OUR VERDICT
This show promised a great deal and delivered two-thirds of it.
Billed as a musical comedy whodunnit, there was indeed music, courtesy of the much-lauded writing partnership of John Kander and Fred Ebb (better known for writing the music for the multi-award-winning Chicago and Cabaret), comedy in the witty one-liners and hammy acting of the hilarious Samuel Holmes and Rebecca Lock in particular, but not much of a whodunnit.
The story follows a troupe of actors whose main star is murdered after disastrous opening night, closely followed by one of the show’s producers. Everyone has a motive. Enter Jason Manford as a musical theatre-loving detective to solve the crimes and, ultimately, save the show. Until I read this show’s programme I didn’t realise that Manford had performed in so many musicals, so it came as a lovely surprise to hear him sing. He was excellent, with a fabulous voice and a very likeable demeanour.
Several musical numbers were in fact exquisitely executed – big band music with flawless choreography and a talented cast who hit all the right notes; in particular the cast’s rendition of The Woman’s Dead, The Man is Dead and Show People. I am also writing this review with the hilarious lyrics of What Kind of Man? still ringing in my ears – a funny and clever reaction to the mauling the show received from the theatre critics.
I am trying hard not to be the “kind of low down dirty bum…and swine-ish scurvy scum” to knock this particular production, but sadly many of the songs were superfluous and didn’t seem to further the plot.
It is a long play and I think would have benefitted from cutting out half the songs, a strange pas de deux interlude which seemed to be there merely to showcase the dancing skills of Alan Burkitt and Emma Caffrey (who were indeed excellent dancers) but which was completely nonsensical to the storyline, and instead concentrating on developing the murder mystery plot.
From a comedy point of view, the script is witty with some laugh-out-loud one-liners, delivered by a talented cast who mainly stuck to an authentic American pronunciation.
However, there were too many layers to the plot and, unlike Detective Cioffi, I was not invested enough in the characters to want to investigate further.
There was the pushy stage mother, constantly belittling her narcissistic daughter in front of others, while actually trying to advance her career, the will–they-won’t-they-get-back-together separated lovers, a stage critic bent on revenge, the blossoming romance between detective and actress. The actors did their valiant best to develop these subplots, but it was all a bit laborious.
As for the whodunnit side, I think more should have been made of the murder story.
I found myself drifting off a couple of times so that when the murderer was revealed, I had missed the back-story. In fact, this was less a sitting-on-the-edge-of-my-seat classic thriller than a mildly diverting I-don’t-really-care-who-did-it-but-I-generally-enjoyed-the-journey-to-the-dénouement sort of show.
In fact, I spent longer wondering why the audience members on either side of me didn’t return for the second half. Perhaps the rather wearisome first half did not give enough suggestion of the better half to come. Or perhaps they too had been knocked off by the resident theatre serial killer?
In conclusion, an enjoyable evening with some great musical numbers, but don’t expect to be humming the tunes when the curtains fall.
93 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1QG, UK (book here)
Dates: Tue 14 Jan 2020 - Sat 18 Jan 2020
