Sugared Armands

A preview performance of Marguerite at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

The story, as in “La Dame aux Camélias” / “Traviata” / “Moulin Rouge” is fairly familiar but I thought it worked quite well in the WW2 setting.

However, I did feel that the telling of it was undermined at the beginning by failing to conjure the aristocratic hedonism from which Otto had plucked Marguerite. We first meet her as a fairly prim matronly figure at a drinks party, where her behaviour is not particularly raunchy or sexual. It is hard to understand why Otto feels the way she is behaving is in any way inappropriate, nor why her love for Armand is such a bolt. I’d have liked to see her as more of a player early on to contrast with the genuine passion we are encouraged to believe later.

The most significant problem with the book is in the passing of time. Months seem to pass between scenes and this is unmentioned (quite the opposite problem from “Gone With the Wind”, coincidentally, where they pedantically narrate the passing of every moment). Finally, when Otto is killed (almost without any repercussions at all?!), Marguerite asks for a singing job and we are told that she is to be spurned for cavorting with “the enemy” (so the Germans have now left have they? We could have done with some newsreel to inform us of that). A moment later she is seen repeatedly being kicked and spat upon by her former friends. That scene involved her clothes being torn off (slightly more revealingly than intended, I suspect) and her hair, pointlessly, being cut – what was that image meant to convey? And then she’s dead. Why? Did she die from a hair cut? It would help to see her becoming impoverished, returning to prostitution, catching TB (perhaps a cough or two), rather than simply leave the audience with the impression that she dies from the shame of accidentally flashing her boobs at them.

The cast, I thought was superb overall. In my eyes the gorgeous Julian Ovenden can do no wrong. He has a wonderful operatic tone, is beautiful to watch and as a pianist excelled. My only criticism was that he seemed a bit too old to play the youthful character with which he was charged. In some of his impetuous moments (tossing the music into the air, or having a hissy fit about not seeing Marguerite often enough) he seems to be quite a childish character and this contrasts too starkly with his reserved adult demeanour during the rest of the performance. I’d like to have seen him acting more impishly throughout, perhaps more like Matt Cross, who appeared to be channeling energy for all of the rest of the cast. Ruthie Henshall obviously has a superb voice, however she also seemed a bit reserved in her performance last night. I’ve already mentioned wishing to have seen more distinction between her as a sexy player at the beginning and as a dying broken woman at the end. In contrast to Julian Ovenden, she seemed to appear too young for her part. When they were in bed together the generation age difference between them was entirely absent… in another play they could have been playing lovers of the same age.

The musical writing had a variety of styles. I didn’t come out humming any of the tunes alas, and tantalizingly on a number of occasions the good songs aren’t long enough for the moment to be enjoyed (“Jazz Time”). The conducting seemed to be too precise – moving on all of the numbers at a pace rather than allowing the Mills-and-Boonesque romantic pieces to gush out of the pit all over the audience. A few climax notes sustained beyond their nominal length, I think, is all that would be required for this.

I thought the numbers were perfectly atmospheric, however stylistically I thought it was a shame that each of the first numbers we heard was sung in unison, which made for a flat start to the evening. A bit of harmonisation would have made it more interesting on the ear.

The band, unfortunately, is too small. Particularly with only four strings and synth for genuine gushes. I would love to hear it played by a bigger orchestra and would encourage them to hire in more players if a CD is contemplated – it would really make a difference.

Some of the writing sounded a little familiar: “China Doll” owes more than a nod to Jaques Brel’s “Carousel”, and I found myself picturing Norma Desmond on a number of occasions, not least during “The Face I See” – [“With One Look?”]. At other times, “Light in the Piazza”, “Passion”, “Phantom” (= “Intoxication”) and briefly “West Side Story” were evoked – I don’t say this entirely as a criticism, as you know I am a fan of all of the above, but only in preparation for others who might do so.

The most interesting and enjoyable numbers, to my ear, were in the counterpoints between Armand, Marguerite and Otto (“Intoxication”) and “Day by Day”.

The design was stunning and the transformation between scenes was very successfully choreographed, despite a few technical wobbles and clattering which will be ironed out by the end of previews. I enjoyed the interior of Armand’s apartment most of all, though Otto’s pad was clearly deluxe. The projections were mostly good, I liked her blinking doll face, Notre Dame and the Gare de l’Est. On a couple of other occasions, particularly for the briefer scenes, these could have been dispensed with. And I feared for cast injuries when Pierrot wheeled his bicycle along the revolve during, I think, “Time Was When”! The least successful element, I felt, was the New Year’s Eve champagne bottle/firework/clock. Although impressive, this was unfortunately a distraction from the crucial action on stage (shooting Otto) and an irritating anachronism – since when were digital clocks a feature of wartime parties? I’d rather have had a few streamers.

In summary, I’m afraid I don’t think this is going to be another “Les Miserables”, but I’d like to see it have a decent run and will be recommending it widely. I’d love to see it again when further tweaking has been done over the coming weeks and will look out for positive reviews.

The greatest advantage it has going for it is that it is vastly superior to its main competitor (GWTW), however it doesn’t have a famous title (unless you’re familiar with the ballet) so Jonathan Kent and his team ought to be pubicising it more… not least because it would be very nice to see and hear Julien Ovenden singing on the telly!