Review: GIRLFRIENDS, Bishopsgate Institute

In 1985, writer-composer Howard Goodall patched together archival research, family history, and "sincerity and passion" to create Girlfriends, a stage musical about women serving in the WAAF during World War Two. The original show ran for less than a year, at Manchester's Oldham Coliseum Theatre, before being rewritten and remounted in 1987 and again in 1992.

Now, the London Musical Theatre Orchestra have added their own spin, mounting Girlfriends as a concert with only minimal narration, rather than a fully produced musical. It seems they've found the winning formula: LMTO's Girlfriends is musical dynamite, a burst of energy and passion and very, very good singing.

Set in 1941, at an airbase in England, Girlfriends follows a group of women of varied family backgrounds and military ranks as they struggle but ultimately rise to the occasion of serving their country when the odds seemed lowest.

The dialogue has been removed for the concert format, so plot and character are only thinly developed; most names are mentioned only once, characterisation falls by the wayside, and it is easy to start thinking of the characters as The One Who Dances and The One Who Stands Next To The One Who Dances.

But that's not the point. LMTO's concert is all about the music, which has been beautifully orchestrated by their own Simon Nathan. Nathan's take on the score picks up the pep and raises the stakes; it swings and jives and underscores the melancholy and fright of fighting a losing war.

The cast likewise features a range of brilliant voices, technically excellent and convincingly full of warmth and emotion and rage. Lucie Jones, in a starring role, is an absolute powerhouse, a set of pipes that could put a church organ to shame.

Her co-star Lauren Samuels has an ingeniously expressive voice, which, without the aid of any dialogue and only minimal movement, conjures an entire character, her arc, her growth, and her pains.

One of the most unusually effective voices is that of the narrator, a role played by real-life Group Captain Victoria Gosling who, in uniform and resplendent with medals, guides the concert forward, curtly and efficiently explaining some of what gets missed in song. It is one of those rare cases when just enough is just excellent.

Photo credit: Nick Rutter

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