Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
4 stars
When Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were persuaded at the fag end of World War Two to write a musical based on a little known Hungarian tragedy, you can see why they weren’t keen. The lead character not only commits suicide, but is packed off to Hell after giving his teenage daughter a spectral smack. Hardly smash hit material in waiting, though once they reconstituted things to a nineteenth century New England fishing town and grafted on a feelgood ending, how could they fail?
It starts innocuously enough, as a wordless fairground-set overture resembling a dream sequence from An American In Paris sets the tone for one of the most boundary busting pieces of musical theatre ever written. Good girl Julie falls for fairground ne’er-do-well Billy, a man straight out of a Tom Waits song but with the dress sense of Joe Orton. After two months of marriage, alas, Billy is unemployed and prone to random acts of domestic violence. Petty crime being the obvious solution to all his problems, next thing Billy knows he’s in some wonderfully ramshackle TARDIS-like construction being minded by angels.
This metaphysical turn allows for an Adam Cooper choreographed knickerbocker glory of a ballet sequence, though the show’s secret weapon comes in the shape of You’ll Never Walk Alone, now revered as the most anthemic piece of sentimental optimism to ever grace a football terrace. Elsewhere, scenes are as long as a courtship, complete with real three-dimensional dialogue. Leslie Garrett excels as Nettie, though the real star of the show is ex RSAMD student Alexandra Silber, who invests Julie with depth and vulnerability in an eye-popping quantum marvel of a show.
The Herald, October 7th 2008
ends
4 stars
When Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were persuaded at the fag end of World War Two to write a musical based on a little known Hungarian tragedy, you can see why they weren’t keen. The lead character not only commits suicide, but is packed off to Hell after giving his teenage daughter a spectral smack. Hardly smash hit material in waiting, though once they reconstituted things to a nineteenth century New England fishing town and grafted on a feelgood ending, how could they fail?
It starts innocuously enough, as a wordless fairground-set overture resembling a dream sequence from An American In Paris sets the tone for one of the most boundary busting pieces of musical theatre ever written. Good girl Julie falls for fairground ne’er-do-well Billy, a man straight out of a Tom Waits song but with the dress sense of Joe Orton. After two months of marriage, alas, Billy is unemployed and prone to random acts of domestic violence. Petty crime being the obvious solution to all his problems, next thing Billy knows he’s in some wonderfully ramshackle TARDIS-like construction being minded by angels.
This metaphysical turn allows for an Adam Cooper choreographed knickerbocker glory of a ballet sequence, though the show’s secret weapon comes in the shape of You’ll Never Walk Alone, now revered as the most anthemic piece of sentimental optimism to ever grace a football terrace. Elsewhere, scenes are as long as a courtship, complete with real three-dimensional dialogue. Leslie Garrett excels as Nettie, though the real star of the show is ex RSAMD student Alexandra Silber, who invests Julie with depth and vulnerability in an eye-popping quantum marvel of a show.
The Herald, October 7th 2008
ends
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