Musical review: Christopher Lonesome
by Neil Hargreaves for Leeds Magazine, November 2002
Emily Roberts’ musical show Christopher Lonesome was performed on the nights of 18, 19 and 20 November 2002 in the Studio Theatre at Leeds Grammar School. For those of us fortunate enough to be able to enjoy the show, it proved to be a memorable entertainment. In a theatre that boasts few refinements and even fewer creature comforts, it is a testimony to the quality of the writing and unconfined enthusiasm of the cast that not only was each night a sell-out but there was a total absence of shuffling, coughing and other manifestations of discontent. Emily pitched her material at just the right level: neither too sloppy or sentimental nor too demanding in its musical content. This was pop opera at its best.
The plot is straight forward enough. Christopher is a mother-obsessed failure where women are concerned and through a series of office machinations, coincidences, misunderstandings and strong come-ons manages to maintain his unenviable record for fouling up. The new receptionist offers hope (at least to the audience) but twist in the storyline eke out his discomfiture until a splendidly contrived deus ex machina allows true love to blossom. Aaaahhhhh!
The storyline progresses through a series of vignettes linked skilfully by means of that indispensable modern convenience, the mobile telephone. The office scenes afford office boss, Big Bad Colin, to demonstrate innate qualities of malevolence and egoism. The office slaves convincingly conveyed traditional mores including backstabbing and bitching, all of which were directed at the hapless Christopher, played by Jim Rastall. He remains reassuringly indolent and infinitely malleable until driven to despair by a sadly temporary distraction with the deeply attractive Sophie who turns out to be, appropriately enough, a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, hardly a fitting partner for our early-middle-aged hero. The scene where she reveals her age and argues in favour of being true to one’s feelings provided the one affectingly emotional moment in the show.
Other scenes stand out for a variety of reasons. David Sharp, playing Ernesto the wacky Italian restaurant owner with exuberant panache, almost stole the show. His gestures delighted the audience, especially at the point where he is led to believe that he is being cuckolded. The ceilidh dance at the wedding party and the fitness club were both truly inspirational scenes. The story’s femme fatale Linda, played by Alys Spencer, strutted the stage and struck an attitude that did more for unrestrained feminism than dozens of dreary tracts. Christopher’s mother, played by Hayley Johnson, showed an astonishing ability to appear strikingly mature and motherly in spite of her true age. Praise is also due to Laura Stead, playing Jennifer, especially for her haunting leitmotif of “LOVE” which in a sense encapsulated the theme of undeclared affection.
There were dark moments too. The nadir of Christopher’s fortunes is reached when he is lured into a brothel by two strikingly coquettish trollops and for a brief time it seems as if the plot has taken a more serious turn. But fortune favours the hesitant and he is at last able to express his true feelings for Jennifer.
The songs were catchy, sometimes moving, occasionally pastiches (the rendering of “My Teenage Heart” early in Act II was a marvellous send up of the sixties love song) but always infectiously entertaining. The scene changes were slick and efficient allowing a smooth progression of plot and passion.
Fittingly, Jim Rastall paid homage to Emily at the end of the final night. It remains only to echo Jim’s fulsome praise of Emily’s talents as songwriter, lyricist and stage producer. Maybe, just maybe, she will be inspired to create another masterpiece in the same mould and afford pleasure to those privileged enough to participate in it or merely form part of the audience. Let’s hope.