Midnight Cowboy - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

**

Music & lyrics by Francis'EG' White

Book by Bryony Lavery

Based on the book by James Leo Herlihy

Max Bowden and Paul Jacob French

James Leo Herlihy’s 1965 novel Midnight Cowboy presented a bleak take on America. A land of hustle and exploitation that saw an unlikely friendship develop between Texan cowboy Joe Buck and the polio-riddled New Yorker Rico Rizzo, both men desperately lonely souls and each in pursuit of their own American dream. Buck by making his fortune as a stud and Rizzo with his dreams of reaching the sunshine state of Florida. John Schlesinger directed the triple Oscar-winning movie in 1969 and now Herlihy's famed fable has been reduced to a musical by Bryony Lavery and Francis 'EG' White. 

Paul Jacob French as Joe Buck possesses the required statuesque attractiveness - but is not allowed to come close to exploring the complexities of his character. Max Bowden’s Rizzo is a more rounded construction. Bowden goes some way to unlocking the crippled man’s tragic destitution in a sensitive interpretation that is filled with pathos. Both leads are also given a solo chance at the same number. Bowden wraps up the first half with the haunting Don’t Give Up On Me Now, as French gets his chops around the song to close the show. The tune was worth a repeat as it proved the evening’s only decent new composition.

In a moment of prematurely tantalising delight the show's musical money-shot, Harry Nilsson's Grammy-winner Everybody's Talkin', taken from the movie, was sung by French as the evening's prologue, but from then on it was downhill. To be fair though, the show also included frequent nods to the movie's haunting motif of a melody that had been scored by John Barry - a welcome respite as it transpired, from much of White’s mediocre new music. As a side comment, although the legendary lyricist Don Black had nothing to do with Midnight Cowboy, to see him in the audience at this musical's press night forged a strong connection with Barry, a man with whom Black had penned numerous movie classics.

Lavery’s book does not match Herlihy’s original and when one considers how much of the Midnight Cowboy movie’s magic came not just from its harrowing tale and its towering central performances, but also from its stunning photography and direction, one realises the extent to which this production does not do justice to the story’s famed previous iterations. The narrative demands a physical staging more inspired than Andrew Exeter’s set - projections onto a translucent screen are an ambitious conceit at the best of times. Throw in a 45 degree viewing angle for this reviewer and the projected backdrops become a distraction, with their intended scenic depictions becoming nigh-on invisible.

Midnight Cowboy demands scenes of a sexual nature that should trouble us with their tawdry casualness. In this production the intimacy is clumsily faked and so is the story's class.

Runs until 17th May

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Manhunt - Review

Royal Court Theatre, London

****

Written and directed by Robert Icke

Samuel Edward-Cook

Written about Raoul Moat, infamous following the 2010 tragedy of violence that he wreaked on Tyneside, the mise-en-scene to Manhunt is the live projection from an above-stage video camera that broadcasts the bald-headed Moat pacing the confines of the stage much like a human snooker ball bouncing itself off the Royal Court’s walls. It's an apt metaphor for the evening that is to follow with Robert Icke’s debut script for the Court making a compelling narrative. Onstage throughout the play’s 90 minutes, Samuel Edward-Cook turns in an astonishing performance as the troubled murderer Moat, channelling energy and complexity into his work.

Rodgers & Hammerstein of course were here decades ago, when Carousel explored the suicidal mania of masculinity. Their Billy Bigelow however was only a fictional wannabe killer. Moat was to end real people's lives and devastate the lives of others, with Icke treading on morality’s very thinnest of ices as he seeks to consider if his protagonist was a man more sinn’d against than sinning.

Edward-Cook is superbly supported with the cast including Sally Messham as his (ex) girlfriend Sam and Trevor Fox offering up a banging take on Paul (Gazza) Gascoigne. Hildegard Bechtler’s set design, fusing practical props and effects with an ingenious use of video is outstanding.

That Sonia Friedman is co-producing suggests that shrewd folk see Manhunt following last year’s Giant into the West End. Manhunt’s production values are world class, but is the drama a well argued thesis, or has Icke simply assembled a harrowing barrage of exploitative exposition? Go see it for yourself and decide. Either way it’s a brilliant evening of theatre.

Runs until 3rd May

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Jab - Review

Park Theatre, London

**

Written by James McDermott

Directed by Scott Le Crass

Liam Tobin and Kacey Ainsworth

Returning to a London stage after its premiere last year, James McDermott’s Jab is a 75-minute, one-act, whistle-stop tour through the cliched motifs of the pandemic. McDermott harangues us with his blunt narrative in a piece that however domestically perceptive, is lazily written. Jab lurches from one two-minute scene to the next, following the journeys of Anne (Kacey Ainsworth), a frontline NHS worker and her stay-at-home husband of 29 years, Don (Liam Tobin). The evening is more of a bullet-pointed Powerpoint presentation on the pandemic, rather than a carefully constructed piece of literature. 

