Metropolis
Ye Olde Rose and Crown
until 5th Nov 2017
Further Info
“Based on the iconic 1927 Fritz Lang silent film, METROPOLIS opened at
the Piccadilly Theatre in 1989 with a cast that included Brian Blessed,
Judy Kuhn and Graham Bickley.
Set in 2026 METROPOLIS is the last city in the world where all natural
resources have been extinguished. The city relies on slave workers
labour to keep running. The workers are locked up in an
Underground city where they are forced to work at machines and not even
allowed to see the sun whilst the wealthy industrialists reign in high
rise buildings above.
City ruler John Freeman is unsatisfied with his workers lack of
effectiveness and plans to replace them with robots. His plans prove to
be difficult to accomplish due to the efforts of his son, Steven, who
does everything he can to improve the workers conditions and Maria, the
teacher of the workers children who Steven has fallen in love with.”
Review by Richard Lambert, 4 Stars
Metropolis is so much fun! It’s foot tapping, it’s funny, it’s dramatic, it has a story. It’s childish imagination let loose on a cast of up-for-it adults!
Based on a 1927 vision of a stark future makes it now feel very retro and sci-fi. Justin William‘s Set has an upper level raised section and a main floor section – both used to great effect by Director Tim McArthur‘s blocking and Ian Pyle‘s choreography. With a cast of 17 it’s a big cast who aren’t shy when it comes to singing and dancing!
Song after song performed with tight harmonies and great pitch! Aaron Clingham as MD has pulled out all the stops. Thankfully there’s very little pure dialogue to slow down the story and when there is Clingham tinkles on his keyboard to underscore, backed up by a further 3 musicians in the band.
I’m not a fan of the “horror” genre and I did find myself giggling at some of the more dramatic moments in the production. Looking around the audience I felt a little alone in my humour at such moments as some of the audience were clearly on their own journey with the drama!
It’s a fast and exciting show that’s so strong in the Cast and Set. But, the costumes didn’t quite do it for me. Very neat and clean uniforms for the slave workers, and a Romanesque toga look for the Elitists. I did want to take some boot polish to the slave’s costumes. The white gimp suit for the Robot costume was another point of huge entertainment that made me laugh.
With Flash Gordon wrist shackles and LED Tape prison walls you know the Creatives had a blast putting this all together – and that exuberance absolutely shines out from the production.
Minimalist lighting by Vittorio Verta offered green faces for the underground and a brighter look for the overground scenes. When the haze was on stage it was atmospheric but in the 2nd half without much haze it felt a little plain. There were some nice lighting effects at key points but the general lighting felt out of balance with the lavish Set Design.
With the Producer on Box Office handing out the tickets, the production manager as usherette and operator, you know the ingredients of this show have been cooked up by a committed bunch of talented artists! You also know that there’s no funding and every ticket sale helps!
Definitely go see this Production! It isn’t staged very often so if you don’t you’ll probably miss it forever! It’s loadsa fun, you’ll have a great time, and it’s something you’ll always remember!
All Star Productions Ltd is theatre company in residence at Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre in Walthamstow, London and is Walthamstow’s only full time Professional Musical Theatre Company.
CAST
Miya Alexandra
Rob Herron
Gareth James
Kitty Whitelaw
Alex Ely
Michael Levi
Mark MacKinnon
Natalie Jayne Hall
Tom Blackmore
Annabel Edwards
Freya Tilly
Shannon Kavanagh
Mikey Wooster
Tami Stone
Laura Hyde
Michael Larcombe
Kieran Wynne
ALL STAR PRODUCTIONS
Artistic Directors:
Andrew Yon (andrew@allstarpro.co.uk)
Aaron Clingham (aaron@allstarpro.co.uk)
Resident Artists:
Brendan Matthew
Tim McArthur
Randy Smartnick
Production Assistant:
Angie Lawrence (angie@allstarpro.co.uk)
Production Photographer:
David Ovenden
To book tickets for our shows, please click the BOOK TICKETS tab on the Menu above or please call the box office on: 020 8520 8674 where you can leave your booking on our 24 hour answering machine.