Couch & a Piano
A new romantic musical comedy about 'Club D' (Divorce!)
Carl, a divorced, eccentric Cape Town psychologist and frustrated songwriter, meets his new client Jo, an angry, depressed singer going though a difficult divorce. Jo sings at The Manhattan, a Waterfront club. Their therapy session is not run of the mill as they use songs (both original and covers) to unpack the complexities of their lives.Couch and a Piano, recently enjoyed a highly successful debut run at Theatre on the Square in Joburg.
During his divorce, Alan Glass wrote a full-length musical with grammy nominated American jazz pianist John Fresk about divorce called That’s All We Have Time For. The musical is due for production in 2019. Four of the original songs from the musical have been included in A Couch and a Piano.
The songs in 'Couch and a Piano!' are a rich mix of Alan Glass & Cat Simoni originals - and popular classics. Each song relates to a different aspect of the emotional divorce spectrum.
Cat Simoni (Ritz, Dorchester; London) is regularly seen at Theatre-On-The-Square in entertaining productions devised by Paul Spence such as 'Cat Sings Ella!' (The story of Ella Jane Fitzgerald), 'Cat Sings Judy!' (the story of Judy Garland), 'Beautiful Barbra!' and in jazz concerts with the Tony Yoko Jazz Quartet: 'Christmas and All That Jazz!' and 'London's Jazz Cat & her Boyz'.
Alan Glass, composer of the ever-popular 'Beautiful Creatures' was last seen in the popular musical comedy hit show 'Not the Midnight Mass'.
Paul Spence spent seven years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has directed and acted in productions from London to Belfast, Edinburgh to Copenhagen and Vienna to Tokyo.
How can you mend a Broken Heart?
Just like this - with a Couch and a Piano!
Audience Responses
We loved it and felt it was very worth the trek in from Simonstown so late at night. We loved the singing, particularly Cat’s voice and Alan’s when he sang seriously, i.e. not acting the part of the dr. The songs are inspired. They have magic between them and are obviously both enjoying themselves although I thought the storyline was weak and could be replaced by a narrator/them narrating their stories to hold the show together. The perfect intimate venue for a show like this, particularly if the performers were to replace the storyline with their personal experiences. Thanks for letting us in last night when our tickets were for tonight!
Excellent evening and great value for money.
It was the weirdest show I have ever seen at the Alexander - and I've seen MANY..
We really enjoyed it. We had never been to the Alexander Bar and we enjoyed the atmosphere. The food was good too. Regards Julia Milligan
This is a great show. Cleverly written , vey funny and delightfully performed . Congratulations to both .I found the amplification rather overwhelming in such a small venue , so that the libretto often was difficult to hear .
Great voices. Plot line somewhat contrived- not unexpected with time constraints-but forgiveable given charm of actors. Very pleasant and entertaining. Little of the rancour I anticipated. Some witty lines- again I expect more time to prepare would have given more polish: didn't matter. We were at an off mainstream venue and enjoyed a good evening's entertainment.
Great voices. Plot line somewhat contrived- not unexpected with time constraints-but forgiveable given charm of actors. Very pleasant and entertaining. Little of the rancour I anticipated. Some witty lines- again I expect more time to prepare would have given more polish: didn't matter. We were at an off mainstream venue and enjoyed a good evening's entertainment.
Good entertainment!
Cat was terrific but sadly the same could not be said for Alan.
Delightful. Entertaining with a good interaction between the two performers - well sung and some very funny lines. A lovely evening out
We loved it and felt it was very worth the trek in from Simonstown so late at night. We loved the singing, particularly Cat’s voice and Alan’s when he sang seriously, i.e. not acting the part of the dr. The songs are inspired. They have magic between them and are obviously both enjoying themselves although I thought the storyline was weak and could be replaced by a narrator/them narrating their stories to hold the show together. The perfect intimate venue for a show like this, particularly if the performers were to replace the storyline with their personal experiences.
Sound: balance - keyboard often drowned out voices - and the words are important Two VERY talented performers, but they just didn't quite gel.
Great show!