If there was more (any?) nuance to the play, it might have possibly delivered a more stimulating story. As it is, and even for such a short play, the drama drags and that’s notwithstanding the excellent performances from Ainsworth and Tobin.

Lacking all debate whatsoever around the moral, societal and pharmaceutical complexities thrown up by the Covid vaccines, particularly in the light of post-pandemic commentaries on the jabs, the play reaches a predictable conclusion that is little more than a melodramatic mess.

A disappointing script, albeit brilliantly acted.

Runs until 26th April

Photo credit: Steve Gregson

Witness - Review

JW3, London

****

Co-curated by Mina Kupfermann and Manick Govinda

Benzi Brofman's portrait of the Bibas Family

Mounted at JW3 in London, Witness showcases the work of three Jewish artists, exploring their experience of antisemitism. To view the work on display is humbling, a truly bittersweet display of visual art across a range of media.

Co-curator Mina Kupfermann brings a tragically ethereal style to her imagery that is at best unnaturalistic. Her work suggests a fragile beauty, particularly of those poor souls who were murdered at the Nova Festival in Israel on October 7th 2023. Kupfermann’s work demands our engagement to decipher her message – indeed, the evening’s titular piece Witness is a towering montage of antisemitic bile, so massive that binoculars are on offer to study the work’s loftier inclusions - and when one’s grief is already strong, viewing her creations is, at times, challenging.

Maya Amrami offers a fusion of textiles and AI-driven technology in her work, drawn from her experience as an Israeli Londoner, and the antisemitic contempt and abuse that was hurled at her in the aftermath of October 7th. Hers is a powerful message, delivered in a most disconcerting style, that works as a transference of the pain that she has suffered, into the mind of the person viewing her work.

The exhibitions’s most powerful display however is the work of Benzi Brofman, an Israeli street artist. By a stroke of luck Brofman was spared the horrors of the massacre at the Nova Festival, having needed to have left the Gaza envelope shortly before October 7th. Channelling the energy of his survival, Brofman has made it his mission to create portraits of those murdered and taken hostage on that terrible day. With a tragically beautiful and breathtaking mastery of the airbrush, Brofman’s portraits demand that we look that day’s victims in the eye. His attention to detail is acute and when one, for example, stares at his portrait of the Bibas family, the effect is profoundly moving. It should be recorded that Brofman's original works are now mostly in the possession of the respective subjects' families. On display at JW3 are immaculately created prints of his work that touch our very souls.

While the artwork on display ranges from impressive to outstanding, there is a cloud overshadowing the exhibition. The event was commissioned by the London Centre For The Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (LCSCA) and it was a recent decision by the LCSCA to withdraw from the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism convened by the Israeli Diaspora Ministry that is a deep disappointment. Professor David Hirsh, the LCSCA CEO, in objecting to the presence of a number of invitees to the Israeli event stated: “We must embrace democratic politics that is open to all, and not one that, like antisemitism itself, consigns people arbitrarily and irretrievably to the enemy camp.

I respect the legitimacy of the Israeli Government, but as a scholar my job is to speak clearly when I judge that the wrong path is being considered. I hope that Global Forums in the future will return to the practice of bringing together diverse viewpoints and approaches in serious, evidence-based and rational debate.”

In refusing to engage with those with whom he disagrees and by not attending a democratic conference that is “open to all” Hirsh’s words become a virtue-signalling self-contradiction. As I wrote on 28th March 2025 on this same subject, even Shylock was prepared to talk to his sworn enemy. Hirsh et al should do the same.

Witness is at JW3 until 2nd April

Alfred Hitchcock presents The Musical - Review

Theatre Royal, Bath

****

Original score by Steven Lutvak

Book by Jay Dyer

Directed by John Doyle

Sally Ann Triplett

A fabulous fusion of parody and style that is immaculately performed, Alfred Hitchcock presents – The Musical celebrates one of the greatest television series of the 1950s, arguably one of the foundation stones of television history, in a multi-faceted musical tribute.

Mounted on an open stage, (design credits shared between the production's accomplished director John Doyle and David L. Arsenault) with one vintage TV camera and a boom mic to set the scene accompanied by six suspended brute film lights, the monochrome colour scheme of costume and props fixes the show’s era and all viewed through the borders of a television screen mounted around the edges of the Theatre Royal’s proscenium arch. Amidst this melee of ‘50s iconography a star-studded cast of 14 play out a handful of B-movie crime stories in the style of Hitchcock’s series’ 30-minute episodes. The stories intermingle like a patchwork quilt – cheating spouses and laconic beat-cops a recurring theme, mixed in with murder and blackmail and all sung exquisitely (albeit annoyingly, with no list of musical numbers included in the programme). The opening routine pays homage to the familiar motif of the TV series’ theme tune, while the songs themselves include some deliciously complicated harmonies. This is the America of Betty Crocker, ice-cold glasses of poisoned lemonade, and Chevrolets with front seats so wide they go on forever.

