Amanda cuts it on stage

by MICHAEL COVENEY, Daily Mail

Amanda Holden is one of those people in television showbusiness I've never heard of, just read about.

So it is a pleasant surprise to report that she is very good, and very personable, on the stage.

She plays the Julie Andrews role in this decent, competent, beautifully costumed and lit, but totally soulless version of a nice, quirky film about a girl from Kansas hitting New York in the jazz age and finding true love.

In ignoring her heart and making for the big bucks, she reminds me of Catherine Zeta-Jones in the moderate talent stakes, with a steely determination that could take her just as far.

George Roy Hill's 1967 film was a period mish-mash with outrageous, glorious performances from Beatrice Lillie and James Fox, not to mention Mary Tyler-Moore as Millie's best new friend, Dorothy.

Dorothy here is played by the show's real new star, Helen Baker, who can win a laugh and a warm glow with the slightest gesture or inflection.

Amanda struts bravely through the quagmire of indifferent new songs - there are ten, to add to the film's four, which include the terrific title number by Hollywood legends James van Heusen and Sammy Cahn.

As Millie, she sets out to snare her rich boss, only to find him struck by Dot in a flash of revelation ("Ah, sweet mystery of life"), another old song to add to the gratuitous company version of "Mammy".

Maureen Lipman and Mark McGee are poor substitutes for Beatrice Lillie as the wicked slave trader Mrs Meers and James Fox as Millie's low-lying steel millionaire.

That said, Miss Lipman gives up competing with genius and digs out a reasonable revue performance with more laughs the longer she goes on. And boy, does she go on.

The film climaxes in a wacky martial arts contest between Bea Lillie and Carol Channing, whose effluvient madness is exchanged for Sheila "Three Degrees" Ferguson's bluesy, schmoozy brassiness. Poor deal.

Michael Mayer's production has a processed 'New York' feel about it, despite Rob Ashford's clever choreography and the recurrent glow of a neon-lit Manhattan skyline.

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