This week we chat with Laurene Cooper-Fox about which of life's truths can be gleaned from that classic tale of love and unionization - The Pajama Game!
"This is about capital and labour," a character announces at the start. But it's fair to say that the book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell is just as much about the romance that develops between an arrogant superintendent and a shopfloor militant in a midwestern pyjama factory. Refreshing as it is to find a musical in which passion collides with politics, I notice how cannily the show harks back to the past. The fractiousness of the lovers echoes Annie Get Your Gun and, when the workers go on a picnic, I was reminded of the box social in Oklahoma! and the clambake in Carousel. It adds, however, rather than detracts from the pleasure to find an original theme reinforced by a sense of tradition. What really counts in this revival is the brilliance of Stephen Mear's choreography in matching the mood of the songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. - Michael Billington, The Guardian
- FURTHER READING -
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Our theme song and interstitial music all by the one and only Benedict Braxton Smith. Find out more about him at www.benedictbraxtonsmith.com
