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The Theatreguide.London Review
Curtains
Wyndham's
Theatre Winter 2019-2020
Curtains is a love letter to
the Broadway musical in the form of a Broadway musical, written by
Broadway musical masters. It is tuneful, witty, energetic, colourful and,
most importantly, totally devoid of any deep meaning or social
significance beyond entertainment.
It ought to run forever, but
is actually in London for just a month, and I urge you to run out and see
it.
The plot is a murder mystery
set backstage in the Boston try-out of a Broadway-bound musical. The very
unpopular and untalented star is killed, and the detective assigned to the
case is a closet theatre buff.
His investigation keeps
getting sidetracked by his delight at being among his idols and his
suggestions for rewriting and restaging problems numbers in the show
they're putting on.
And so Curtains has several
levels of plot and humour – the musical-within-the-musical, the criminal
investigation, the theatrical in-jokes and deliciously bitchy backstage
backbiting, and even a couple of romances (including one for the
stage-struck cop) – all delivered with the sharp edge of the creators of
Chicago and Cabaret.
Lyricist Fred Ebb died during
the creation of this show, and composer John Kander and book writer Rupert
Holmes finished some of the songs for him. The seams do not show, and the
whole has the recognisable Kander and Ebb flavour.
Reminded he's a suspect, one
character quips 'It's an honour just to be nominated.' there's a song
wondering what kind of mother allows her son to grow up to be a theatre
critic, while a song about how little the victim is mourned notes 'The
skies are blue, Her lips are too.'
There is yet another level to
many of the songs that will provide extra delight to those who, like the
onstage detective, are musical theatre buffs. Kander and Ebb demonstrate
their encyclopedic knowledge of their art form by including songs that,
without in any way imitating others, allude to their predecessors.
The finale of the
cowboy-themed inner musical is a rousing salute to K-A-N-S-A-S, and that
mock mourning song is in the spirit of Hammerstein's Poor Jud Is Dead.
Curtains' big showstopper, Show People, is a salute to Irving Berlin, and
you might catch the passing hint at Sondheim and even Kander and Ebb
themselves.
That awareness of musical
theatre history extends beyond the songs. Alistair David's witty and
wholly original choreography alludes in passing to De Mille, Balanchine,
Robbins, Kidd and Fosse,
You don't have to get the
references to enjoy the musical numbers, but they add an extra kick for
those who do.
Jason Manford, better known
as a stand-up comic and TV host, carries the detective role with style and
charm. He sings and dances more than adequately, finds all the laughs, and
is both believable and endearing as investigator, enthralled fan and even
romantic lead.
The only other stand-out in the uniformly fine cast is Rebecca Lock, making the most of some of the best songs and acerbic one-liners as the brassy Ethel-Merman-and-Bette-Midler-channeling producer.
Gerald Berkowitz
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