons

Aint' Misbehavin' Harrogate Theatre
Directed by Hannah Chissick & Nick Winston

4th March 2004 The Stage Kevin Berry

Harrogate Theatre’s artistic director Hannah Chissick puts much of the success of her version of Ain’t Misbehavin’ down to her choreographer and fellow director Nick Winston. Anyone who sees it will agree. Musical Director Jane Marlow, who also pounds a mean piano, deserves her own separate sentence.

This is no static show with bland, abstract sets. It moves, it creates and it celebrates. Winston lets the singers enliven their songs with an impressive mix of simple and inventive dance steps. The five singers have two levels of tenement fire escape to work with.

Strong lighting adds mood and atmosphere. The suitably hot five-piece band plays on a platform behind the scenery and is slid on to stage when the time and the tempo is right.

There is no narrative thread here but the Harrogate production team ensures that each song has a narrative and emotional identity. Newcomers to the Fats Waller songbook will be surprised at the number of recognisable standards that the man was responsible for.

This show, especially with the dance input, needs West End calibre performers and it has them. The consummate singer/dancer Ray Shell excels, as he always does. Amanda Posener and Wendy Mae Brown make every song a highlight. Simon Bishop drives the tunes along and Emma Jay Thomas delights with searing ballads, donning huge shoes for the glorious comic anthem Your Feet’s Too Big. They make a terrific team.

5th March 2004 The Harrogate Advertiser

FINAL CURTAIN FOR DANCE SPECTACULAR

Dance fans shouldn’t miss the final performances of Ain’t Misbehavin’ which concludes at Harrogate Theatre tomorrow night.

This production of the Fays Waller musical wows the audience with an all-singing, all-dancing show that invites people to jive and jitterbug in the aisles.

The directors of the show, Hannah Chissick and Nick Winston have deliberately revolutionised the show to include imaginative dance routines.

Dance captain and one of the stars of the show, Simon Bishop says that Ain’t Misbehavin’ is not normally a show that has a great deal of dancing.

“It is traditionally performed as set pieces by singers, but this production has been transformed from a cabaret piece to this spectacular musical, incorporating some versatile, group formation as well as energetic solo moves.”

As a pastiche of 1930’s Harlem Jazz, Ain’t Misbehavin’ is a dance showcase of all the rhythms and dances of the period. This includes the swinging, How Ya Baby; the jazz number Handful of Keys; the mimetic almost balletic The Viper’s Drag; an impressive tap dancing performance to close act one; the acrobatic finale, as well as the dynamic Jitterbug Waltz, which imitates the famous dance marathons of the era, when couples danced until they dropped.

Choreographer, Nick worked on both of Harrogate Theatre’s Christmas shows Aladdin and Side By Side By Sondheim and returns to the theatre with his inimitable gusto and West End experience.

With a cast of five actors, it is an ambitious achievement to have such a small ensemble cast dance their socks off for the duration of the show.