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The Royal Albert Hall Concert in May was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Not only because of the appearance of Philip Quast, there was a whole lot of talent on show that evening. Strangely enough the one thing that stuck in my mind was not the emotional and moving 'Good Thing Going' and 'Not a Day Goes By' by Sondheim, sung with tremendous feeling, not 'Tonight' from West Side Story, again wonderful, but believe it or not 'Oklahoma!' Yes Philip singing 'Oklahoma' has stuck in my mind ever since I saw it. I think this was because in the past I have only seen him as a character, a serious character. Grahame Chandler, Achilles, Pearse and of course Javert. This time he was himself and as I am not at all familiar with his Playschool performances I had never seen him in a lighter performance. He bounced on looking younger than his years and sang with real gusto. He smiled the most enormous broad smile and his eyes twinkled. He ran up and down the stage singing with such power and obvious enjoyment. It was like a differant man and to be honest anyone who had only ever seen him play Javert in the TAC would find him unrecognisable, until you get a close up of those eyes of course. He enjoyed every moment, he whooped and yee ha'ad like a real cowboy ( I don't know many cowboys but I like to think they ye ha !) I was even more impressed than I had been previously, I had been quite determined that I preferred him as a straight actor,mainly because I love Shakespeare and having seen him at Stratford and London I would love him to do that again, and have thought in the past he was too good for musicals, now I can honestly say sing Philip, sing as much as you like your versatility knows no bounds.
Still about the RAH Concert...
After reading the fave moments from the TAC I notice alot of people refer to Philip's modesty taking his bow. I thought this was very apparent in the Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He appears to be an extremely modest man, in no way considering himself to be a *star*. After each performance he took a quick bow and left the stage, smiling broadly all the time, after his first song, 'Oklahoma', he gave his obligatory bow, turned and gave a beam to the chorus waving to them as he left. A favourite moment for me was after 'Not a Day Goes By' when instead of taking a bow, he walked to the pianist and the cellist, thanking them, shaking their hands then once again leaving the stage with just a broad smile. One gets the feeling that if he has to take long on a curtain call he gets somewhat embarassed by the whole thing. This is also apparent when he signed autographs outside the Albert Hall, he was softly spoken, polite and extremely tolerant, apologising to people for not having much time to sign anything other than his name. What a Gentleman ! I believe he is a consumate performer with aspirations of being nothing other than excellant at what he does. The trappings that go with the *business* seem to hold no interest for him at all.
... another one!
Not exactly a moment of theatre but a mad moment I will never forget relating to Philip Quast. Approximately a year ago - actually thinking about it it was quite a bit longer now I was cutting through Jermyn Street with a friend of mine who has never been to any theatrical performances at all, she is totally disinterested in the theatre !!! Foolish girl !!! Anyway as we walked down nattering about nothing she noncholantly remarked - ' He's rather nice looking'. As I looked up, there before me, only feet away was the man of my dreams, looking terribly smart in long coat and black shiny shoes, yes I noticed the shoes because as is my want I was looking down at the floor, this was most unfortunate for me, because if I had not been looking at the floor I would not have walked into a lampost that was strategically placed directly in front of me. 'MiGod I whimpered to her in muted tones, its 'Philip Quast', 'Philip who ??? says uninitiated friend, 'Quast i replied, its Quast !!!! and promptly tripped over. He was looking in the opposite direction hailing a taxi, my 'dear' friend carried on walking a little before she realised my predicament, she had time to smile at him as he got in and he smiled back at her !!!!!!!!! She finally managed to notice me and unceremoniously picked me up from the gutter making noises about what a lovely smile had, mind you she said 'He's not my type !' I won't say what I said. Its unrepeatable. And that ladies was my remarkable encounter with Mr.Quast. A sort of fave moment!!!
