The Time Traveller’s Wife. Book by lauren Gunderson. Music & Lyrics by Joss Stone & Dave Stewart. The Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1. 3***: William Russell.

The Time Traveller’s Wife. Book by lauren Gunderson. Music & Lyrics by Joss Stone & Dave Stewart. The Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1. Booking to 30th March 2024.

3***: William Russell.

This wonderfully bonkers musical, one to collect if ever there was, is based on the book by Audrey Niffenegger – apparently much loved – and tells how time traveller Henry, a librarian, meets Clare, a sculptor, and they fall in love. The problem is that Henry keeps vanishing so that getting together is rather tricky. He has also met her when she was a little girl. Trying to follow just where we are in their story is almost impossible so the best thing to do is sit back and let it all wash over one as the songs by Stone and Stewart are good, the production is great to look at – the set moves and transforms itself splendidly and there are some astonishing video and magic illusions as Henry vanishes to another time before our very eyes. They do get married but Henry has not told his bride something – he has had a vasectomy at one point in their relationship. But worry not. She meets him at a time before he has had it done and duly has a baby called Alba which turns out as a little girl to have inherited Daddy’s particular skill – she too is a time traveller. Henry, who has lost his mother, an opera singer, when he was six, also managed to meet her and her husband wheeling a pram – and guess who the baby is in the pram. Henry. The ensemble work like crazy and Joanna Woodward, who plays Clare, has a fine voice – you hear the words, rare these days – while David Hunter as Henry has an off beat charm suitable for the role and is forever changing his clothes. One of Henry’s problems is that when he time shifts he ends up in the next time slot starkers. But worry not. The ways of providing him with clothing to protect his modesty are many. By the end of Act One you do wonder what they can do to top the nonsense that has gone before but they do – Act Two opens with a splendid video illusion in which behind the projections Henry is transported through all sorts of times. Henry has also fallen out with his Dad at some point and things get tricky when he wants Mummy’s wedding ring so that he can give it to Clare but they make it up. Dad, played by Ross Dawes, gets his own solo which – he bears a resemblance to Brian Cox – is also a highlight of the evening. The happy ending seems to be when Henry, who dies aged 42, meets Clare when she is in her 80s – do not ask how. The Time Traveller’s Wife is one to collect. Sondheim it is not but neither is it a juke box musical. It is a genuine one off. Go soon as if it fails to achieve cult status surviving to 30 March could be difficult.

Cast

David Hunter – Henry.

Joanna Woodward - Clare.

Tim Mahendron - Gomez.

Hiba Elchikhe - Charisse.

Ross Dawes - Henry’s Dad.

Sorelle Marsh - Henry’s Mum.

Alwyne Taylor – The Librarian.

Irfan Damani – Clare’s Dad.

Alexandra Doar – Clare’s Mum.

Alex Lodge – Jason/Mark.

Helena Pipe – Dr Kendrick.

Daniel George-Wright, Serina Matthew, Nathaniel Purnell, Bobby Windebank.

Young Clare/ Alba – Ava Critchell, Lily Hanna, Poppy Pawson, Holly-Jade Roberts.

Creatives

Director – Bill Buckhurst.

Production Designer – Anna Fleische.

Sound Designer – Richard Brooker.

Video Designer – Andrzej Goulding.

Choreographer – Shelley Maxwell.

Illusions – Chris Fisher.

Musical Director – Katharine Woolley.