A Face in the Crowd - Young Vic

Obviously,it's unclear. But I would prepare for a 2 hour, 55 minute running time because nobody wants to admit a show is that long. If the show was 2 hours, 35 minutes including an interval, they would just say that lol.

Now running tonight at 3 hours including interval per the things you need to know email I just got. Fingers crossed it is going ahead...

First time poster.
It started at 7:36 after a brief speech by the director and ended at 10;15pm.

In my opinion Kwame Kwei-Armah is going out on a high with this one!

I felt both the story and performances are electrifying.

In a grown-up way, with more shades of grey than black and white, so the characters are neither completely likeable, nor completely unlikeable. Some may conclude that that makes it less entertaining than it could be, but I'd disagree, as the internal tensions of the characters are fascinating.

For me, the biggest flaw is that the production probably isn't long enough to explore all the nuances of this story: the languorous storytelling of the first half feels just about perfect to me, but the more perfunctory storytelling of the second half feels like a rush to the end, like the compromised last season of "Game of Thrones:" ie necessarily abbreviated due to theatrical time constraints. Kwei-Armah has (correctly) decided that it's better to rush the plot points and finish at 10:15pm than let them play out naturally and finish at midnight lol.

For that reason, the natural home of this story is probably a six or ten episode TV drama/musical, like "Daisy Jones and the Six."

Ramin Karimloo does some of his best work here as a character whose worst flaws and greatest talents are massively magnified by the media spotlight. Anoushka Lucas is awesome as the conscience of the piece, from whose vantage point we view the action.

Some spoilers follow. . .

There are so many echoes of other terrific dramas here, which is to Budd Schulberg's credit as his short story/screenplay source material predates most of my comparisons:-

It predates "Network," although there is SO much of Howard Beale in Ramin Karimloo's lead character, Lonesome Rhodes, whose folksy ruminations on life cut through to the radio-listening public because they are, or appear, off-the-cuff and authentic;

It predates "Bob Roberts," whose country music star, played by Tim Robbins, also used folksy music to dangerously rouse an audience's most reactionary emotions for political power;

It predates Anakin Skywalker's multi-hour slow seduction by the dark side of the force.

What it definitely does not predate is Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," a comparison made explicitly and often within the text of this show, with Anoushka Lucas's radio producer, Marcia the Frankenstein to Karimloo's monster.

This show is the musical drama amalgam of all of the above, and like those works, it succeeds in being a serious meditation of human foibles, both of the nature and the nurture variety.

But it is also brilliantly entertaining because of Elvis Costello's spry, bluesy, folksy and thoughtful music, which is plot-integrated and where the music is a natural extension of the drama (and comedy) of the story.

In sad soulful intent, you can compare the music in this to "Girl from the North Country" or "Standing at the Sky's Edge," but where those shows were jukebox at core, this is all original.

The performances are wonderful, with Karimloo's Lonesome Rhodes (the seeds of his corruption evident from the very beginning in Karimloo's easy, people-, pleasing, vacant and malleable, yet intrinsically narcissistic persona) incandescent: his character is the most critical and exciting creation of the show, and Karimloo embodies the excitement and danger and fun of it all in spades. Topical beyond belief this US election season, in the second half, Trump comparisons are ladled on with a trowel, as both Trump and Rhodes channel populism opportunistically for political power from narcissistic neediness. The theme is both reductive (it makes us doubt whether Rhodes is capable of compassion) and effective (Trump works audiences just like this, and this depiction of Rhodes's facility for "authentic" seeming BS is revelatory).

Anoushka Lucas makes time seem to stop in her contemplation of her cultivation of, and regret for, nurturing her "creature;" sleepy but sly Olly Dobson usefully plays a rival and love triangles; and so does bright and breezy Emily Florence, making a full on dramatic (and funny) love square.

All in all, a 2 and three quarter hour musical might not be format enough to contain so much story, but it's a fantastic, if abbreviated, show. 4 and a half stars from me.

Wow you book three nights in a row and gave up after one?

They just cancelled Saturday night. Is this show in trouble?

What is this show about?

Tomorrows performance cancelled

I don't think YV tend to have understudies, I'm sure we discussed it when Mandela had so many cancellations.

Passing Strange had understudies for all major parts and they went on quite a bit.

They weren't selling programmes last night, so it's hard to give a definitive answer on the understudy front. I had a look at their website and it did list 'swings', so that would lead me to believe that there are in fact some covers in place. Either way, it seems like it's a difficult situation; to send one of the leads on with a bad cough is certainly not ideal. Hopefully it gets resolved!