Notes in Heels

Published Wednesday 9 April 2008 at 15:15 by Mark Shenton

The new stage musical adaptation of Gone with the Wind that is now previewing at the New London has instantly doubled the number of musicals playing in the West End that feature contributions by female composers.

The only other one is The Lord of the Rings, which has songs partly written by Varttina, a Finnish new-age pop group that has women members.

But Notes from New York, the West End’s most valuable showcase for introducing new American compositional voices to British ears, has now taken a dazzling step forward to bring the work of three more bright young women composers - Georgia Stitt, Jenny Giering and Zina Goldrich - from across the pond to our shores.

Producers are quite clearly neglecting a rich source of material by mostly ignoring compositions by one half of the world’s population. As the songs here - by turns melodic and emotional - thrillingly demonstrate, women can write with feisty feeling and revealing resonance.

Musical director and co-director David Randall has an uncanny gift for searching out and finding a set of composers, almost entirely unknown here (though Stitt did a one-night stint in London last summer), who may not stay unknown for long if their work for this show is any indication.

But, as always with this series, the beguiling surprises of the material are given an effortless sheen and delight thanks to the seamless, simple structure that the songs are folded into, and the sensational performances of the five-strong cast.

Julie Atherton and Paul Spicer, series co-founders and stalwarts, anchor it once again with their palpable enthusiasm for performing to selflessly reveal the personality of the material rather than their own, and they are newly joined here by two delightful ingenues in Selina Chilton and Amy Pemberton, and a strong leading man in Stuart Matthew Price.