Strangelove the Musical
There’s no denying that Strangelove the Musical is an impressive show. The performances are terrific and the script moves along freely and fluidly. The ideas underpinning this show are also stellar. That being said these are someone else’s ideas, the play being based on the classic Stanley Kubrick film “Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”. However the fact of this show being derivative is not in itself a bad thing, it’s part of the great theatrical tradition (and indeed, Kubrick’s film was, in turn, loosely based on a book). This show brought enough originality and interpretation to the original ideas to stand proudly on its own.
The themes of the show, particularly the theme of the power of World destruction resting in the hands of a few military and political figures whose grasp of sanity is questionable to say the least, are as pertinent today, especially in a climate where major powers are attempting to salvage a devastating situation in Iraq, as they were when the film was originally released in 1964, at the height of the Cold War.
Two of the main variations from the film include the fact (made obvious from the title) that this is a musical, and also that many of the characters are played by women. Kubrick’s cast was almost exclusively male and although the women in this production often play testosterone imbued, blokey characters, I found the presence of females in this show refreshing, creating a real balance. The musical numbers are strong, well crafted and catchy, often providing energetic highlights, which simultaneously relieve the symptoms of dealing with such a dense, cerebral piece, and also highlight the absurdity of the concepts covered in this show.
As I said earlier, the performances are very good across the board, but star turns were provided by Jon Williams as the increasingly psychotic Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper and Kip Williams as his underling Group Captain Lionel Mandrake. The potent dynamic between these two characters provided some of the most sumptuous and funny moments of the show. Obversely, the character of Dr Strangelove himself, played by Simon Greiner, suffered by association with the iconic characterisation portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original film. That being said it’s a big ask to expect anyone to fill these shoes, but for my money it felt like the one aspect of the piece which fell into parody of the film, unlike the rest of the show which seems to sparkle with original interpretation. Once again though, I want to stress that this is largely to do with the fact that the original characterisation is so fondly remembered, rather than the performance itself, which, in the circumstances, was as good as you could expect from anyone. What this really underlines is the inherent difficulty in doing a referential piece of this kind.
I didn’t find this show to be a ‘laugh out loud’ piece, but many of my fellow audience members seemed to disagree with me on this front. Personally I found it more intriguing and amusing than raucously funny. However I don’t think that that’s necessarily a bad thing in terms of the nature of this piece. I will watch the progress of this show with keen interest, as I am left with the feeling that this show has the real potential to become a cult hit.
Strangelove The Musical runs Tuesday through Saturday until April 28th. For further details and bookings see the comedy festival website