BWW Reviews: LOVE STORY, Duchess Theatre, Jan 4 2011

Yes, yes, you know the film, you know what happens, you don't think there's any point seeing Love Story when you know how it ends.

Well, even if you'd by some quirk of fate managed to get through life without knowing the plot, all its twists and turns are revealed in the first scene of this Stephen Clark and Howard Goodall show. Yet this is what creates Love Story's strong emotional heart; its themes of tragedy and the strength of love are present throughout; they're intertwined, and the impact it has on the audience doesn't come from shocking us but from taking us along on the journey.

Emma Williams is a beautifully appealling Jenny; Michael Xavier a strong Oliver Barrett IV. For me Peter Polycarpou was the stand-out performer - always a reliable musical theatre turn and wonderful character actor, here as Jenny's widower father he gets to play comedy and tragedy while using that lovely singing voice we've had the pleasure of listening to over the years. This is not simply a romantic love story; it's an affecting exploration of the love between parent and child, however complicated or thwarted it may be.

Goodall's melodies may not be the hard-hitting overblown showstoppers that populate the West End, but they are striking and haunting, fitting perfectly with the libretto and sensitively performed by the chamber orchestra.

When I saw next to normal on Broadway last year, I wrote: "the offering-up of emotion - the chance to feel, to empathise, to learn, to move - is one of the reasons I love musical theatre so much. Sure, I also appreciate good tunes, characterisation, lighting, costuming; but if there's no soul, if there's nothing there for me to relate to, if the narrative is glossed over with a heavy layer of irony, that is not a musical I can love. When I come out of a show having laughed and cried and feeling like I've taken a blow to my midriff and can't think of anything else but the characters, the music and the story, that is when I know I've seen something special." I maintain that.

A show worth seeing - a shame that so few seats on this Monday night performance were filled. Still, there were enough muffled sobs and sniffs around the Duchess Theatre to indicate that the small audience had been deeply moved by this elegant piece of work.

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