Rebecca based on the novel by Daphne DuMaurier. Book and Lyrics by Michael Kunze. Music by Sylvester Levay. English book by Christopher Hampton. English lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Michael Kunze. Charing Cross Theatre, The Arches, Villiers St, London WC2 to 18 November, 2023.

2**: William Russell.

First staged in Vienna in 2006 and subsequently seen all over the world this operetta based on Daphne Du Maurier’s novel about the timid lady’s companion who marries the wealthy and mysterious Maxim de Winter only to find that life in his Cornish mansion of Manderley is anything but peaceful has a badly constructed book, indifferent music, hideous sets and runs for an interminable two and a half hours not including the interval. Lots of money has been thrown at this revival – there is an orchestra of 18 for a start – and a decent cast does its best to breathe some life into the goings on but to no avail. I saw it the afternoon before press night when Rebecca was played by Emily Apps, leading lady Lauren Jones having fallen ill. She sang beautifully and channelled Joan Fontaine, whose performance in the Hitchcock film of the novel, as I, the narrator, set the mould for the character. As Maxim de Winter, the arrogant and mysterious man who marries her Richard Carson is no Laurence Olivier but he has a good voice, Kara Lane as the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers who stalked around the dreary halls of Manderley wearing black who gave the night’s performance . But Manderley is supposed to be a lovely house. Production designer Nicky Shaw has created a clever set of panels which turn and slide focused on a staircase for people to ascend or descend but has painted the walls in sludge green and the woodwork muddy brown. It might just about pass for a down at heel orphanage but as the home of Rebecca, the legendary late Mrs de Winter, who was beautiful and loved beautiful things, it beggars belief. There is a large ensemble playing the staff who run the house and villagers who sing choruses telling parts of the plot and cavort energetically about like refugees from an operetta of Germanic origin, which is no surprise really as that is what this musical is. There is also a comic double act for Maxim’s huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ sister and her thick jolly husband for light relief who sing their song and get nothing else to do worth doing. Rebecca’s wicked cousin and lover who tries a bit of blackmailing makes so little an impression he might as well have stayed at home. Kara Lane goes the full lesbian over Rebecca’s nightdress , behaviour daring in a musical, but the bedroom looks horrid, and chances of Rebecca being found dead in a gown like that are remote. As for the famous ending when she sets the house on fire we get a front cloth of trees bathed in red projected light and she disappears up the staircase while the ensemble rescues one another. The moment when I comes down the stairs to the fancy dress ball wearing the dress Rebeccca wore the year before – shock, horror, tantrum from Maxim - goes for nothing. One cannot fault the players who, given the circumstances, respond with professionalism even if in a clichéd manner for which director Alejandro Bonatto, who certainly keeps them on their toes with lots of entrances through the audience, must bear the blame. He fails to create any suspense – the point of the tale is did Maxim kill Rebecca? Nor is there ever any sense of the person at the heart of the story – Rebecca. The whole world probably knows the answer to the mystery but it is not worth the trouble of going to this dire musical to find out for those who don’t. The theatre has, however, been stylishly made over to house the production and there are lots of souvenirs to buy although it is an evening better forgotten than remembered.

Cast

Emily Apps – Clarice,

Piers Bate – Frank Crawley.

David Breeds – Ben.

Melanie Bright – Alternate Mrs Danvers, Ensemble.

Richard Carson – Maxim de Winter.

Nigel-Joseph Francis – Frith, Ensemble.

Rosie Glossip – Ensemble.

Sarah Harlington – Beatrice.

Alex James-Ward – Jack Favell.

Shirley Jameson – Mrs ban Hopper, Ensemble.

Kara Lane – Mrs Danvers.

Lauren Jones – I.

Nicholas Lumley – Ensemble.

Gail Mackinnon – Ensemble.

James Mateo-Salt – Ensemble.

Scott McClure – Ensemble/

Neil Moors – Giles.

Tarisha Romnick – Ensemble.

Elliot Swann – Ensemble.

Emily Apps – I at the performance I attended.

Creatives

Director – Alejandro Bonatto.

Choreographer – Ron Howell.

Musical Director – Robert Scott.

Orchestrations – Sylvester Levay.

Production Designer – Nicky Shaw.

Lighting Designer – David Seldes.

Sound Designer – Andrew Johnson.

Projection Designer – Matt Powell.

Costume Supervisor – Jess Richardson-Smith.

Photo credit – Mark Senior.