Review: STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW, Waterloo East Theatre

Small theatres struggle at the best of times; at the worst, things are tougher still. But they offer something unique in a world increasingly mediated by screens and protected by distance - a bubble of joy.

With just a keyboard and three singers, director Gerald Armin tries nothing clever, he just lets the songs and the voices stand for themselves, building a mosaic of love's trials and tribulations, sliding us gently into worlds that aren't always happy, but aren't always sad either - after all, such is love.

The performers harmonise well together and have a lot of fun with the shared numbers, but they really shine when given their own songs. Gina Murray channels her inner Victoria Wood with "Crossword Puzzle", a lament to the perils of being a smart woman. Nikki Bentley gets edgy with "I'm Going To Make You Beautiful", a department store beautician's anger emerging slowly, hilariously but not quite politely. Noel Sullivan's standout is "I Don't Remember Christmas", in which everything reminds him of the lover he lost.

In Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire's songs, you can catch a little Bacharach here and a little Sondheim there and, yes, even some Victoria Wood for us Brits. The songs' roots may be in projects that never realised their ambition, but they sit together well, with Inga Davis-Rutter's accompaniment just right for a venue of this size - something that should be a given but often isn't.

The big West End musicals have their place as spectacles, but the intimate revue, not quite a cabaret with not quite a story and not quite a set, has its place too. It's hardly challenging fare - some might say that material first seen in 1976 today seems dated (though there's a tweak here and there to lend a 2021 relevance) - but the production makes good on everything it sets out to deliver.

As one of the songs implores us, "What About Today?" - well, this show allows you to step that little more lightly back into that still unreal world and enjoy another today.

Starting Here, Starting Now is at Waterloo East Theatre until 18 July.

Photo: Gareth McCleod

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