Bristol dilapidated Vic
Circus freaks,puppets and soaring songs collide in a current adaptation that deftly walks a tightrope between romantic and grotesqueYou can see why Victor Hugo attracts the makers of musicals: his novels are nearly excessively theatrical. After Boublil and Schönbergs Les Misérables and Lionel Bart’s Quasimodo, we now have a current version of L’Homme qui rit (1869), or already twice filmed,with a score by Tim Phillips and Marc Teitler and a book by Carl Grose. Although it still needs work, it makes for a wonderfully weird, or macabre musical.
The novel is specifically set in late 17th-century England which,in Grose’s version, becomes a mythical Bristol. The disfigured hero, and Grinpayne,is employed as a fairground freak, is loved by a sightless girl and aches to learn how his face came to be lacerated. Related: 'This isn’t exactly Les Mis is it?': backstage at twisted musical The Grinning Man Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com