Throughout the end of 2013 we have seen that one-time
collaborators Sir Tim Rice and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber staging two rival shows
‘Stephen Ward’ and ‘From Here to Eternity’.
This review is based on the production ‘From Here to Eternity’, which is
set on Pearl Harbour, just before the Japanese attack where Sgt Milt Waden
(Darius Campbell, who takes his accent from Clark Gable) is becoming lustful
with his commanding officer’s beautiful wife, Karen (Rebecca Thornhill). Milt
is a man who is direct to the point and within 15 minutes of the entire show he
says to Karen “I want to go to bed with you” and from this they are having
sexual intercourse on the kitchen table. It feels that circumstances happen too
rapidly for one’s liking so the narrative and writing needed more work in
ensuring that romantic moments are thought of with tenacity and ease. This meant that the narrative did disappoint
me slightly. In addition to this, I think that Campbell’s portrayal as Milt was
slightly unromantic to other male-leads that deal with passionate moments e.g.
the Phantom in ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and Jerry Travers in ‘Top Hat’. His
characterisation in these crucial scenes would have made more of an emotive
statement to the whole show. The performer, for me that steals the limelight
from Campbell and the entire company is Ryan Sampson who plays Private Angelo
Maggio and his rendition of “I Love the Army” after the interval is a
showstopper and nearly leaves a lump in the throat. It is a definite contrast
to his performance as Luke Rattigan in ‘Doctor Who’ where he played a young
genius who thinks he is far more intelligent than everyone else. I find that
male leads should learn from Sampson as he provides the magnificent moments in
this musical theatre piece. Tamara Harvey’s direction for ‘From Here to
Eternity’ is amazing as she has been able to capture the elements of war and
how young men felt that to make their families proud that they would have to enlist
to the army to make this possible. She
has thought about the attention to detail in putting on a good production. I have to commend Javier De Frutos for his
outstanding and ingenious choreography as the precision of the dance sequences
were performed so brilliantly by the entire company. Once again, another gracious set and costume
design by Soutra Gilmour and as I have mentioned in previous reviews I think
that she is a sublime in every piece of design she set her mind to. I have to say it is a shame that ‘From Here
to Eternity’ is closing far too early but that’s the nature of the Theatre
Industry.
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