Before seeing this production, I wouldn’t have claimed to be a huge Eva Cassidy fan; I knew several of her songs and had liked them a lot, but she’d still managed to slip under my radar somewhat. I therefore jumped at the chance to see a production about her all-too-short life that might a) make me a fan, b) show me that Faye Tozer (formerly of Steps, shudder) was actually talented and c) give me a good evening’s entertainment. Did it? Answering these three questions in order, yes, definitely and not really.

On reading through the production programme I was impressed – in a 16 page programme (costing £3) they’d managed, at a guess, to fit in between thirty and fifty spelling or grammar mistakes, which hardly filled me with confidence for what was to come.

What was to come was, to adapt the old cliché, a production of two halves. The music (with the exception of the penultimate number, which, I believe, was the only song which Ms Tozer took no part in) was exceptional and really showcased the largely unrecognised and varied talent that was Eva Cassidy's. The major problem was that none of the songs used were written for a musical, and therefore in no way advanced the storyline; the end result was that a huge (roughly thirty) number of wonderful songs were crammed in, held together with brief bursts of pretty dire dialogue that were meant to advance the story. Thankfully I’d read up on Eva Cassidy’s life before going along so I knew what was happening, but if I hadn’t I reckon I’d have been all at sea. The production would have worked much better if some of the songs had been scrapped and the extra time been used to put in some more (hopefully better) dialogue, or alternatively (and preferably) scrap the dialogue all together and just make it an Eva Cassidy tribute concert tour.

The cast did the best they could, though overall they seemed to be Musician Actors rather than Actor Musicians. This meant that they appeared so much more comfortable when singing or playing than when speaking that the shortcomings of the script were made more evident. The Cassidy family’s accents were interesting – they were consistent enough in themselves, but seemed to be drawn from very differing parts of the USA and supplemented by a fairly amusing German accent. I’d like to take a moment to concentrate on Faye Tozer’s performance. I’d seen and cringed along to her time in Steps with the rest of the nation, so I really wasn’t expecting much. I was absolutely delighted with how well she did; her voice was superb throughout, and she was completely successful in throwing off the cheesy Steps image and nailing a portrayal of Cassidy. Her acting was ok too.

I’m not at all convinced that the stage crew had enough time to set things up properly; some areas of the stage were in almost complete darkness while others were very well lit indeed (and no, it wasn’t always mood lighting); the microphones seemed fairly treacherous – sometimes they were pretty loud (to the point of giving audio feedback a couple of times) and other times hardly seeming to work at all. Only Michael Cuckson (as Hugh Cassidy, Eva’s father) seemed to have a microphone at a consistent level – off. This is always a problem for shows doing one night in most venues, but this is a professional company and it should really have been done better. The rest of the audience seemed to be somewhat divided over what they made of the show. Some clearly hated it (the auditorium was noticeably emptier in the second half, and I’d been tempted to join them at points), while others loved it and gave a standing ovation at the curtain call. The attention was definitely wandering during the seemingly interminable run up to the ending, and it was a great relief to finally make it out with the clock pushing 11pm.

Overall I won’t be rushing back to see this or any other show by Theatre Productions Ltd. The concept for this show was ok but the execution just felt cheap and rushed, and the other shows being advertised in the programme (also abundant with spelling and grammar mistakes) seemed deeply missable. What I will be doing though is going out to find an Eva Cassidy CD as soon as possible...