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Whistle Down The Wind
- Musical on tour
Book - Patricia Knop, Gale Edwards and Andrew Lloyd Webber
Music - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics - Jim Steinman
Director - Bill Kenwright
Designer - Paul Farnsworth
Lighting Designer - Nick Richings
Musical Director - David Steadman
Producers - Bill Kenwright in assoc with Theatre Royal Plymouth
Dates - 2 - 13 Oct Mon-Sat at 7.30pm, Wed & Sat 2.30pm
£7.00 - £26.50 then continues touring UK, going to
Edinburgh's Festival Theatre 21 Jan to 2 Feb Mon to Sat at 7:30pm
Matinees Thur & Sat at 2:30pm 2002 Glasgow Review
October 2001 Edinburgh Review January 2002
Reviewer - Thelma Good
Edinburgh Review January
2002 (for an outline of the story look at Glasgow
review)
When first I saw this production in Glasgow the fires at Ground Zero were
still burning and we were still reeling. Five months on that fire is out
in Manhattan but Whistle Down The Wind's warmth, fear, hope and fire are
now to be seen at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.
Kennwright's touring production continues to tell a moving story. Katie
Rowley Jones's Swallow is such a finely judged portrayal of innocence's
power. In the role of Amos's girl friend Candy, Adelaide Thompson
get just right the young woman who increasingly knows her young man ain't
ever going to do right or take her somewhere better. The childrens ensemble
this time are drawn from Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Schools,
enriching the story with their youth and performances. It's great to see
a large good cast of all ages on stage - no underpopulated musical this.
This musical shows how faith the children have in the Man in the barn
gradually changes how he sees himself whilst the townfolks whip themselves
up into more dark beliefs and actions. Last night when I saw it in Edinburgh
the volume and pace of the production's music was at times loud and fast.
A couple of very quick scene changes also detracted slightly from what
is overall a musical to move you. Whistle Down The Wind portrays love,
trust and the hope of change drawing us in, getting us to believe that
the man and ourselves too can start anew. There is still much to savour
in this many layered musical when the pace is right. And I'm enjoying
humming the tunes again!
© Thelma Good 22 January 2002
Glasgow Review October
2001
Love and hate, faith and fanaticism, youthful innocence and adult prejudice
all give cracking fuel for the warm, sometimes searing Whistle Down The
Wind's touring production. And the direction, design, lighting, musical
and story structure are all stacked just right. The flame to ignite them
is the cast of strong musical actors.
The place isn't the post war Lancaster of Mary Hayley Bell's original
childrens' story or the subsequent film. In this musical we're in a 50's
sugar growing, southern state of the US. There's colour segregation, converts
who test their faith handling venomous snakes and a Sheriff getting up
a near lynch mob when a convicted murder escapes from a local penitentiary
to make its plot tinder dry.
In the starring role of Swallow Katie Rowley Jones makes a very
striking professional debut. Swallow is the oldest of three children,
in the limbo land between childhood and adult, painfully grieving for
their just buried mother. Jones is tender as the certain child
with a clear Christian faith and striking when later she struggles as
her sensuality is sparked. Swallow gladdens the heart yet we fear for
her, a modern Joan of Arc. Just before Christmas in her father's barn
Swallow finds a man. His startled cry of "Jesus Christ" leads
first Swallow and then all the children into a belief so strong it changes
the man. Tim Rogers movingly shows us that transformation.
There are strong, emotionally scenes - when the many children march to
the barn to see the man they believe in, Swallow and the man's duet of
hope, "If Only" are among those in the first half. By raising
the stakes in the musical version it has the charge of intensity really
satisfying, gripping drama thrives on and good songs come from. The second
half increases the tension as Amos, Scott Cripps, the local James
Dean wannabe arrives in the barn and Swallow finds herself tempted and
almost trapped. In the town the adults are whipped up by revivalists and
Sheriff to a vengeful, fearful mob but still this musical drives on to
an ending where hope is even stronger.
Though eerily topical, its warming touches of humour and insight makes
this musical enjoyable on so many levels - this production should always
hit the spot. The large ensemble cast of children is drawn from each local
area the production visits, the Glasgow one's performance is superb. They're
a credit to both themselves, the person who found them and Kenwright and
his production team. This musical's for all with strong, positive messages
about love, faith and hope, delivered so gently, so lovingly you go away
feeling better and stronger, able to whistle against the dark.
© Thelma Good 3 October 2001
Touring
10 Sept 2001 onwards w/c = starting in that week contact theatre for exact
dates
Starts 13 Sept - 29 Sept Theatre Royal Plymouth
2 - 13 Oct Mon-Sat at 7.30pm, Wed & Sat 2.30pm Kings Theatre Glasgow
16 Oct - 27 Oct Alhambra Theatre Bradford
w/c 29 Oct - 10 Nov New Theatre Cardiff
16 Nov - 24 Nov Hippodrome Birmingham
w/c 3 Dec - 15 Dec Apollo Theatre Oxford
w/c 17 Dec - 19 Jan 2002 Empire Theatre Liverpool
w/c 21 Jan - 2 Feb Festival Theatre Edinburgh
w/c 4 Feb - 16 Feb Empire Theatre Sunderland
w/c 18 Feb - 2 Mar Grand Theatre Wolverhampton
5 March - 16 Mar His Majesty's Theatre Aberdeen
w/c 18 Mar - 30 Mar Opera House Manchester
w/c 1 April - 13 April Mayflower Theatre Southampton
w/c 29 April - 11 May Hippodrome Bristol
other dates to be confirmed
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