Sally Ann Triplett, Nicola Hughes, Scarlett Strallen and Damien Humbley get the lion’s share of the narratives – but there are juicy solos for all throughout an evening that showcases the country’s finest musical theatre talent.

The stories’ punchlines come with twists that feel like a cascade of Roy Lichtenstein cartoons. A familiarity with 50’s flair, albeit non-essential, will aid an appreciation of the show. For novices to the genre, just sit back and enjoy some of the most imaginative new writing around. 

A gloriously niche pastiche.

Runs until 12th April

Photo credit Manuel Harlan

Man In The Mirror - Review

Golders Green Hippodrome, London

****

CJ

Man In The Mirror is a highly polished tribute act created around Michael Jackson’s greatest hits. Leading the show is CJ, a man whose vocals and dance work is impeccable and who effortlessly captures Jackson’s  high tenor genius. Visually CJ is equally stunning, with his moonwalk and perfectly nuanced interpretation of Jackson’s signature dance moves, breathtaking in their poise and accuracy.

All the big songs are there with CJ brilliantly supported by his 4 piece band of  Nic Southwood, Doug Jenkinson, Lewis Wheeler and Chris Davies. Similarly the choreography is pinpoint precision with Holly Harrison (CJ’s offstage wife) having drilled her three fellow dancers Becky Holden, Harriet Johnstone and Laura Summers into an evening of gorgeous routines.

More of a gig than a stage-show, with so many of the audience being word-perfect with the King of Pop’s lyrics there’s much impromptu audience contribution that only added to the fun factor for the packed crowd in the Golders Green Hippodrome. It says something for Jackson’s body of work that the Hippodrome audience was fabulously diverse spanning the spectra of age, race and sexualities – Michael Jackson would have been proud.

The acoustics were great with the sound perfectly balanced. On a show that is built for the road, lighting will always prove a challenge and it was a small frustration that for much of the show the dancers were not lit as well as they deserved. Clever CGI projections formed the show’s backdrop – but the filmed zombies as the visual accompaniment to Thriller were repetitive and clunky. The dancers’ hijabs in the final number also offered a brief bias to the evening that slightly jarred.

Man In The Mirror is a slick interpretation of Michael Jackson with CJ delivering an outstanding turn and his company proving equally talented. If you love the music you’ll adore the show.

On tour until 2026 - details here 

Wild Rose - Review

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh

*****

Book by Nicole Taylor

Directed by John Tiffany

Dawn Sievewright and the company of Wild Rose

In much the same way as the movie Local Hero was Bill Forsyth’s 1983 love letter to the Scottish highlands, so has Wild Rose become Nicole Taylor's glorious celebration of Glasgow. Drawn from the 2018 movie as with Forsyth, Taylor has woven into her narrative an ingeniously plausible connection to the USA.

The story's Rose-Lynn Harlan is a young Glaswegian whom we meet as she is being paroled from jail (think John Belushi's Jake in The Blues Brothers opening scene, just with a different musical angle).  A single mum of two pre-teens, and from one of the city’s toughest tower blocks, hers has not been an easy life. But Taylor, in projecting her own love for country music onto her leading lady, has endowed Rose-Lynn with a passion for country that drives the show.

Dawn Sievewright is Rose-Lynn in what must surely be one of the finest musical theatre role creations to premiere in the UK this year. Sievewright not only possesses the pipes to take the roof off the Royal Lyceum when needed but more than that, she takes us on Rose-Lynn’s journey (no spoilers here) that acutely address her feelings of inadequacy as a young mum and the contrast she witnesses (in her job as a cleaner or “daily woman”) between the well-off and the poor. Sievewright’s singing and acting are exquisite – but it is credit to Taylor who wields her pen like a scalpel, depicting deep human pain with just a perfectly placed word or phrase. With so many musical theatre writers falling back on lazy exposition and a dictionary of rhymes, the budding librettists and lyricists of today would do well to study Taylor's masterclass of a script. John Tiffany’s gifted direction only enhances the evening. 

The show is a carefully curated country collection, all delivered impeccably and with Taylor's choices ranging from Country Girl through to Peace In This House and Glasgow (No Place Like Home) she rollercoasters her audience through the full range of emotions. Notably supporting Sievewright are Blythe Duff as Marion, her mother, Janet Kumah as Susannah, the client for whom Rose-Lynn cleans and on the night of this review Alfie Campbell and Lily Ferguson, the two young actors playing her son and daughter.

Music is essential to the strength of this show and Ali Roocroft’s eight-piece band (including seven(!) strings players) add a superb enhancement to the evening’s country credentials.

Built around three chords and the truth, Wild Rose is new musical theatre at its finest. Amidst its raw and rough colloquial Scots brogue (more inspired writing from Taylor), there is a diamond of a show that deserves to be cut, polished and mounted in the West End. Soon!

Runs until 19th April

Photo credit: Mihaela Bodlovic