Whistle Down The Wind - Liverpool Empire

Bill Kenwright’s Whistle Down The Wind started its nationwide tour in Liverpool at the Empire Theatre, I was lucky enough to go to the first night. The original 1961 Bryan Forbes/Richard Attenborough film, based on the novel by Mary Hayley Bell, stared a very young Hayley Mills and Alan Bates in his first film. It was the first film I remember every seeing although I have not seen the musical so wondered how it would fair on stage. Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Jim Steinman have taken the original concept of a family in rural Lancaster in the 1950s and relocated them to a small town in Louisiana’s Bible belt at the height of racial tensions and the struggle for civil rights.

The Liverpool Empire is an old theatre, 19th century I think, large not unlike the London Palladium with a wide, very deep stage. We were greeted by the barn doors across the stage instead of curtains. The doors parted to show the stage filled with the ensemble and the Preacher (Kieran Snell) singing 'Keys to the Vaults of Heaven' - very tight, they were perfectly drilled/choreographed. The set designed by Paul Farnsworth with scenery flying in from the flies, creatively and smoothly takes you to various locations from the barn, the town and even railway tunnels and was aided by an effective lighting design by Nick Richings.

The book has a lot of biblical allegories but for me this was primarily a story about coping with the mourning cycle of grief and all the resulting unintended consequences. The naïve young Swallow (Carly Bawden), grieving the loss of her Mother discovers ‘The Man’ (Jonathan Ansell) hiding in their barn, when Swallow asks him his identity his first words are ‘Jesus Christ’… it’s as if her prayers have been answered. While the town is searching for a convict on the run from death row, the towns’ children make a pact to protect their new found saviour.

He makes the most of this to get what he can from the children and as his almost mythical status grows, the other children in the town become more and more taken with him. This is perfectly illustrated by 'The Tribe', a song written by Lloyd Webber with words by Don Black for when the children ask ‘The Man’ for a Bible story. The first half finishes with 'No Matter What' sung by the children and I think this has confused a lot of people as they expect it to be done a la Boyzone and so may be disappointed.

In the second half ‘The Man’ was getting stronger from food and wine brought by the children so by the time he sings 'So Many Cries' he is at full voice. This is quite spectacular – managing to convey his anguish, pulling at the heart strings at the same time. The end is of course the burning of the barn and ‘The Man’ disappearing - this is done well with lights but somehow it does miss something but that might come in time?!

As ‘The Man’ Jonathan Ansell leaves you in no doubt that he is perfect for the Christ like role - as has been said in The Stage review perhaps the next role Jesus Christ Superstar? His rapport with the children is something special and you really believe that from the trust of the children ‘The Man’ comes to accept his fait. His acting ability is a revelation as he moves well around the stage, jumping on hay bales, climbing up and down ladders, onto the bridge and his singing was so full of emotion that I found myself shedding a few tears. He is one of the best duettists in the business and the scenes he shared with Swallow work particularly well.

They say ‘never work with children or animals’, sometimes they steal the show but often they can be a little stiff and false but the children themselves led by Brat (Charlotte Oldroyd) and Poor Baby (Josh Simpson) are very natural and very good indeed and yes the little boy probably did steal the show!

The accents used were not strong but enough for you to know where the story was set, and maintained well by all. This helps with the understanding of an English audience as deep South, American accents can be a bit difficult to follow.

Then at the end we had the applause - I was sitting there wondering if anyone would get to their feet and all of a sudden to my right some people started to stand and by the end of all the curtain calls it seemed like most people in the Stalls were in deed on their feet. I believe Jonathan shed a tear but Bill Kenwright's face on the way out was a picture to behold - a very happy bunny.

My thoughts on the evening? Well for a first outing in front of an audience - after something like 7 full dress rehearsals over 3 days was more than impressive. The energy level was extremely high even though they had done it twice that day already. I was just so, so impressed with the whole thing - Bill Kenwright has done absolutely marvels to get this all together. I have seen many a musical in the West End that were nowhere near as polished after several weeks of previews. I’m going again in Southampton so if it comes to a venue near you, don’t miss it!

Added: January 29th 2010
Reviewer: Guest reviewer Dilog
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