For Tonight - Adelphi

I was at the performance tonight and wasn’t really sure what to make of it, to be honest. I really wasn’t keen on the first act. It felt confused in its presentation and staging, the plot was muddled and the numbers were relatively bland.

It wasn’t helped by the oxygen kind of being sucked out of the room by a couple of fairly lengthy speeches by creatives meaning we didn’t really get going until 7.40pm. Then the first scene was really underwhelming with it taking an age to move into the first song, Away (which actually sounded a lot more impactful on the concept album).

Falling in love with someone not accepted by your own community is a sweet, if tired, idea for a plot but I understand this is based somewhat on a true account. There is a narrator that pops up far too infrequently. There were several moments where quite major plot development took place without me even realising. Maybe that’s my problem but it never felt like it flowed especially well.

The music is lush. The accompanying lyrics, hit and miss. There is one song with a lovely melody, I think called Stay. But there was about a minute where the poor actor singing it (very well I might add) must have sang the word “stay” exclusively for about a minute or longer.

The book is really stilted in places and it never really gets going. It will need quite a bit of surgery if it’s to have a future run elsewhere. However, I was very impressed with the second act. It felt significantly more streamlined and focused in its storytelling and the show was all the better for it as a result.

It was ‘in concert’ but I’d say it was more semi-staged. The staging, like the book, was hit and miss. When the full ensemble was on stage singing and moving together, it was quite a sight to behold. On other occasions, such as the two dancers representing the two leads during their duet, did not land at all and felt entirely unnecessary to me. Think the dream ballet in Oklahoma. OK, maybe not quite so leftfield but still.

Amy Di Bartelomeo was incredible. Her vocals are so powerful and I could listen to her all night. She was the best thing about Glory Ride at Charing Cross and she was the stand out performer in For Tonight as well. So impressed. Jacob Young generally held his own but it did feel like a big step up for him and, at times, was struggling to keep up opposite Amy. Like everything else though, he was much improved in the second act.

I’d give this an optimistic three stars. There’s something there to be teased out. It’s rare to find a second act so much better than the first, curiously. I think this show has potential but it’s just a bit underbaked at the moment. The creatives will need to eat some humble pie and revisit the book/lyrics based on how much they were bigging it up before the show.

That being said, I’d be intrigued to see how this develops in the future. Was anyone else from here there? Interested to know if anyone thinks I’m being unduly harsh.