Oh it really does feel good to be pleasantly surprised beyond expectations.
Before seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on stage, I was, like many, familiar with the story of the man who ages backwards.
However, it is not so much from F Scott Fitzgerald’s story as from the David Fincher movie starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
Now, musical adaptations of well-known stories come and go to much applause or derision all the time.
But then, occasionally, one comes along and blows everyone else out of the water and this new show is that.
The Curious Case of Benjamin of Button musical is an intimate piece that works best in its smaller space. The nautical theme of a Cornish seaside town is gorgeously expressed through the purposely ramshackle staging’s wooden floorboards, crates, ropes, and nets. But what makes this show unique is that, like Hamilton, it’s basically a nonstop musical. But unlike it, the incredibly talented company not only sings but plays multiple instruments on stage at the same time. Here is where this musical is at its best, with a glorious collection of joyous and life-affirming songs by Jethro Compton and Darren Clark that ring and radiate throughout the auditorium as characters swill back beer while dancing to the various folk songs and sea shanties.
John Dagleish leads as Benjamin, who is well cast with timeless features and a West Country twang. He effortlessly performs first as a hunched old man of 70 before straightening up for his teenage youth. This is juxtaposed with Clare Foster’s love interest ageing the normal way, as the costumes and stage lighting cleverly emphasise differing stages in their lives without the use of makeup.
This heartwarming musical is a real treat and a great discovery, whether the story grabs your initial interest or not. You’ll beam at the familiar joys, tear up at the tragedies we face in life. Most of all, you’ll be filled up and want to go back again and again.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the Musical is playing at the Ambassadors Theatre in London and tickets can be booked here.
