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From the Croydon Advertiser - 2nd of December, 2005
Review by Peter Steptoe
*** - 3 stars
ATG are an adventurous company and to them it seemed only natural to create their own musical comedy.
The three necessary components for this type of entertainment are the music, the lyrics and the book. These require differing expertise, but Jeremy Nicholls and Dan Howard achieve all three.
Music has to be composed to help establish the mood whereas lyrics can either carry the story along or be a resumé of what has gone before. The danger with the former is that each word has to be clearly heard if we are to understand.
The book is important because unlike opera there is dialogue used to convey character and meaning within the storytelling.
The music was tuneful without obvious hits. The lyrics were excellent as a summary but not always understood when conveying information.
The dialogue was often sharp and incisive but sometime descended into the banal.
Character was not always defined but none of the foregoing should be difficult to remedy.
Dominic Binefa played John and conveyed the boredom of his occupation and the pointlessness of his work. He had a pleasant voice and a natural acting ability.
I was not convinced that this piece needed a narrator and to have a tramp (Jill Maynard), however appealing, doing it was perhaps, unnecessary.
The office printer failure was amusing and the ensemble playing of Rob Anderson, Richard Jeffreys and Ellie Driscoll at a distraught John was good. I didn't thik the wigs added to the sacking scene as it departed from reality, though Ron White as the director expressed well the reason for his employees' antipathy.
Magda (Gabriella Brooks) showed the requisite hypocrisy and sycophancy as the office manager.
Selling one's soul is not a new plotline and with it appeared two attractive young ladies. Gabriella (Nicky Howcroft) from the Call Centre, virtuous and into love at first sight and Jessica (Louise Canfield) who was a lost soul that caused her to do bad things which she later regretted.
They both sang and danced well but my simple brain thought they might have been combined.
The Devil was a splendid chap full of menace and had a good line in metapsychological chat.
Our hero signed over his soul on the ground that at the club called The Night of Lost Souls he couldn't pay his bar bill.
Drinks do cost a fortune in such places. Nick (Keith Harper) he owener exuded menace from every pore and poor John had to agree.
The chorus was increased by doubling up from the main cast and they worked hard with some success in bringing pace and vivacity to the proceedings.
Even should it not make the West End, is was a well disciplined production and Nicholls and Howard should not hesitate to write another.
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