THE FAR PAVILIONS
Shaftesbury

I AM a conservative when it comes to musicals. I like tunes I can hum, show-stopping routines I can marvel at, a slightly soppy story and well-defined heroes and villains. I don’t want intellectualising spaghetti plots or politics.
So this show is quite a strange mix. Based on MM Kaye’s novel of the love of an English boy for an Indian girl under the glorious Raj, it makes much of an issue of what happens “when worlds collide”. Straightforward enough.
I would love this show to be a hit. I could not take my eyes off the stage and found the whole production dynamic and enchanting. A rotating platform gave the action a soaring, film-camera feeling, and the performers were universally accomplished singers. Sophiya Haque as scheming Janoo Rani was a magnetic and exciting presence from the moment she first appeared on stage and should be a musical superstar.
Hero Hadley Fraser was a handsome centrepiece, with a disarming smile and expansive voice. The supporting players were all also very good and the lighting, sets and costumes were a stunning rainbow of golds, purples, reds and blues.
So why is this show going to flop like a wet tea bag? First: the songs. While the orchestration was very good, not a single song sticks out as having a particularly memorable tune, with multiple disjointed voices joining in at unpredictable intervals. When finally a song does begin to become a set piece, it is either tactically critical of the British (memsahibs) or too dissonant to sing along to.
Then there is the plot which, in places, gets rather laboured: heated military arguments, unwanted romantic attentions and the rejections of British snobs. These go on and on so at least half an hour could easily be slashed from this production. Then there is the lack of chemistry between the two main protagonists whose kisses are without passion and sincerity.
There is still time to make this a hit. I hope the British public will prove me wrong by paying this a visit.

0207 379 5399
Until Sept 4