Fury and Elysium. Music and Lyrics by Calista Kazuko Georget. Book by Stephanie Martin. The Other Palace Studio, 12 Palace Street, London SW1 to 18 June 2023. 3***. William Russell.
Performed with style and energy by the entire cast, each of whom gets their chance to shine, this musical directed by Rafaella Marcus and Caroline Gable is essentially a cut price version of the Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret. It is about Weimar and the rise of Fascism with nothing really new to say and at times it is not said as clearly as need be. The singing is good even if the words are not as clear as need be, the musicians perform the score effectively and it is tuneful and evocative of the time, and one cannot take one's eyes of each performer as they get their turn to hold centre stage - no he or she in this show, everyone has assorted pronouns and I am not going to get involved with that by trying to name names. The show does provide the necessary decadence of the Weimar years when it was for a brief while a case of anything goes although maybe one shouldn't play Lotte Lenya and Weill before and in between the two acts. The real thing is more decadent. On the other hand it does set the scene for what was to come and that is no bad thing to be reminded of today. But the individual characters' stories do not combine into an effective narrative so that at times one has no idea why what is going on is going on. But there is the innocent corrupted, the madame who runs the brothel, the writer who stands up for the truth, the person who sits back and lets it all happen - everyone you expect to find is there. As a work in progress it is certainly promising although not really helped by being staged in the Other Palace Studio which is fine for an individual cabaret artist as the audience has someone to focus on but six characters dressed in hideous black gear with their identity in the back and wearing hefty boots become difficult to relate to.
Cast - Danielle Steers, Rosie Yadid, Michal Horowicz, Ashley Goh, Maya Kristal Tenenbaum, Iz Hesketh.
Director - Rafaella Marcus & Caroline Gable, Choreographer - Alyssa Noble; Set & Costumes George Thompson; Lighting - Laurel Marks,
