Review: Evangeline (Burton Taylor Studio)

Evangeline is a new musical by Nia Williams, produced by Three Chairs and a Hat, which was at the Burton Taylor Studio in Oxford for three nights earlier this month. I went along to review the show on the sold out first night of the run.

The show is about Evangeline, a showbiz survivor, and in an hour manages to cover her experiences from being abandoned in a cardboard box, to a career peak on a West End stage, followed by self-sabotage and eventually her “late youth” as she calls it.  With some humour, a satisfying full circle moment and clear insight into the showbiz world, the narrative follows Evangeline throughout her life.

This is a musical with variations in the genre of songs as time progresses and our leading lady moves through her life. The information I was sent said Evangeline began life as a secondary character in an earlier show. I could easily see why she demanded a show of her own.

Guy Brigg plays every character in Evangeline’s story. His ability to do this, and make each character distinct is impressive, as is his ability to switch into different song styles as the performance goes on, and make it all look effortless.  I particularly enjoyed a song about having to be on stage for eight performances a week, which was insightful and amusing.

The performance itself I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. I can still picture Guy Brigg’s face effortlessly almost a week later as this masterclass in facial expressions reminded me of the type of performance involved with silent movies, and in particular the melancholy moments were brought to the stage with such depth of feeling. His eyes in particular tell a story even when no words are being said or sung.

It was also a pleasure to have Nia Williams on stage accompanying throughout. The music and lyrics are well crafted, and were executed beautifully. I would definitely like to be able to listen to the soundtrack again at some point.

The lighting design (Dan Knight) played an additional part in highlighting the changes Evangeline went through, and fitted the story arc perfectly.

Nia Williams and Guy Brigg (curtain call photo)

It’s an challenging thing to do, fleshing out a whole life story in one hour, with minimal set and props, where nothing feels rushed, and some of the narrative is also moved forward in the form of songs. As mentioned above, the performance looked effortless, and everything about the production gives that same impression, the pacing, the way the lighting is almost unnoticeable as it so perfectly matches with each moment in Evangeline’s life, the musical accompaniment blending with the vocal performance.

I highly recommend Evangeline if you enjoy well-crafted writing and a musical that is a little different to most.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Evangeline will next be showing at Brighton Fringe from 4-8 May,  The Glitch on 24-25 June, and finally The Phoenix Theatre in Ross-on-Wye on 9-10 July.

You can see the trailer for Evangeline on YouTube here.

If you would like to see more of my curtain call photographs from this and other shows, please visit my Instagram.

I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.