Theatre review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I may have to consciously try to keep this review short, because I suspect it's either that or sit up all night writing a dissertation and flailing. In 2019, Jethro Compton (book and lyrics) and Darren Clark (music and lyrics) presented their musical adaptation of the endlessly reinvented F. Scott Fitzgerald short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in Southwark Playhouse's Little Theatre. It was a short run but I ended my review at the time hoping it would have bigger and better things in its future. It was a widely-held opinion and I'm not claiming any special foresight, but we know by now how theatrical gems can disappear without trace. But its return to the theatre four years later in the new main Elephant stage not only steps up the scale but also comes with a list of big-name producers plus West End and Broadway names in the leads, so it's fair to say its potential has been spotted.

Theatre review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Jethro Compton’s love of Americana really seems to have translated into stories audiences want to see: According to the programme notes his work is regularly staged in the USA and South Korea, he himself works steadily as a director in Vienna, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance has been licensed for fifty productions worldwide. But while his first venture into musical theatre (book and lyrics, with Darren Clark providing music and lyrics,) once again takes an American classic as its inspiration, this time he brings the story closer to home. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is transplanted to North Cornwall between 1918 and 1988, with a cast of five actor-musicians telling the story of a man who’s born a fully-grown seventy-year-old, and ages backwards. James Marlowe plays Benjamin, whose birth as a frail old man is such a horror to his mother (Rosalind Ford) that she soon kills herself, while his father (Joey Hickman) locks him away in an attic room so that people don’t see him and start to ask questions.

Theatre review: The Great Gatsby (Wilton's Music Hall)

PREVIEW DISCLAIMER: This review is of the final preview performance. Not that it matters what I or any of the "real" critics think - the whole run's already sold out.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is back in fashion at the moment, with a film on the way, and at least three stage versions coming to London. This resurgence in popularity is entirely down to artistic reasons, namely that the book's just come into the public domain so producers don't need to pay royalties to stage it. For similar highbrow reasons, when choosing which version to see I went for the one that doesn't run for eight hours, Peter Joucla's adaptation at Wilton's Music Hall. Nick (Nick Chambers) moves into a small Long Island house, next to the mansion of the mysterious Gatsby (Michael Malarkey.) The latter holds parties every weekend in the hope of attracting his lost love Daisy (Kirsty Besterman) who lives nearby; but the source of his wealth seems a bit shady.