It looked right from the moment we entered the auditorium, thanks to Grace Smart’s wonderful set – complete with horrible 1970s wallpaper and a set of flying ducks over the window (a la Hilda Ogden in her heyday). ![]() However, all that is forgotten now and this new version with a revised book by David Thompson and music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Don Black is a fantastic example of what a great musical should be – a well established plot with great characters and songs that fit and move the story on. Upstairs at the Gatehouse March 2016īased on the well known Jack Rosenthal play of the same name, Bar Mitzvah Boy The Musical has had a checkered and not very distinguished past. ![]() Lara Stubbs (Lesley), Adam Bregman (Eliot). Rita wants to ring the caterers and press the suits once more, Victor wants to read his paper and Grandad wants a piece of cake – so it’s a good thing that Eliot is a steady, reliable boy who can be counted on to do his bit without any fuss or drama. With all the tension in the air, it is taking every ounce of physical and mental strength for the Green family to keep it together on this Friday night. In fact of everyone that Eliot knows, the one person that doesn’t give a hoot about his Bar Mitzvah is schoolfriend Denise (Hannah Rose Thompson) who is more worried that he may have snitched on her at school. Luckily, she has dependable boyfriend Harold (Nicholas Corre) around – as he is every Friday night – to help her and the family, including Eliot’s Grandad (Hayward B More). Even Eliot’s usually calmer and more relaxed sister, Lesley (Lara Stubbs) is starting to feel the tension of the night before the big day. For months his mother, Rita (Sue Kelvin) has been preparing for her son’s Bar Mitzvah – and the socially important dinner/dance afterwards – with the plans getting bigger and more expensive at every turn, causing husband Victor (Robert Maskell) to cash in three insurance policies in order to pay for it all. However, if Eliot has fears about Saturday, they are nothing when compared to those of the rest of the family. For this is no ordinary weekend, and tomorrow, Eliot is off to the synagogue where he will stand next to Rabbi Sherman (Jeremy Rose) and in front of the God and the congregation take part in his Bar Mitzvah ceremony. On Friday evening, young Eliot Green (Adam Bregman) is contemplating what tomorrow will bring. However, if you are a young Jewish boy, then the change from child to adult is one of the major events of your life, and it is this which is being celebrated in Aria Entertainment’s brand new staging of Bar Mitzvah Boy The Musical currently being premiered at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in leafy Highgate. For the rest of us, we would normally make do with a big party with friends and relatives when we hit 18 or 21. For example, for young, well connected ladies, there was the debutante season culminating with being presented at court. Throughout history there have been ceremonies and celebrations held to mark the rite of passage from being a child to being an adult.
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