LONDON, UK, 2013
October 2013 saw the show's exciting London West End debut.
In association with Wes Payne, the show was again produced by Jefferson Performing Arts Society, the producer of the award-winning, 2009 New Orleans production. It played for a limited engagement of one week at The Bridewell – a well-known off-West End theatre where such musical theatre luminaries as Stephen Sondheim have had shows presented in the past.
Broadway’s Bart Shatto, who played the role of D.H. Lawrence in the New Orleans production, brilliantly reprised his virtuoso performance for the Bridewell. Jessica Sherman was mesmerizing as Frieda and the extremely talented supporting cast of West-End professionals played multiple roles to perfection.
Thomas directed and Bailey served as musical director. Choreography was by Polly King and the band was conducted by Dennis Assaf.
The New Orleans version (a twenty-one person cast and a fourteen-piece orchestra) was re-worked for a cast of nine and a five-piece band. Except for Lawrence and Frieda, all the cast played multiple roles. This trimmed-down, ‘chamber-musical’ production worked extremely well and provides producers with an alternative to the larger version.
Audience response was rapturous, with many-a-tear visibly shed during the closing scene. As always, many said that they would now go out and buy some of Lawrence’s books having learned more about the man and his times.
One representative of a very well-known international theatrical production company said that it was the best musical of its kind she had ever seen and that it has a tremendously bright future ahead of it.
“Saw the amazing ‘LAWRENCE – the musical’ (previous title) this evening. You really need to catch it by Saturday! It’s gripping, catching and just brilliant! See it now.”
JESSICA WARREN-BASHAM
“Loved the whole evening. A very original musical. Well done, guys.”
SIMON MAY - Composer (East-Enders and Howard’s Way theme tunes, ‘Smike’ the musical, et al)
“I much enjoyed your first night … I liked the score and lyrics, and the cast were excellent. Best of luck with the show's continued success.”
CHRISTOPHER MILES (Director of ‘Priest of Love’ starring Sir Ian McKellan)
“A gifted and well-produced musical, it offered plenty of enjoyment. And yet it was moving – and not escapist – to have Lawrence so emphatically and professionally celebrated on stage, in England, in 2013.”
DR CATHERINE BROWN (Academic, Broadcaster, Head of Department and Senior
Lecturer in English at New College of the Humanities in London)
“… it was a thrill and joy to see his story come alive and be celebrated, especially shrouded by such glorious sounds. Bravo!! Bravo!!”
EVA BURKE
“When I first saw the beginning of this musical, I thought that it may have been better suited as a drama. How wrong I was. I was not only surprised, I was taken on a pleasant journey.
This is a 'snappy' production and really quite charming. For the most part, it is quite light-hearted, but with enough passion, sadness … charm and emotion to keep you entertained.
This musical gives a good 'insight' into the life of D.H. Lawrence the author, as well as his 'complicated' private life. The superb timing of the cast and the full use of the stage are a dead give-away, this is a professional production, and what a gem! The singing was also surprisingly splendid and at times very moving, especially at the end.
I never expected the end to be nearly as 'powerful' as it was, and some of the audience were clearly brought to tears.
Terrific! The musical does everything that it would say on the tin. It informs you and moves you, but above all else, it’s very entertaining. Well done on such a good production.”
PETER TAYLOR
D.H. LAWRENCE ON STAGE? WHY NOT!
Lawrence the Musical: a modernist in song
Review by Londonista
If I am honest, Lawrence the Musical (previous title) was at first an incongruous prospect to me. How could a theatre company stage a production dedicated to the life of English literature’s self-proclaimed ‘priest of love’ – a purveyor of literature littered with profanity – without descending into parody? As it happens, it’s quite possible. This is a solid, weighty production that faithfully portrays the life of David Herbert Lawrence, from his naïve dream of escaping his working-class destiny by becoming a writer, to the harsh reality of life as a literary provocateur unwilling to toe the bourgeois line over novels that dealt with the animal desires of man. The show, being staged at the City of London’s Bridewell Theatre until 26 October 2013, developed on the back of a 2009 production at the Jefferson Performing Arts Centre in New Orleans; a show itself borne out of several scripts performed, tweaked and renamed over the past 13 years from an initial kernel of an idea by composer, writer and lyricist Glyn Bailey (this production’s musical director).
Back in the lead role from the New Orleans show is the acclaimed Bart Shatto, who most certainly comes into his own the older Lawrence gets. There are the inevitable difficulties of trying to establish a narrative arc of 25 years on stage (it follows Lawrence’s career from 1907 to 1930), particularly as the Bridewell is a small theatre where we can see the actors faces in close up. While Shatto does a fair job of portraying the exuberance of DH Lawrence’s youth in the first half, he really settles into the role the older, weaker and more cantankerous Lawrence grows. And it’s clear why Broadway star Shatto has been chosen for the role; he has enormous staying power and a voice that gets stronger the more he sings – ironic given the state of DH Lawrence’s own lungs (he had a lifelong chronic condition that led to his death at the age of 44). Shatto also does an impressive job of maintaining Lawrence’s East Midlands inflection.
The script, dealing with Lawrence’s escape from poverty, his brief period of acceptance, then censorship and eventual exclusion from literary circles, was heavy going at times; so it was especially vital that the ensemble cast could be counted upon to provide a series of funny and sprightly songs to break up the seriousness and gloom. Memorable favourites included Literary Lunch – a song about the various egos of the Edwardian publishing world, and Frieda’s At It Again, a bustling, gossipy number concerning the sexual proclivities of Lawrence’s lover (later wife). The ensemble also provided a vital counterpoint to Lawrence’s own voice about his writing; they represented the masses who publicly disapproved of his ‘base words’ and ‘smut’, but who secretly devoured it when no one else was looking. Of note among the ensemble was Nick Wyschna, who took on the role of the secretly lusty priest with relish. His Temperance Seven-style turn as the lead singer in the 1930s number Lady Chatterley’s Lover was a cause of much audience mirth. Another standout performer was Hannah Robertson in a number of memorable supporting roles, including that of perky suffragette Alice Dax.
Although Shatto was a more than admirable Lawrence, the most compelling performance of the evening belonged to Jessica Sherman as Frieda von Richthoffen Weekley. Sherman crackled with a slow-burning energy the moment she took to the stage. From her initial curiosity in the provocative working-class poet through to the total fascination that led Frieda to leave her first husband and children for him, Sherman was utterly believable, even if at times it was hard to see why anyone would be able to love a man who came across as so profoundly self-centred and humourless. For this reason, I found the first half of the musical far more satisfying overall than the second: Lawrence’s futility at his failing body, coupled with the literary rejection, became harder and harder to wash away with a dash of humour. But the musical was a powerful enough production to make me want to dig out my old DH Lawrence novels again, and satisfy a creeping urge to take a peek at that scandalous literary heritage that so burned a hole in Britain’s early 20th century sensibilities.
Londonista