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With Hamilton taking Broadway by storm, Lin-Manuel Miranda's previous musical has moved to the now not-so-temporary King's Cross theatre after a hit run at the Southwark Playhouse. If In the Heights is the inferior musical, Hamilton must be the most divine piece of genius on the face of the earth. Thanks to a magnificent production from Luke Sheppard, this musical about life in an American Dominican and Puerto Rican community. Seen primarily through Sam Mackay's Usnavi, there are multiple strands which interweave and mingle. The music is pulsating and challenges the form of music theatre, with rap being introduced in an authentic and non-distracting way whilst the choreography is the strongest in the West End. Drew McOnie has crafted one particular party seen that rivals West SIde Story in the way it can contain emotion, plot and beauty through dance. This is carried out by a scarily good cast that sing and dance with real brilliance. The complexity to this show is impressive and means that this is a true hit.
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It is 1928 and Berlin is in full swing with jazz and wealth at it's peak. We are transported here in the Southwark Playhouse to a hotel full of life. Having listened back to the original soundtrack to this musical, it isn't a brilliant score from Maury Yeston. The luxurious music often jars with the sudden and odd change of pace on the soundtrack yet Michael Bradley and his band makes the transition sound natural and clever. The jazz is delightful with wonderful choreography from Lee Proud that captures the decadence of the age. The young cast are supremely talented whilst the more experienced actors inject a sense of realism and add the context of a society out of a World War with the cynicism they supply that doesn't make this seem vacuous. This is down to the brilliant direction from Thom Sutherland that turns this largely inconsequential musical that only vaguely touches on racism and domestic abuse with no real consequence into a deep and interesting piece on class divisions, with a final scene that acknowledges the effect of the Wall Street Crash the year after the time it is set in and the inevitable reality of Nazism. The overall experience of this show was far better than half of the big shows on the West End and you get more than just decadent style but a clever and talented interpretation into this more intimate space.
