ENTERTAINING REVUE

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33037, 3 October 1972, Page 16

ENTERTAINING REVUE

Audience reaction ranged from house-rocking applause to scattered clapping when the Tokyo Revue opened its six-night season in the Theatre Royal last evening, and the fare varied as much as the response. While a few acts were eminently forgettable, some were magnificently memorable: the outstanding singing of the Tiongco brothers, the truly remarkable performance of “Mr Plastic,” some of the singing of the leading Japanese female star, Sumiko, and much of the sparkling choreography. In the second half, the show really came alive. It was in the first half that the lowest points occurred, especially because 30 of the first 40 minutes was given almost completely to the compere, Gerry Hatch.

It is many years since his impressions of Norman Wisdom and Johnny Rae would have meant much to an audience, and nearly all his off-colour jokes were old hat to secondary schoolboys 10 years ago — and in some cases to their fathers before them.

His singing in the first minutes of the show was not helped by the ear-shredding volume of the amplifying system, later adjusted to more

moderate levels. His later appearances were restricted to relatively “straight” compering, competently handled and a welcome relief.

The girls of the “Pearls and Roses” group make up most of the 22-person Japanese cast, and their skilful and precisely-timed dancing and outstanding costuming gave the show a generous touch of colour and gaiety, along with the essential glamour.

Three of the girls appeared quickly in various numbers bare-breasted. Their first appearance had a surprising number of the audience reaching for their operaglasses, but even rationed repetition removed the noveltv. The singing of Sumiko—once her admonishments from the stage to the sound controllers were acted on—showed immense power, allied with unusual precision and. at times, restraint. She received and deserved a prolonged ovation. Misa, who speaks only Japanese but sings in English, was occasionally caught out by pronunciation, and was rather in Sumiko’s shadow vocally. But the vocal highlight of the evening, and a show on their own, were the three spirited Tiongco Brothers,'

whose vivacious and perfectly harmonised renditions of several of the modem "classics” justifiably brought the house down. Their “Jezebel” and “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” were just two numbers which clearly won the very large audience. “Mr Plastic", a young man with the most infectious and friendly smile one could hope to see, showed a physical flexibility that brought gasps from the audience, and which most people would probably flatly deny were possible had they not seen it. His offer of $5OOO for anyone who could emulate his feat of standing on two chairs, bending over backwards to pick up a full glass of beer from the floor in his teeth, then drinking it without spilling a drop as he straightened up again, brought not a taker. The show band, under the direction of Jerry Goodwin, from Australia, did sterling work all evening. The pianist even provided unintentional light entertainment during one slightly dull act when his folio of sheet music spilled to the floor like a rogue reel of toilet paper, and the musical director had to lend frantic assistance. But the show—-and the music—went on. —A.J.P.