Theatre review: Standing at the Sky's Edge

Thanks to its original run at Sheffield Theatres, Richard Hawley (music & lyrics) and Chris Bush's (book) Standing at the Sky's Edge had barely started playing at the National Theatre when it became the most-nominated musical at this year's Olivier Awards. Both venues it's played feel appropriate: Sheffield is the city its sprawling cast of characters call home; and now one of the most famous brutalist buildings in the country is a fitting place to house another surprisingly beloved concrete structure. In fact, when Ben Stones' design puts several floors of a Park Hill Estate tower block on the Olivier stage, it blends right into its surroundings. The band gets pride of place in a first-floor flat for a musical history of one specific home, where in three overlapping timelines, three generations of residents move in - starting with steelworker Harry (Robert Lonsdale) and his wife Rose (Rachael Wooding) in 1960, when the building is brand new.

In 1989, teenage Liberian refugee Joy (Faith Omole) moves there with her cousins, leaving her parents behind. She meets and begins a relationship with Jimmy (Samuel Jordan,) Harry and Rose's son. During their time there the neglected estate deteriorates, becoming notorious for crime and as a suicide hotspot. But it also becomes a listed building in this time, and eventually major redevelopment sees all the original residents move out, willingly or not.

By the time Poppy (Alex Young) flees London and a failed relationship in 2015, she moves into a fully gentrified building, and immediately finds new roots there, including new gay best friend Marcus (Alastair Natkiel.) Where the previous residents' time there was tumultuous largely because of social change, the new home Poppy's built is on shaky ground because her ex Nikki (Maimuna Memon) won't leave their relationship in the past.

Technically a jukebox musical, Standing at the Sky's Edge collects Hawley's songs from his album of the same name and elsewhere, and Bush strings her stories around them, occasionally using the songs in classic musical theatre style by having a lead character sing them mid-scene to push the story forward. But more commonly they're used as a more general commentary on the story and the setting: Although the characters listed above are the central ones, the overall feel is of a strong ensemble show as most of the large cast get a chance to take lead vocals at some point. If there is one narrator figure the closest is present-day estate agent Connie (Bobbie Little,) who also slots into the overall story.

This story compares and contrasts the three timelines by visiting them at similar times: Opening with the days they all move in, we later see election nights in 1979, 1992 and 2017, none of which were particularly good news for Sheffield or the country as a whole (and with Harry established as a steelworker, a cursory knowledge of The Full Monty is enough to know his story's going to go south fast.) The climax comes on three New Year's Eves, in styles varying from rom-com to melodrama (there are two major character deaths; one feels earned and inevitable, the other abrupt, soapy and sentimental.) And if the story tests the patience a bit as it reaches the three-hour mark, I personally think that's because we could have done with it giving less oxygen to Nikki's courting of her ex: Good as Memon's performance is, it doesn't make her character still turning up unannounced on Poppy's doorstep after FOUR YEARS any less of a red flag; a reference to Richard Curtis movies is all-too ironically appropriate if we're being told dead-eyed stalking is the very essence of Dame Romance.

If the story has its misses the dialogue is funny and sharp so Robert Hastie's production and his cast make it work. And there's no denying how much Hawley's songs, in Tom Deering's arrangements, contribute to the energy and atmosphere: Using different flavours of old-school pop and rock, they're variously moving, uplifting, frantic and stirring.Some musicals don't leave you with an earworm as you go home because there's nothing memorable enough; this is one that doesn't because there's so many strong tunes competing for your attention, and I was glad to see there's already a cast recording from the most recent Sheffield run. 

Jordan's country-rock "Time Is," Memon's silky "Open Up Your Door," bluesy Act I closer "There's A Storm A-Comin'" and Lonsdale's wistful "For Your Lover Give Some Time" are all standout moments, and the title song, serving as the Act II opener, is an epic number, both oppressive and rousing. Lynne Page's hugely energetic choreography, including moments of jaggedly controlled chaos, also can't be overstated in how it helps create both the atmosphere that makes you feel entirely sucked into the action, and the sense of bustling community at the heart of the story.

Standing at the Sky's Edge isn't perfect, but it's a hugely rousing, impressive hit that deserves the success it's had so far and surely will already be checking out West End venues for a continued life (the Savoy's available from August, should be big enough and would certainly be an... ironic venue for a story many of whose characters are struggling to get by.) Although touching on heavy personal and political themes Hastie's production also keeps up its wistful, magical tone that treats a concrete estate as the most romantic place on earth.

Standing at the Sky's Edge by Richard Hawley and Chris Bush is booking until the 25th of March at the National Theatre's Olivier (returns, rush and day tickets only.)

Running time: 3 hours including interval.

Photo credit: Johan Persson.