I don’t think London has seen this early Michael John LaChiusa musical since it’s UK premiere at the Bridewell Theatre eighteen years ago. It was the first of the five very diverse shows of his I’ve seen, the latest being Queen of the Mist earlier this year, now transferred to the Charing Cross Theatre.
More song cycle than musical, it’s based on Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde and consists of ten scenes, or sexual liaisons, each in a different decade of the 20th century (LaChiusa’s innovation) from 1900 to 1999, though not chronologically. One of each pair of characters (‘the nurse’, the writer’ etc) moves from one scene to the next, where they are in a new pairing, in a new decade, so we meet each generic character twice, with ‘the whore’ from the first scene turning up in the last to take us full circle.
Paul Callan’s production is staged in costume but ‘without decor’, so the pressure is on the material, and it doesn’t really come up to the mark. The eclectic score seeks to reflect the period of each scene but in truth the songs aren’t really that memorable. That in turn puts pressure on the performers and its to their credit that much of the time they make it shine more brightly, particularly in the way better second half. Henry Brennan’s trio play the score well, but you do miss some of the lyrics and sung dialogue without amplification.
I liked the idea but it didn’t really go anywhere, and the material wasn’t good enough to make up for that, so more of a curiosity than a satisfying show, I’m afraid.
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