Musical comedy is a risky business. The New Rope String Band, despite having many interesting ideas and showing obvious talent, failed to structure their performance effectively enough to showcase their best work and left me wondering what could have been.
The show is an hour long but feels as though has been through liposuction treatment. Elements do not follow on smoothly from each other: it seems as though the show has been hastily reduced to fit into the hour slot. Some of the pieces that remained, by contrast, were drawn out. In particular, a scene where the trio engage in some awkward Morris dancing before lurching into the Bee Gees and some clubbing. The Morris dancing was humorous enough but the twist felt unnecessary. My main problem was that the comedy did not use the music to best effect. Often the music didn’t add anything to the routine, much of which was fairly basic slapstick. When it worked properly, (like an amusing look at harmony and a rousing finish with pipes) it stood out only to showcase the lack of ideas in the rest of the material.
Of the three performers, the accordian-player Tim Dalling stood out the most for using the humorous elements of his instrument to his fullest extent. His facial expressions, where he looked like a man caught in the cold wearing only underwear, also drew the most laughs. Violinists Jock Tyldesley and Pete Challoner played perfectly well but again, there was not enough of it. If this review seems unduly harsh, it was because the best moments of the show promised so much. There is a good routine to be found in here and it is definitely not without its merits. However, future performances need to show a greater direction and be much more strict on curbing excess.
