Thursday, 13 February 2025

The Passenger - Review

Finborough Theatre, London



**


Written by Nadya Menuhin
Based on the novel by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz


Robert Neumark Jones

Drawn from his personal experience, The Passenger was a novel by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz describing the flight of Jewish Otto Silbermann from the horrors of Kristallnacht in 1938 Germany. Nadya Menuhin makes her playwriting debut with the piece, but while Menuhin’s intentions in translating the book to stage are honourable, the result is a one-act self indulgence that lacks dramatic sophistication and cries out for the input of a skilled dramaturg.

Robert Neumark Jones is Otto in a performance of remarkable energy that sees him onstage for the play’s entire 100 minutes. The story follows Otto’s journey in a cross-country railway travelogue that sees him, futilely, attempting to flee Berlin. Simply staged with no scenery, Joseph Alford’s carefully crafted soundscape is as impressive as Jones’ performance. A supporting quartet of actors deliver a multitude of roles ranging from Otto’s Aryan wife Elfriede (Kelly Price), through to to both the friendly folk and also the Nazis that he encounters on the rails.

In amongst the dialogue there are snippets of a history lesson - but Tim Supple’s staging is too simplistic and at times disappointingly pretentious. In what feels like a sometimes tedious evening, there’s a hint of a great play lurking within The Passenger. This isn’t it.


Runs until 15th March
Photo credit: Steve Gregson

Monday, 3 February 2025

Figaro: An Original Musical - Review

London Palladium, London



**


Music,lyrics, co-book and co-created by Ashley Jana
Directed, co-book and co-created by Will Nunziata


Jon Robyns and Cayleigh Capaldi


Much like an expensively wrapped trinket, Figaro is a show that has been lavishly cast and is beautifully sung. Unfortunately however, the words that are sung are trite and shallow, leading to an evening of wondering how on earth the likes of the gifted Jon Robyns ever signed up for this.

Robyns plays the titular villain, a Svengali-like man whose character never progresses beyond a cliched fusion of the Phantom of the Opera melded with Gypsy’s Mr Goldstone. Channelling his inner Phantom, Robyns/Figaro leads country-girl Sienna (a name repeated so often in an early number in the show that one could be mistaken for thinking they were at an Ultravox gig) to fall for his charms, and everything goes downhill from there. Equally hampered by the show’s ridiculous plot, Sienna struggles to establish herself as a credible character - her one redeeming feature however is that she is played by the sensational Cayleigh Capaldi whose voice has to be amongst the best in town.

Young Cian Eagle-Service (taking a night off from being a brilliant Oliver just down the road) partners the similarly youthful Sophia Goodman in a kiddy double-act that could almost drown in its own sugary sweetness. That being said, both Eagle-Service and Goodman are simply exquisite in their singing and in their acting through song. These kids are truly talented stars of the future.

Also on stage in supporting roles are Aimie Atkinson, Ava Brennan and Daniel Brocklebank, all adding a twist of shallow soapiness to the evening’s melodramatics but equally, all of them displaying powerful, flawless vocals.

Ashley Jana’s instantly forgettable songs (the show’s musical numbers are not even listed in the programme - always an ominous sign) lurch from ballad to anthem and back again, all underscored with an overemphatic and heavily amplified bass line.

A great deal of money and effort has clearly been spent on mounting the show on London's prestigious Palladium stage - if only similar energy had been devoted to its writing. Rarely have such awful songs been sung so amazingly.


Runs until 4th February
Photo credit: Fahad Alinizi