My first show back in London after by broadway trips takes me to the “Young Vic” on The Cut just down the road from “The Old Vic”. I dont see many shows at the Young Vic with the last show being Nora: A dolls house which included Amaka Okafor in the cast who I met at a NT event a year or so before.
Today’s show is one of many that are closing within the next few weeks which are on my top watch list. As a result expect quite a few reviews over the next week or so. The show in question today is “A face in the crowd” which opened on the 12th September and will be closing at the Young via on 9th November 2024.
The show is a new musical with music and lyrics by Elvis Costello. The production is directed by Kwame Kwee-Armah who has been the artistic directory at the Young Vic since 2018. The musical is based on the 1950s film of the same name and has a scheduled running time of two hours and thirty five minutes. Once again it is a story and film I have never heard of before. So as I took my bench seating in row F seat 12 within the main house (biggest theatre space at the venue) having no prior knowledge and did not know what to expect. I was disappointed that there was no programme. I understand the environmental benefits however if I see a show I would like and expect a programme as souvenir. Instead you can obtain a “Free sheet” which list all the cast and creative details. This is also available online here.
Here is a very quick overview of the show. A full blowby blow show synopsis can be found the Young Vic website here. Act one depicts the very quick rise to fame of Lonesome Rhodes (Ramin Karimloo). Who is a drunk interviewed from jail by Marcia Jeffries (Anoushka Lucas) for her unsuccessful radio show “A face in the crowd”. She gives him the name of Lonesome Rhodes and his career goes from strength to strength after capturing the heart of the radio listeners. This escalates to a TV show in Chicago which continues to grow his name and reputation. Act one concludes which Rhodes being approached by presententail candidate Senator Fuller.
Act two follows the campaign trail for Fuller in which Rhodes is pulling the strings and attempting to make Fuller more popular by being more like Rhodes. During this time Rhodes exhibits some very strong local and international political views. Crescendoing with Rhodes becoming far to arrogant and opinionated and believes that he should be the vice president. It is up to Marcia who built him to break him by making his mic live at the end of broadcast so everyone can hear his true opinions on the lovable public. This concludes the show with Rhodes a broke man again and back were he started. All while there is an underlying relationship between Rhodes Marcia even during his on screen marriage to Betty Lou (Emily Florence)
The main points raised in the story around presidential campaigns and public especially American public opinion and the ability and or attempt to be manipulated all seems very relevant with the current presidential election campaign currently happening in America. Also the main point of building someone up on TV to then only bring them crashing down. Was a clear representation of the cancel culture that currently exists. I dont know if this was pushed more for this production or if it was the same in the original film in which the musical is based on. Either way it made the story seem very relevant even though it is set in the 1950s
I did forgot how small of a theatre space the young theatre main space was. As a result any seat within the auditorium is a good view. The stage itself especially for this production is pretty small. This meant that there was not much opportunity for large set pieces or changes. Instead there was very good use of props throughout the show. The scene changes were depicted by a few sliding backdrops however the props were heavily relied on to bring the scene to life. Along with the use of lighting which was very effective in the theatre space to set the scenes especially in the pool scene halfway through act one. The use of the TV directors booth above the stage was a very good use of the limited stage space. Instead of going outwards the designers went up. Due to this limited space there was very good use of the actors within the dress circle (Upstairs seating) space to highlight the audience members especially in the first act for the radio show. Again lighting was key to making this work. A standout moment for me within the theatre aspect of the show was when Lonesome started travelling through the audience seating while shaking hands during one of the campaign rallies. It really did give the audience a lift and gave the whole environment and authenticity/ feel that we were at an American presidential candidate campaign.
I was very impressed with the amount of costume changes that occurred throughout the show. It was the one aspect of the production that gave it a large scale theatre prodcution vibe that is needed and expected for any show running in London. On top of the amount of costume changes the ensemble cast which is not a large number managed to depict many characters, some four or five throughout the whole show. It is due to the amount of multiple characters per actor that meant that they relied on the costume department and variation to asssit with the authenticity and storytelling. There were a few more expected musical theatre dance routines during some of the numbers which relied mainly on the three supporting women of the ensemble cast.
As mentioned before I did not know the story and did find especially in the first half that time seemed to progress very quickly within the story without it being very clear to the audience. There was sometimes hints during some of the dialogue however sometimes weeks and months seem to pass within the same scene without it being very clear. This was not so much of an issue in the second act. Which made the first act feel a little rushed like it was just setting the background story for the second act.
I did find the songs within the production were not necessarily used to progress the actual story being told. Perhaps due to the what seemed rushing of the narrative. This is a shame as when you watch a musical you expect the songs to be telling and progressing the story and the acting in between just a segway to the next song. For this production that was not the case. The songs sometimes added to the story but most often that not just elongating a point that was already made. The general music and lyrics were OK, I personally only really liked a handful of the songs. One being the title song “A face in the crowd” and “A town called riddle” which Ramin himself has uploaded a version to his YouTube channel which can be found below.
I do have to say the finale track which is a version of “A face in the crowd” lead by (Anoushka Lucas) and then supported by the whole cast really was a rousing finale and a proper musical theatre experience. While talking about the music I was a bit disappointed as the live band located to stage left were not used enough in my opinion. I always find it intriguing when a band is on or just off stage. Which is very common in small theatre spaces or small set productions, like “Come from away” for example. So i was excited to see them appear just as the house lights went down. However disappointed to see them quickly disappear after the opening prologue. We would only see them return around three times through the whole show mainly at the end and start of each act. The rest of the time what I can only assume was a backing track was the source of accompaniment to the onstage performers. It seemed like a wasted opportunity for what is being sold as a musical production.
I have to be honest the main reason in wanting to see this show was for Ramin. I dont normally agree with people who see or want to see a show for one person because everyone in the cast deserves the recognition. However Ramin was the main driver for me and he did not disappoint. The casting of the Ramin for the role of Lonesome Rhodes is perfection. He absolutely embodies this characters from the start as a waste of space jail drunk through to his mighty rise and inevitable downfall due to his delusions of grandeur. At each stage Ramin somehow convinces you that Lonesome is at that stage of his life. Having said that, as usual and as expected the highlight and the best part of the whole production is Ramin vocals. Which are as usual out of this world. Every time I see him perform I still can not understand how he can sound so unique but suit so many different musical theatre productions. Think Phantom, Les Mis and this now show. The tone and power is unbelievable and really did make the show. There was many points especially during the first act when Ramin sat and supported his amazing vocals with just a guitar. Again perfect casting it did make me harp back to Ramin YouTube channel “ARoamingIranian” in which he has been uploading videos for years in a very similar style. I imagine the casting director had a fairly easy day once Ramin said yes.
The other main characters was Marcia Jeffries’s portrayed by (Anoushka Lucas) . Her voice was good however it seemed the songs were written not in the normal musical theatre range and seemed a lot higher than normal. As a result the more softer parts of her songs is where she was able to shine. Betty Lou played by Emily Florence become a pivotal part of the story and to stepped out of the main ensemble to have some dedicated songs which were performed brilliantly.
Overall I give this production 2.5 out of 5 stars. The story seemed rushed in the first half and did not rely enough on the songs for a musical production. Ramin Karimloo saved it for me and if you can get a cheap ticket take it to see Ramin perform. It was an enjoyable 2.5 hours of theatre for an OK musical on a small staging.
More about the show and the Young Vic itself can be found on their website.
A SPURDLE reviews 