Charing Cross Theatre
Reviewed on Tuesday 14th January 2014
With 2014 marking the 100th anniversary of the First World War it’s safe to assume that there are more than a few theatrical events planned to mark the occasion. One of the first to show its hand though is this new musical from Phil Willmott, and whatever follows it’s hard to imagine that Lost Boy will be matched, at least for its sheer inventiveness.
Willmott has taken one of the most enduring masterpieces of Edwardian children’s literature, J M Barrie’s Peter Pan, and reimagined the characters as young adults thrust into the horror of the Great War — but with a grounding in reality by reflecting what really happened to Barrie’s adopted son George during the conflict.
While this is in the main a poignant tale of lost innocence, Willmott clearly had a ball placing these familiar characters into incongruous situations. We have the adult lost boys as a bunch of Bullingdon-style yahoos before war intervenes; Michael has taken up a life in show business with a “special” male friend; Hook is an opium-addict, Tiger Lilly a seductive Parisian nightclub singer and Tinker Bell a desperate street whore, still carrying a torch for Peter and still scheming to come between him and Wendy.
Elsewhere, John Darling has followed a more conventional path as a pacifist academic dedicated to the works of psychotherapist Carl Jung. And it’s Richard James-King in this role who provides one of the show’s highlights with the beautifully constructed number Jungian Dream Analysis that opens the second act.
The tantalising scenarios created for the characters don’t always blend together as a cohesive whole, but the show is blessed with a score containing more highs than lows that elicits tears and laughter in equal measure.
Standouts in the accomplished ensemble cast are the aforementioned Richard James-King, while Andrew C Wadsworth invests J M Barrie and Mr Darling with the right amount of gravitas and is suitably slimey as Hook. But the performance of the night for me was Joanna Woodward’s heartbreaking turn as the damaged Tink.
I feel as if Lost Boy isn't quite there yet and Steven Butler is not completely convincing as a leader of men — although he’s much more comfortable as the childlike Peter — but this is still a bold and original idea that is well worth a look.
Reviewed by Tony Peters
Lost Boy runs at the Charing Cross Theatre until Saturday 15th February 2014.
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