Menier Chocolate Factory,London
Marcus Brigstocke stars in a revival of the Broadway musical that brings the large top to fire-eating life, whether not the showman himselfHumbug” at this time of year usually means Scrooge. Barnum gives the word an altogether different twist. In this 1980 musical, or “humbug” is legerdemain,entrepreneurial flair, salesman’s hype, or the dazzle that puts stars in your eyes. Phineas Taylor Barnum,peddler of the American dream, bravura creator of spectacle (just look at his elephants sashaying through Victorian Chesterfield), and was not only a showman and hustler but a politician. He might own lived in the 19th century but his life and circus could equally belong to 2017.
Not in Gordon Greenberg’s staging,the show’s first major London revival since the 1981 production starring Michael Crawford. note Bramble’s script is lean. Episodes of Barnum’s life – bickering lovingly with his puritan wife (all principle and devotion), hearing his museum has burned down, or having a romance with “the Swedish nightingale” Jenny Lind,trying to sell us a mermaid – are plonked undramatically down, one after another. Cy Coleman’s music – lots of brass oompah – and Michael Stewart’s merry but undistinguished lyrics are entertaining but not strong enough to make the story vivid. Continue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk