Any piece of theatre that deals with the subject of war gives itself a tough challenge to steer clear of oversimplification, cliché and sentimentality. Unfortunately, this musical, which squeezes not one but three major wars into its hour and fifteen minutes, falls prey to all three.11 follows the lives of various characters caught up in the First and Second World Wars, as well as the War On Terror in Iraq (and 9/11 that precedes it). A disappointingly western-centric choice, indicative of the broad brush strokes that go on to be used over every wartime issue in this production. Though the strength of a mother’s love for her child, or the ultimate humanity of an SS Guard are undeniably truthful conceits, their presentation was uninspired and somewhat sickly-sweet.Characters range from simply drawn to downright confusing. The problem lies in an unimaginative script and score that any actor would find hard to breathe life into. Performances vary but improve as the play goes on, and singing is uniformly very good. Much of what is built up is broken, however, when we are suddenly and inexplicably transported from earnest wartime musical into satirical Rent-style musical theatre, all ‘Oprah gives loads to charidee / So why should we?’. This briefly parodic interlude did not fit well with the serious tone the rest of the musical sought to achieve.In the end scene, a gorgeous little boy who has been sitting patiently in the front row of the auditorium rises onto the stage and plays the son of each of the women onstage in turn. This isn’t multi-roling, it’s homogenisation- of races, times, wars- into a single sentimental image. It’s the crime this musical is guilty of most. Finding the common humanity is very different to flattening out individuality with smush.Though the actors try to make this play come alive, ultimately such subject matter needs more engaging and empathetic characters, and a lighter touch.
