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Elly Roberts reviews
An Evening with Willy Russell and Tim Firthat Emlyn Williams Theatre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, North WalesSunday 23rd May 2004
Willy Russell: Hoovering the Moon
It’s role-reversal time as Willy Russell and Tim Firthhit theroad to promote their forthcoming albums, and come face to face with theirhuge fanbase. A packed Anthony Hopkins Theatre in Mold greeted playwrightRussell and his show partner Firth on their new found venture. Better known aswriter of several successful plays and musicals such as Educating Ritaand Shirley Valentine and Blood Brothers, the mercurial Scouserhas finally turned to his first love – music.
The pair are responsible for some of the biggest grossing and most highly awardedfilms and stage productions to come out of the UK.
Firth has recently scored a massive cinema hit world-wide with the openingsong from Calendar Girls.
Having launched his debut album Hoovering The Moon (below) last year, which wasput on general release in May, Willy Russell is now testing the water as aperformer once again. Now finding himself in the limelight at a high profilelevel, he’s focusing on showcasing his literary talents in an entirely new format.
In Other Words – An Evening with Willy Russell and Tim Firth world-premieredin the summer of 2003 at the Walls Restaurant in Oswestry, which was filmedfor posterity, and is currently in post-production for a forthcoming releaseon DVD.
By comparison with that night, this performance proved to be far slicker andmore fluid. It was well balanced and their individual slots complimented eachother superbly, as they delved into both autobiographical and biographicalevents. Sharp witted, humorous and highly entertaining, they highlightedexperiences we can all relate to, such as the aging process, and the world ofchildren. An extract from Russell’s first novel, The Wrong Boy, perfectlyillustrated the demise of a school through the eyes of a child – The Nicenessof Being Different, and Firth’s song Keen on Cars was a poignantindicator of growing old.
Then there was the predictable dip into Shirley Valentine, as Russellwonderfully mimicked her soulful lament at her treatment from the opposite sex -her husband and Greek lover.
He has a penchant for the plight of down-trodden women, which can only reallybe empathised, and articulated with humour by a man as the observer. Childrenfeature strongly in his work, and he reminded everyone of his classic BloodBrothers with extracts such as Long Sunday Afternoon and Easy Terms,and Firth touches on similar themes, but has a far more romantic leaning.Generic failings in the love life of a woman who falls for the same kind ofman were keenly observed on Jennifer Falls.
Though thoroughly entertaining, it came in at a mammoth two and a half hours.This concept, as good as it was, was far too long. After the show Firth andRussell told me that they were responding to audience reaction, so they playedon. In reality, this type of show needs to be cropped to a comfortable hourand a half. Overall, they and the band, which included guitar maestro and musicaldirector Andy Roberts, were excellent value for money, and it was a vastimprovement on last year’s effort.
Both albums were either recorded, or part-recorded at Phil Beaumont’s ForgeStudio in Oswestry.
Review & pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004.
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.