A Face in the Crowd - Young Vic

Interesting... What did you think of the show now it has been cut?

I saw it two nights before the opening night, and I was out of the theatre at 10.15pm - so given that shows at the Young Vic usually start a few minutes late (partly because it takes a few minutes to seat people who bought Lucky Dip tickets) it wasn't too far off. I'd guess it has lost a few minutes since simply from the cast settling in to doing the show in front of an audience and therefore picking up cues more quickly - at the point when I saw it, they'd had a week of previews scheduled and four performances had been cancelled, so it all felt a little tentative.

...and while I liked it quite a lot more than some others here, I think they needed another 2-3 weeks of previews with both writers present and making adjustments to the book and the score.

Is there gunshots in this? If so is it from the gun or soundboard?

Uh oh… ^

Seeing this next week 💀

I found Passing Strange a very strange musical too.

Couldn’t find programmes last time but it was the final matinee I saw. Does anyone know if they’re selling programmes for AFITC? 👀

I saw this on Friday night. Didn't dislike it as much as others, and I'm glad I saw it - mostly for the excellent leads.

The story doesn't go anywhere, the plot is basic, and - other than the title song - the score is forgettable.

I thought the set was perfectly fine.

It's a 3/5 from me!

No programmes - seems to be a new YV policy, though hoping it'll change with the new AD.

Given the mediocre reviews I had relatively low expectations, but I really enjoyed this - it's a simple plot (though pertinent, especially as it was written in the 50s), but it's brilliantly performed and there are several strong songs, notably Blood and Hot Sauce, and the titular number. 

It's a treat to see Ramin Karimloo on stage again - and in a role very different to the last time I saw him in Paint Never Dries. And Anoushka Lucas does good work in this too, she really does have a gorgeous voice. 

I didn't find it looked cheap; it fitted the era perfectly. 

There are a few pacing issues; it could benefit from a few rewrites as some bits are too quick and other scenes take a while to cover very little ground. But I think there's a very good musical in there. 

After reading the reviews here I almost didn’t go but so glad I did. Really loved it and would definitely listen to a cast recording if it came out. First time seeing Ramin live and loved his charisma and stage presence

After already getting a bargain ticket during London Theatre Week/Month, we got the extra bonus of being upgraded from the upstairs side seats. A lovely usher moved everyone who was sitting there into the main section which ended up being a treat

I had completely forgotten that Olly Dobson was in this so that was a lovely surprise. I see Today Tix have offers on so may be tempted to go again before it finishes

I have to agree with this. It was 2* at best for me. It was like 4 different shows all patched together terribly. I wasn’t hugely impressed with anything or anyone. I was so so bored throughout act one especially then got thrown into a completely different musical in act two.

I was also there tonight - it's a very badly directed first 15mins, but I did get into it after that and found quite a lot to enjoy. Gathering my thoughts still.

It is a good title song, but really odd that its opening lyrics and a prominent chord progression are so similar to 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'.
"If you're down and confused" (A Face In The Crowd) is also sung with the same musical feel as "When you're weary, felling small" & "When you're down and out" (Bridge Over Troubled Water).
Reprised at the end, the last thing you want to do is send people out humming a song that isn't in the show. There are some other strong songs though.

I hope you at least enjoyed the British Sign Language interpreter! - she was in my direct line of vision, though I looked past her to concentrate; but the times I took her in she was rather wonderful, and Ramin Karimloo integrated her very well on a few occasions.

I thought this fell between two stools style wise. With its hasty comic strip plot it might have been an idea to flag that as intentional and play it agitprop/living newspaper style with Brechtian captions fronting each scene; like the Federal Theatre Projects of the 1940s. It would force each scene to have a clear, even didactic purpose - the show works best when songs are satirical or knowing: the railroad song with place names hits the heights of Americana, the song giving the hard sell to the mattress product has bite. The middle section of that one (in spotlight) is the only moment Larry (aka Lonesome Roads) gets to sing from the heart about his past, so it’s one of the few where we hear the colours of Ramin Karimloo’s voice (it’s all barnstorming after that). Yet the ballads for the women are also good, and Elvis Costello can’t resist giving us a lot of them - which turns it into a completely different kind of show, miles away from Brecht. It starts to feel musically excellent but safe and old fashioned.

It’s a bad first 15 mins of direction. When Anoushka Lucas speaks the show's first line she has to take a pointless step up 2 inches, so looks down to be certain of her footing. Lucas is so great that she of course pulls it back, and it’s her that owns the show, but… way to sap authority from your narrator’s first moments! Then in the first scene with Lonesome Roads the listless hobo opens a case to reveal…. his pristine brand new guitar. At least give us a scene where he and Marcia scuff it up to fit his downhome image. At the radio station Marcia wards off Lonesome from touching the equipment or ogling the close-harmony singers - but the director has him do neither; so we don’t see him grow from being gauche and feeling lucky at the start.

I was sitting Stage Left and the band drowned out so many words I hardly caught anything Karimloo sang in his first number. I don’t know what kind of foldback speaker or ‘in ear’ they’ve got but singers were often a touch out of time with the band (in early songs anyway). The band pointlessly shuffles off to a bandroom (then shuffles back now and then) but at least the balance is a little better when they’re off stage. With all these missteps it just felt like nothing was taking off.

The show gets onto a much better footing though once Ramin Karimloo sings more simply, playing guitar. I’m baffled as to why (having discovered him and his musical talent at the courthouse jail) it’s his spoken words that intoxicate Marcia’s radio listeners rather than his singing. Surely we’re not meant to think Marcia already played out her dictaphone recording from the courthouse…?

‘Who owes who’, and ‘who owns who’, is always a compelling story, and I enjoyed it again here. Karimloo must be getting flashbacks of Phantom, Sunset Boulevard, and Evita, where he’s played either the monster or those abetting or trying to bring down the monster. There are also quite a few Betty/Joe type ‘Sunset’ conversations in the dialogue.

Elvis Costello once included Lloyd Webber in a diss song about the dross of modern culture, so I had to laugh seeing him not doing anything as musically savage as Sunset Boulevard or Evita, and writing a pale shadow of ‘Rainbow High’/‘The Lady’s Paying’ when Lonesome tries to make a senator into a presidential candidate via clothes and image. Not as easy as you thought, is it Mr Costello?

With that clap back out of the way, I thought there were some lovely songs (rather than ones that are great drama writing), and Anoushka Lucas stole the show with her song asserting being her own person without a man. Just a shame her character flits back to her ex in the very next scene, but hey, people can be inconsistent. I don’t mind that, but it’s the failure to get some bite out of her realising it, or Lonesome Roads throwing it in her face later, that underlines the show’s deficiencies.

As many have said - you can’t satirise what’s beyond satire in the USA right now. But you can change your ending from the film you’ve based your show on. I watched this in the week Trump insulted Detroit to a room of Detroit business people, bussed in supporters to a rally then left them stranded getting home, and stood for 30 mins dancing to his spotify playlist instead of answering questions. The amount of blind love demagogues command can’t be underestimated, but this show underestimates it and gives its plot a soft (and false) landing. It was way back in 2016 that Trump said “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters”.

The cast were great but direction and book mediocre. Did enjoy it despite all that - could have been shaved down even more in my opinion.

There were so many opportunities to elevate it.

The no programmes is the AD decision; apparently a lot of audience members have been asking. An A4 sheet / QR code doesn’t cut it for me. The Young Vic programmes were always beautifully designed so hope this changes.