Matthew Bugg’s wartime musical, Miss Nightingale, returns to the stage for a fifth time. This time at the Vaults which seems the ideal venue, as it easily evokes the feeling of an air raid shelter. The theme is present throughout the venue, with rallying slogans and the old air raid warning lights that were fitted in theatres during WWII, even the programme is a ration book.
This does a great job of setting the scene, the first few numbers are reminiscent of Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret, Conor O’Kane certainly seems to be channelling some Sally Bowles during ‘Meine Liebe Berlin’. The similarities end there as Miss Nightingale then seems to split itself in two; on one hand we have the forbidden love affair (due to the era) between two men, and then we have the title characters supper club stage show. It does become slightly formulaic, continually switching between emotional ballad and innuendo laden routine.
The serious part of the story is certainly touching, while the comedy part is funny and gets you tapping your toes, it’s a nice idea to show the two sides to the characters’ lives, but by half way through the second act you’re wishing they would concentrate on one or the other.
Tamar Broadbent plays Maggie Brown, who describes herself as “booze, boys and a bag of chips”, yet becomes the toast of the town when her saucy act takes off, and she takes on the stage name of ‘Miss Nightingale’. Broadbent shows great vocal range, the comedy numbers are fun but don’t show off her talents, but there are some nice ballads like ‘Understudy’ and ‘Bluebird’ which do.
Conor O’Kane gives a very heartfelt and touching performance in the role of George, while Nicholas Coutu-Langmead gives an equally touching performance as Frank. Niall Kerrigan as Tom plays the perfect cockney cheeky chappie. All of the music is provided by the cast, they are certainly a talented bunch of actor musicians.
Miss Nightingale shows off a strong northern woman during war time, surrounded by a forbidden love story founded in real life history. It may have benefited from toning down the comedy numbers in act two, but none the less is a fun romp through war time London with a strong cast and plenty to enjoy.
