Concert in the Park, Chichester, review: proof that there's nothing like musical theatre to lift the spirits
I’ve attended so many enrapturing evenings at Chichester over the years, that were Daniel Evans, its artistic director, to announce he could re-open only its café this year, I’d do the round-trip just to put some money in its beleaguered coffers.
But ever the fighter, Evans has vowed that the show must go on for Christmas, so that locals can enjoy Pinocchio. And there are plans afoot to do other kinds of work indoors too. In the meantime, to boost morale on all sides, he and his team rustled up a bank holiday weekend splurge of activity, culminating in an open-air concert that reminded us that there’s nothing like world-class musical theatre to lift the spirits.
On Monday morning, by way of bringing families into a large cordoned-off area of parkland beside the theatre – temporary home to an impressive canopied stage, with large video-relay screens either side – Hugh Bonneville, the Earl of Grantham himself, was on hand to read two children’s stories. He perched in a chair to deliver avuncular accounts (assisted by enjoyable puppetry) of Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Mog The Forgetful Cat.
(The tale of an unexpected, alarming guest who greedily drains every last drop of resource from a happy household, and of a day-dreamy cat booted out of doors only to prove her indispensability at an hour of crisis, briefly struck me as sly allegories for British theatre during the pandemic.)
In the evening, the capacity crowd of a thousand or so saw the first full-length show here since lockdown, every one of its 90 minutes a delight: think the best of Broadway and Shaftesbury Avenue meets the spirit of Glastonbury. The host, comedian Omid Djalili, supplied topical mirth but the selection – 21 songs – had a through-line of seriousness, for all its detours into such comic pleasures as I’m Gonna Wash That Man (Right Out of My Hair), one of six numbers from the postponed summer show South Pacific, beautifully sung, with fun, vigorous physicality too, by Gina Beck.
It was as if Evans (who also sang, impeccably) and co (including a five-piece band) were washing away the sadness of the year, asserting the need for hope, resilience, soulfulness. Rob Houchen began the evening with a flawless rendition of Something’s Coming, from West Side Story, and it ended with a rousing rendition (complete with audience hand-waved phone lights) – of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel.
Highlights? Too many to mention, but passers-by beyond the fencing came panting across the park in amazement to see Hamilton star Giles Terera deliver his own mesmeric acoustic version of one of that show’s corkers, Wait for It. Gabrielle Brooks blasted out River Deep Mountain High (from Tina the Musical) as if she were engaged in showbiz fracking, tapping new energy in her sedentary audience. And Julian Ovenden, another face from Downton, spoke – or rather sang – for everyone in looking out at the unblemished sky and singing “Some Enchanted Evening.” Quite.
