The Advertiser

STAGING the world premiere of any production is a daunting enough task in itself, but when the said show is the work of a respected writer and is destined for the West End - the burden of responsibility becomes that much greater.

Into this pressure situation walked the company of S.T.A.R. Productions on Tuesday night when the curtain went up on Bernard J. Taylor's Success at Rotherham Civic Theatre. The relatively small audience could have been a bad omen but it was more the words of artistic director Phil Cole - who addressed the "privileged few" at the start of the evening - which provided a pointer to what was to come. He informed us that Louise Travis, taking the role of Stella Martin, had been asked by the show's creator to take that same part when the show transfers to the London stage.

Cue much applause and cue the start of a wickedly enjoyable musical firmly stuffed in the file marked parody. Focusing on the backstage shenanigans surrounding the rehearsals for. a new Broadway show - also called Success - the main thrust of the story centred on nerdish song-writer Robert Ponsonby (the fabulous Toby Beal), who was seduced by the promise of fame and fortune offered to him by dastardly impresario Cedric E De Ville (Steve Morrell).

Of course, he was just being manipulated by the cunningly monikered villain, the sinfully sexy Stella being used to lure him away from his fancy for chorus gir. Angela Goodall (Helen Morrell).

Throughout all this devilish conniving and placing of tongue in cheek, the stomping musical numbers and energetic dance routines were never too far away, suggesting that West End success could well be embraced.

Louise Travis certainly deserves to be there to experience it when it happens, too, because her appearance as Stella was as downright sexy and blatantly over-the-top a performance as I have seen.

Deliciously sleazy, wonderfully camp and hysterically comic, the whole show was given an immediate lift every time she took to the stage and her interaction with the rest of the cast was superbly handled by director Phil Cole.

But hers wasn't the only top-notch turn, because Toby Beal also deserves huge recognition for his marvelous all-round display as the buffoonish composer, while Helen Morrell rose splendidly to the challenge of a role which called upon her to perform a large percentage of the show's impressive songs.

The 12-strong dance troupe was generally on good form - at times looking like a scene from Fame perhaps, and with one slight weak link maybe - but the choreography was sound and the execution solid.

The show's villain could have done with being a little more, well; villainous, and I'd have liked to have seen him dressed in black - corny and clichéd yes, but, after all, so was the rest of the show - deliberately.

But on the whole it was a resounding triumph for the company - who deserved a much bigger audience on the first night - and they should have no worries about the fact that the creator and two West End producers will be at the Civic tomorrow night.

Verdict? Well, a success of course.