Marilyn & Ella

I saw this two handed musical drama written by Bonnie Greer and starring Nicola Hughes and Wendy Morgan at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. This was my first experience of this venue - and it is a lovely building, and seems to get a very good cross-section of the local population in its audience. The production tells the tale of two famous women. Marilyn Munro was at the height of her fame as a sex symbol - but wanted to be a 'serious actress' and an intellectual (hence her involvement with Arthur Miller). Ella Fitzgerald faced all the problems of racism in entertainment in the 1950s and just wanted to be the best entertainer in America. Much of the time the two actresses in this drama speak parallel monologues examining their concerns and emotions, but in the final section the two meet and argue through their differences. The actress playing Ella had a superb voice and belted out some of her most famous recordings - although this was no parody or pastiche of her style. A very successful production, sensitively and almost movingly performed. Rating 8/10