After three years in development and costs of more than £3.4 million, one would have at least expected that Jailhouse Rock: The Musical would include the classic rock'n'roll song of the same name. But no - and this is just one of a number of fundamental flaws in a production which, although provides a good evening's entertainment on a superficial level, deserves to be thrown into jail itself.

Previewed in Plymouth and Manchester, before opening at London's Piccadilly Theatre on April 19, the musical aspires to recreate the 1957 Elvis Presley film, in which Elvis' 'angry young man' character, Vince Everett, discovers his own unique musical talent whilst doing time, then emerges to become a huge rock'n'roll star. Everett's journey is in parallel with the birth of rock'n'roll which, commercially, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. A neat coincidence perhaps.

On the positive side, leading man Mario Kombou is excellent as Everett, and rekindles the 'stroppy Elvis pout' perfectly, not to mention the singing voice. The music is executed brilliantly by a cast of skilful singers and multi-instrumentalists - some of the guitar work and drumming was among the best I've heard on any stage for quite some time.

However, cracks start to appear when one analyses the list of songs. Although based on the film, the writer/director/producer team of Alan Janes and Rob Bettinson (the brains behind the long-running hit Buddy) clearly they had a free rein when adapting it for the stage. The original movie featured just four numbers, and the only one that anyone remembers is the title song. Unfortunately for the producers, Elvis Presley Enterprises refused them permission to use the song. One imagines that 'Blue Suede Shoes' was thrown in, in the hope that no one would notice.

Of course, four, or rather three, songs aren't quite enough on which to base a musical. Of the 23 numbers featured, four of them - 'Burning Love', 'The Wonder Of You', 'Suspicious Minds' and 'Always On My Mind' - originate from Presley's Las Vegas cabaret era of the late '60s/early '70s. Clearly, these choices have absolutely no relevance to the 50s period in which the musical is set, and gave one the impression that at some unexplained point in the proceedings, the show seamlessly evolves into nothing more than a lavishly produced 'Stars In Their Eyes'.

Such criticism, however, should not detract from what is, technically-speaking, a feast for the eyes and ears. Alistair Grant's lighting design perfectly captures the dark mood of prison life and the social issues of the times, and comes alive for the scenes in which Everett rises to stardom after his release.

Grant employed the services of VLPS who supplied automated and conventional equipment as well as the rigging. His specification included 10 VL1000 TS, 16 VL2000 spots, 13 VL2000 washes, two VL3000 washes, 10 VL5Bs, 300 ETC Source Fours, 80 colour scrollers, Colour Arc follow spots and a Strand 520 console.

Adrian Rees' set presents a striking 'Big Brother' image - a row of cells each side centre stage, giving a versatile, triangular performance space in which set pieces are trucked on and off. The message here is that Everett is contantly under scrutiny by the authorities because, being the volatile rebel he is, there's always a possibility he'll return to jail.

AUDIO HOT SEAT
The sound design and audio quality is also worthy of accolades. Simon Baker of the equipment rental company Autograph Sound Recording has risen to a considerable challenge and done a marvellous job of ensuring that every nuance from the stage - be it dialogue or a subtle guitar lick - is heard with crystal clarity by the audience, wherever they are seated. It was some feat.

The main Meyer M1D system is a favourite of Baker's, and is complemented by Meyer UPMs, MSL2s and UMs which handle down fill, cluster, surround and front fills. On a show such as this where it's critical for the mainly musician cast to have intelligible foldback (a dirty word in theatre), it was a blessing to have the support of the scenic team who made holes in the floor to accommodate UMs, facing them upwards downstage left and right, and upstage of the proscenium. There are also wedges built into the band trucks that come on at different intervals.

In addition, there are six Sennheiser in-ear monitoring systems in use, and all monitoring is controlled by a Yamaha DM2000 console using Yamaha's Studio Manager control software.

At front of house, No.1 Sound Operator Jon Clarence mixes the show on a modular, 140 input Cadac J-Type running SAM, plus two Yamaha DM1000s for sub-mixing the set mics. A click track for one number comes from a Mackie SDR24 and is sub-mixed by a Yamaha 03D, and a small amount of sound effects are triggered from an Akai S6000 sampler.

