The Stage

Copacabana

Published Thursday 22 July 2010 at 18:00 by Julie Watterston

“Je choissisais le fromage,” says Joe West as the Maitre D’ as he practises his best fake French accent - and surely this is what really makes this show, in a roundabout way. It’s cheesy to say the least but camped up cheese is often as good as the more serious mature stuff.

Incredibly Barry Manilow’s seventies hit song Copacabana tells the story of Lola the showgirl in such a way that a full show has been made out of it. The plot is tenuous in places but it answers the main question of “Who shot who?” from the song and is full of glamour, drama, comedy and musicality.

Focusing on songwriter, Stephen, as he struggles to write, his wife Samantha is indirectly the catalyst for his finished piece. As her conversation trickles into his psyche the plot of Lola and Tony and the famous Copacabana nightclub are relived within his vivid imagination.

The show starts with the unearthly influence of Show MD, Neil MacDonald, and Cassie Pearson as the voyeuristic showgirl, before the show develops from eerie beginnings into a full blown camped up musical. Some of the musical numbers such as Sweet Heaven, performed with idyllic pastiche by Edward Baker-Duly as Tony, are catchy and memorable. Laura Pitt-Pulford is the new Copa girl, Lola, who skilfully captures the diverse emotions of a countrygirl arriving gleefully in New York to her brutal kidnapping by rival Havana club owner, Rico (sadistically played by Antony Reed).

Karen Mann’s forte as a comedy character actor is proven once again in her role as Gladys, with Julian Littman as Copa owner Sam, Basienka Blake as Latino Conchita, Robin Colyer as Willy, Adam C Booth as Luis and Sally Peerless as the other amazingly leggy Copa showgirl.

Craig Revel Horwood directs his cast compactly on the minute stage, which gives great impact in the main dance numbers, while designer Diego Pitarch contributes glamorous costumes and a multi-tiered set for the actor musicians who successfully negotiate their way over and around it with choreographed ease and instrumental finesse.