  Under the light of a huge full moon, Geoff and
I went to the Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh to see their festive show
“The Witches of Eastwick”. Despite having had the CD for sometime we
hadn’t listened to it at all. Unlike Geoff I have seen the film around
which this musical was written. Three talented ladies, a teacher who
aspires to be musician, a reporter come poetess and a housewife artist
are firm friends, they are also individually and collectively the butt
of all town gossip. Whilst having a girly night in they begin to discuss
their perfect men, giving him all the traits and attributes they desire.
Whilst creating martinis in a storm they
conjure up Darryl Van Horne.
Marti Pellow once again sheds his public skin
to get into the character of ‘Darryl Van Horne’.
Marti’s latest incarnation is very different in several ways
from ‘Billy Flynn’ yet in others very similar, just proving the
Hydra like qualities he has. This self announced Horny Little Devil
really puts the cat amongst the pigeons as far as the townspeople and
matriarch, Felicia Gabriel, on this occasion Claire Platt, are
concerned. Marti’s portrayal of the serpentine Daryl comes over
brilliantly in his acting and movements in particular with occasional
hissing during vocal interactions. His singing as always is superb and
it is a pleasure to listen to him.
His three leading ladies are Ria Jones as
artistic Alexandra; Rebecca Thornhill as poetic Sukie and Poppy Tierney
as musical Jane. All three of these gorgeous and very talented ladies
were first brought to our notice through the musical Les Miserables. We
know, from seeing each lady several times in various musicals and other
concerts, just how powerful their individual voices are and what superb
acting talents they have. They
are a hypnotic trio of complementary enchantment and it comes as no
surprise when you discover during the show these ladies can fly.
The good citizens of Eastwick are lead by its
oldest established family in the personage of ‘Felicia Gabriel’
whose henpecked husband Clyde (James Graeme) soon falls under the
influence of Darryl. Her daughter Jennifer (Joanna Kirkland) much to her
disgust is in a relationship with Michael (Chris Thatcher) Alexandra’s
son. The other citizens
follow Felicia’s lead almost all of the time. We get lovely views of
the effects our trio have on the towns’ folk both before and after the
arrival of Mr Van Horne. The whole cast are obviously extremely talented
and all the company numbers superbly choreographed. The visual impact of
the brightly coloured company in contrast with Darryl’s monotone and
the three girls’ mundane normal clothes compared with their ‘scarlet
women’ costumes is an artistic idea that appealed. I would like to
mention Victoria Hay whose character is entitled A Girl, she is in
effect both the narrator and the catalyst for ‘Darryl Van Horne’ to
change character or shed yet another skin. The only other mention would
be Oliver Walker’s ‘cheeky’ portrayal of Fidel, Darryl’s servant
/ companion!
The set is cleverly designed and portrays
numerous different combinations of spaces. The 10 strong orchestra is
lead by MD Tom Deering. This
show is great fun if at times a little raunchy, it is also a nice change
from some of the other festive seasons normal offerings.
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