BWW Reviews: THE HARDER THEY COME, New Wimbledon Theatre, June 17 2010

38 years ago, The Harder They Come became an underground hit movie, playing to late night audiences in determinedly not "No Smoking" cinemas. For some in those audiences, it reminded them of their youth in Kingston, Jamaica - for others, it was an introduction to reggae and ska. For all, it was an eye-opener about the potential of Jamaican culture to speak to a global audience, brought to fruition by Bob Marley.

The stage adaptation, currently on tour, stays true to the movie's hackneyed storyline: country boy Ivan arrives in Kingston, loses his possessions, gets a girl, makes a hit record, gets drawn into the ganja trade, becomes a symbol for the people's resistance to endemic corruption, before a final reckoning with the authorities. But that isn't really what the show is about - it's about the music: a sensational performance of Many Rivers to Cross; a frightening delivery of Pressure Drop; and a superbly rendered title song are highlights amongst classics that keep coming for over two hours. While the songs are the heart of the show, the costume design is perfectly judged, every outfit stone-cold 70s (and closely mimicking those used in the film) worn with real aplomb by a cast that are mainly too young to remember how such clothes should be worn, but get it spot-on.

The problem at the heart of the production is one of tone - is this a play about police and big business corruption in a society that offers crime as the only way to put food on the table, or is it a feelgood nostalgia fest? Sitting in the audience, I could tell that there were some around me who were there for the songs, but there were others who clearly wanted to engage with issues as current now as they were when Perry Henzell wrote his screenplay. This tension between story and style isn't resolved until the curtain call which sees the cast reprise, en masse, many of the numbers. Given that this required Ivan to be transformed from a martyred symbol of resistance to the leader of a singalong in less than a minute, I'm not sure this worked as a piece of theatre, but it sure worked as a crowd-pleaser.

Maybe that is the answer to the dilemma - musical theatre, even when the subject matter is as political as it is in The Harder They Come, is about pleasing the crowd. After hearing those timeless tunes from a cast of fine singers supported by musicians who understood exactly how to conjure up the early days of reggae acknowledging its roots in gospel and blues, the crowd left very pleased indeed.