On Wednesday evening, Pirate Productions in Luxembourg put on its first of six performances of Harlem Hotel at the Gasperich Parish Hall.
Celebrating the Best of 70s Jazz, Harlem Hotel is directed by Nataša Vlaovic and Julien Farlin; the production takes the form of a show set in the late 1960s and constructed along the lines of a highly succesful Jazz Club. The characters are residents and staff of the hotel as well as frequent visitors to the lobby, kitchen and bar.
With a fixed script which was partly improvised in places, and the score which drew from classic jazz, funk and soul numbers from that period, this production carried on from previous Pirate Productions production formats, with a meal served during the interval of the cabaret-style show, by the cast.
The production commences with a low, laid-back number "Everything is Fine" and reminiscent of "The age of Aquarius" in both tone and melody. A nice, soft opening for the show, which was followed by the opening scene of hotel reidents waking up which came across a little stilted. Let's hope it was just opening night jitters...
As well as the action on the stage, some scenes take place in the hall itself, inbetween the tables and making great use of the permanent bar fixture, meaning the audience is right in the middle of much of the action.
Then Philip Dutton blows the audience away with "Ain't no Sunshine when she's gone" in a duet with Valerie Scott. One of Frazer Alexander's lines was "Oh my lips hurt" (in reference to kissing a girl), but maybe this could also be connected with his amazing handlebar moustache groomed specially for this part - one remembers back to his father doing something similar for a pantomime a few years back. And in one chaotically funny scene, the caretaker Marty (Florin Purice) was harrassed by a number of the residents clamouring for him to fix a myriad of issues; the was the preamble for Ciara Barker to launch into a powerful rendition of "Learning to Live Together", upping the tempo and bursting the production into life in the process. It rolls on into a scene of getting stoned in the Jazz Club, with Frazer Alexander belting out "Getting Stoned" to great audience applause. There then follows a hilarious scene on a hotel balcony with young lovers Francis (David Sousa Lopes) and Rebecca (Rachel Lloyd) providing the production's acting highlights.
The first Act came to a close with a great uplifting rendition of "Shake your Tail Feather", with poor (or lucky) Francis caught in the middle of a group of frisky women while not wearing much...
Act 2 started the same way as Act 1, with "Killing me Softly" a gentle intoduction to the second half of the production, sung a capella. Then Philip Dutton did a truly wonderful, if short, impersonation of Luois Armstrong; the second act was by now well and truly up and running. Then another classic "Light my Fire", sung in a sultry voice, and "Midnight Train to Georgia" which drew arguably the largest cheer of the night. And then there was Maiken Thamdrup and her vodka song...
David and Rachel continued to steal the show in the second act, both for their acting and comic timing, when playing in scenes together or separately. Bravo!
But Pirate's forte is its singing and, in articular, its harmonies. The show came to a close with all the acts on stage performing a number of songs outside the jazz and soul genres, moving to disco with a mdeley of songs including excerpts from "Staying Alive", "More than a Woman", "Jive Talking", "How Deep is your Love" and "Night Fever", choreography included, with the audience clapping in unison. And in the end - spolier alert! - it had to be Frazer Alexander winning the heart of the girl...
With a minimal set the cast made do with a multitude of props and invisible doors and doorknobs, particularly in the different rooms of the hotel, to great simplistic effect. This successful formula that Pirates has been following for a number of years now not only provides great entertainment for audiences and shows off wonderful talent - particularly in the singing department - but what it also does is to provide a platform for a number of roles with parity, so there is no real "lead", with many of the cast given the opportunity to sing solos as well as in the chorus/choirs. The show ended on very much a high, and it was not a coincidence that this featured the choral group singing in unison, with splendid melodies, enforcing the message that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The large cast comprises no less than 18 members, with six musicians in the band. The production does not stop there, however, with as many again involved in the crew, including both the prouction staff and many more.
Harlem Hotel is being performed from 16 - 21 November 2016 at the Gasperich Parish Hall. Almost all tickets for all performances are already sold, but there may be a few tickets
remaining (€15, students €12.50, dinner €15) - see www.pirateproductions.lu or www.pirates.lu, email: tickets@pirates.lu, tel: 356339. Tomorrow may already be too late...
