With its powerful music, soaring vocals, and elaborate sets ‘Whistle Down The Wind’ is spending ten days at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.
Local actor, singer, producer and, of course, Everton FC chairman Bill Kenwright has adapted and directed the original musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber which itself was adapted from the film produced by Richard Attenborough from a screenplay based on the original novel by Mary Hayley Bell.
Somewhere along the way the original concept of a family in rural Lancaster in the 1950s was replaced with a family living in a small town in Louisiana’s bible belt at the height of racial tensions and the struggle for civil rights.
Racism and a small town mentality is factored into the mix but this is a story about the innocence of childhood colliding with the pitchfork wielding, cynicism of adults.
The plot centres on the bright eyed and naïve young Swallow (played superbly by Carly Bawden) and her younger siblings stumbling upon a wanted criminal (Jonathan Ansell) in their farmyard barn and mistaking him for Jesus Christ himself.
‘Jesus’ or ‘The Man’, as the programme notes would have it, makes the most of this to get what he can from the children and as his almost mythical status grows, the other children in the town become more and more enamoured by him.
But the real Jesus-loving town folk soon cop on to what’s really going on and it leads to a somewhat inevitable ending.
The performance of Ansell as ‘Jesus’ is one to note considering the publicity surrounding his involvement in the show.
An ex-member of X Factor creations G4, the band perhaps most famous for crucifying Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, he tries too hard and at times it’s cringeworthy.
His vocal power is undoubted but he is guilty of overacting and at one point he is less singing, more shouting. It’s uncomfortable to watch and listen to.
There is a large cast and ensemble with multiple solos and duets. The female singers are far stronger then their male counterparts and it is young Bawden who really stands out as Swallow. Her voice is sweet and pure, every note hit to perfection.
Musically the show succeeds with a string of fantastic songs, not all are sung brilliantly but most are including ‘No Matter What’ the song many will recognise from the Boyzone version that spent six weeks at number one.
The accents are a problem. Attempting the Deep South is somewhat difficult when you're from Bognor Regis as Ansell is. His hearty English tones are all too evident when he sings. The same is true for much of the rest of the cast.
But this was probably unavoidable when Lloyd Webber's adaptation decided Louisiana was better than Lancaster.
In its various, differing guises, the original concept of 'Whistle Down The Wind' has been tampered with no doubt but it’s still an entertaining production. Well worth a look while it’s still in town until the end of the month.
7/10
Jenni, Liverpool around 2 years ago