Baker worked with Janes and Bettinson last year on 125th Street at the Shaftesbury Theatre, and as a result they approached him about designing for Jailhouse Rock. "Once I'd read the script it became obvious what was required in terms of sound," said Baker. "Rob wanted the prison to feel bigger than it actually appears, giving the impression it stretches for miles - that this is just Cell Block 51 of 200 in a State Penitentiary in Mississippi.

"We didn't want people to have to sit forward and listen to the show like a conventional musical. We wanted to be able to really deliver it to them, and so it is that whilst Act 1 is reasonably quiet, Act 2 gets a little louder and then the finale really rocks. It's actually difficult to get a system which will perform fantastically over such a dynamic range but the Meyer system sounds great for this. Not that it was easy!"

As Baker points out, prison is not an environment in which one would readily have access to musical instruments, but where there's a will, there's a way. 'Found' objects such as buckets, tubs, cups, grilles, cell bars or even parts of the set are played as percussion by the inmates to generate rhythms in the more intimate Act 1 sequences.

Comments Baker: "The early scenes are very difficult to do, musically, because of the lack of instrumentation and the fact that we have to maintain full vocal presence over lots of banging around. Everything heard is played by the cast; there's no pit band or triggering of samples."

But what about creating actual musical notes? Musical Supervisor & Arranger David Mackay had discovered a performance group who played cut down drainpipes as part of their act. This inspired the team to introduce lengths plastic drainpipe (24 of them, as part of the heating system) which would emit a musical note when struck by fake paintbrushes. Knowing that these pipes would produce high SPLs, Baker close-miked each one with a Sennheiser e604, which would normally be used for drums.

How to close-mike the cell bars posed a real problem as discretion, durabilty and maximum signal-to-feedback ratio were priorities. Baker turned to C-Tape transducers, a standard solution for pianos which in this case gave him exactly what he wanted from both audio and practical perspectives. Rather than burden the FOH Cadac with 36 channels of this contrived percussion, Baker committed them to a cut-down Yamaha DM1000 with three stereo pairs of the 'set mix' sent to the Cadac.

As the show evolves, portable insturments are introduced including a harmonica, and Everett is fortunate to share a cell with a faded country & western singer who happens to have a battered old acoustic guitar at his disposal. Everett's exposure to this, along with the blues and gospel singarounds, contribute to his own interpretation of what becomes seminal rock'n'roll.

Baker comments: "The early scenes are very difficult to do, musically, because of the lack of instrumentation and the fact that we have to maintain full vocal presence over lots of banging around. Everything heard is played by the cast; there's no pit band or triggering of samples, and the music is intended to be as raw and earthy as the period in which the musical is set.

"When Vince gets his break in a TV appearance, the first time we see him with a band is at the end of Act 1, with an upright bass, piano, acoustic drum kit and semi-acoustic guitar. When he's out of prison in Act 2 and on the rise, we see him in a studio with an electric guitarist, so everything grows very slightly from one extreme to another."

FINALE SURPRISE
The play was originally written without a finale, but the writers appreciated that some form of an uplifiting curtain call was needed. Hence, Baker designed a system without knowing what the finale would consist of! "We didn't know about its content until Plymouth and it was soon obvious that I'd be hassling the producers for a larger system to cope with the demands, which is exactly what we got."

By the time that finale arrives, the musician cast is bursting and we've seen three semi-acoustic guitars, two acoustic upright basses, an electric bass, a slide guitar, lap steel, three electric guitars, piano, two violins, banjo, banjo ukulele, accordion, a Gretsch drum kit and a Roland V-Drum kit (cunningly disguised behind a fake fascia of tin cans).

"The cell bars are constantly raised and lowered, so with that amount of instruments and different players, it's impossible to cable," said Baker. "You'd be forever plugging stage boxes and chasing DIs. So everything has to be on radio and as low-profile as possible.

"When you are using a radio system, your mic choice is cut in half because it takes an awful lot of work at the desk to get a dynamic mic to sound great through a radio pack. The most difficult thing has been putting the electric bass through a radio, because you need to get the signal-to-noise ratio right without having the sheer amount of output gain clipping the radio pack. In the early scenes, the levels are fairly tame and we don't have such issues. As soon as the finale kicks in, we're dealing with a rock musical and we make it as big as it can be here.

