Review • Richmond & twickenham Times

Continuing its 100th Anniversary Season, BROS Theatre Company presented the musical Flora, The Red Menace at the Hampton Hill Playhouse. Overshadowed by Kander and Ebb’s better known shows, Cabaret and Chicago, Flora, with its storyline set in the Great Depression, has been little performed in the UK.

This is a true ensemble piece – '9 actors, 25 parts' - and the BROS team with few props, imaginative lighting and quick costume changes managed to create the atmosphere of hard times in New York in the 1930s.

This is not a gloomy show, albeit that, unusually for a musical, it does not have a happy ending. Flora, a struggling fashion designer, sublets space in her studio to fellow artists, all desperate to find work. She meets and falls in love with Harry, a stammering and dedicated Communist, who persuades Flora to join the party.

Then her loyalty to friends and colleagues becomes at odds with party policy and eventually the choice has to be made between differing ideologies. There are plenty of good songs and dance routines along the way which are very well projected by all nine cast members, expertly accompanied by Musical Director, Carole Smith, on piano.

Susan Astbury makes a delightful Flora and her ‘Sing Happy’ at the end of the show is particularly poignant. As her Communist lover, Bryan Cardus is outstanding, especially in the hilarious bedroom scene with Comrade Charlotte (Lizzie Brignall) and his song, Sign Here, when he enlists Flora into the party, is a tour de force.

Andy Clarke and Deb McDowell, as the dance duo, show remarkable skill in their Astaire/Rogers number. Andy Yeates, endearing as Mr. Weiss, Hamilton Faber with his clarinet, Chris Morris and Franny Gustafson complete the cast. All deserve praise for their excellent acting and singing skills and, above all, team work.

Pam Frazer