It takes a lot of courage to put on a tribute composed entirely of musical numbers from shows which flopped. After all, there was probably a very good reason why they failed. Some ran a few months (and on the West End and Broadway thats a flop, darling), some went belly-up almost immediately. That even the Gods are fallible is demonstrated by the fact that Andrew Lloyd Webbers Jeeves closed after only 38 performances. So whats the wonderful Above The Stag theatre doing resurrecting these forgotten masterpieces? Well, the point is it was the shows that flopped, not all of the numbers. Tim Macarthur and Peter Bull have dug deep into musical theatre history and rescued two dozen little gems, some more highly polished than others, but all of them evocative of those moments on the big stage when you thought great song, shame about the rest of the show. I missed the first Blink!, but if Blink Twice! is anything to go by, the third one cant be far around the corner.Director Tim MacArthur, whom Time Out described this week as ubiquitous, keeps the company of five on their toes and these lost classics stringing along magically with his usual flare. Theres education here too. We learn just why some of these shows died, and it wasnt just that they were all bad. Some simply didnt travel well. The Fantasticks did phenomenally in New York, but bombed in London. Among those that crashed simply because they fell apart was Jerry Hermans Dear World, unbelievably about drilling for oil in Paris, and a musical by Kander and Ebb about pensioners stealing fur coats. But then, who ever thought that a musical about the Parisian barricades could take off? Cest la vie. The narration that links the numbers is somewhat bland and uncomfortable and could have been wittier and cleverer. Knowing the history of these shows is a big part of enjoying the numbers which follow, and at times it felt a bit like Blue Peter. But there is plenty of fun and much campery to be had if you are a musical theatre fan, and even if youre not. Adam Lilley, whom ATS regulars will have seen in Maurice, does drag in Take It All Off from Hermans Jerrys Girls, and it is a sight you will not want to miss. There is a well-judged dig at Love Never Dies which proves that paint never dries and can be scraped off and used again in a second mind-numbingly bad musical. Will Blink Twice! run and run? Well, I guarantee it will run its length until the 22nd of August at least. You could blink and miss this splendid little theatre space in the heart of Victoria, but it would be a shame. Above The Stag is rapidly carving a name for itself and is well worth a visit if you havent already been there.