"At that point the system is working so hard that everything is so exposed, which means that even the tiniest clip, distortion or hiss will be very noticeable. This is why the management of the radio system is a major focus. Of course, the difference between working with a big amplified system in an arena and a theatre is that in a theatre such as this, you are much nearer to the source and the loudspeakers. When manufacturers talk about their product's performance, they often talk in terms of what a box is doing 10-12 metres away, but that's where the sound desk desk is in a theatre - I'm more concerned about the first 10 rows of the stalls."

In Bettinson's script there is always a motive to perform a song and if a microphone appears on stage, there's a reason for it being there whether for a recording studio scene or a concert or TV rehearsal. "That makes the sound design simpler because we're not trying to disguise anything," commented Baker. "Cabled mics only appear for vocals, and the classic 'Elvis mic', a Shure 55 replica had to make an appearance. It's great when we get to the finale because I can use the tried and tested Shure Beta 58, and rest easy!"

Things aren't always that simple, of course. "The underscore to one downstage centre scene has one actor walking across, playing a violin, and it's imperative that the audience doesn't see a big Accusound mic on top of it! The solution to that is that Gareth Williams, the violinist, wears a radio mic on his left ear for his dialogue work and on his right ear we extend a Sennheiser MKE-2 down his cheek to pick up the instrument. For most of the guitar and banjo work, the radio packs are fitted to the straps and there's a hidden MKE-2 miking them up. Other members of the cast are on DPA 4061 lavalier mics with Sennheiser SK-50 radio packs."

Returning to front of house, Baker admitted that whilst the Cadac formula was working well, it wasn't necessarily his ultimate choice for the application. "Jon and I are not very experienced with digital consoles, but I know instinctively that the desk we should have used is the DiGiCo D5T, the theatrical version of the D5 Live. It was still in development for the Les Mis move when we got things moving on this show, and using a new desk on a new production wouldn't have been clever. However, if this show gets licensed I'd be recommending the D5T."

Jailhouse Rock - Key Production Crew & Suppliers:

Written by Rob Bettinson & Alan James from an original idea by Rene Sheridan
• Producing Companies: Theatre Partners Ltd., The Jailhouse Company Inc. & Volcanic Island Ltd./Clavell Productions
• Film Consultant: Michael Berman
• Director: Rob Bettinson
• Assistant Director: Matt Salisbury
• Producers: Alan James, Rene Sheridan
• Co-Producers: Jonathan Alver, Stephen Dee
• Designer: Adrian Rees
• Musical Supervisor: David Mackay
• Musical Director: Julian Littman
• Choreographer: Drew Anthony
• Production Manager: Dave Gregory
• Company Manager: Roger Penhale
• Stage Manager: Judith Cound
• Deputy Stage Manager: Pandora Elrington
• Assistant Stage Managers: Jennie Anderson, Ian Connolly
• Sound: Autograph Sound Recording
• Sound Designer: Simon Baker
• Sound Operator No.1: Jonathan Clarence
• Sound No. 2 (Radios): Jo Wreddon
• Sound No.3: Rowena Edwards/Steve Seymour
• Lighting & Rigging: VLPS Lighting Services
• Lighting Designer: Alistair Grant
• Wardrobe Mistress: Sharon Williams
• Deputy Wardrobe Mistress: Emma Stevens
• Wigs: Darren Ware/The Wig Room
• Wigs Mistress: Laura Solari
• Deputy Wigs Mistress: Johanna Nielsen
• Casting Director: Shirley Teece
• Fight Director: Terry King
• Dialect Coach: Terry Besson
• Percussion Consultant: Gary Kettel
• General Management: Richard Porter, Zoe Simpson, Susie Heath
• Scenery/Set: Terry Murphy Scenery, TR2, Ken Creasy's, Stage Services London
• Production Carpenters: Charles Howells, Alan Jones, Ben Arkell, Oliver Fitzsimmons, Matt Malone, Ian O'Sullivan, Ben Steel
• Production Riggers: Paul Nicholls, Nick Campbell, Rory Hathaway
• Production Sound Engineers: Tony Gayle, Jim Douglas, Keith Hutchinson, Andy Jackson, Paul Gatehouse
• Production Electricians: Pete Lambert, Keith Johnson, Lee Threfall, Paul Revel
• Moving Light Programmer: Dave Sadler
• Costumes: TR2
• Costume Supervisor: Dina Hall
• Props Buyers: Kathy Anders, Lisa Buckley
• Engineering Consultant: Mike Barnet

  Feature & Crew Photo by Mark Cunningham