This is a refreshingly new and interesting take on death through the medium of a musical. We met the personification of death in his office looking through paperwork of some of his old cases. Death meticulously plans all deaths to the second and spends the show being incredibly proud of his work, in fact he even complains he doesn’t get enough credit.
A refreshingly new and interesting take on death through the medium of a musical
The under-appreciated ‘Death’ is played by Sam Hooper who does an excellent job at conveying the detached, but somewhat charismatic and funny character. His flawlessly performed singing has a lovely tone and his dance and physical theatre is exceptionally impressive.
‘Death’ speaks of six deaths during the show and each one is given a song, poetry, rap, dance, or some form of physical theatre to represent it. The songs make for very nice listening and the live pianist in the corner gives the show some more life, however, none of the songs are ear-worms that stay in the mind once you're on your way home. Another issue was the inconsistency in musical style. Each piece of music seemed to have no connection to the last and it felt jarring as we jumped from rap to a ballad to a slow underscore.
The script was overall very tight and the show presented a new look on death and the way people perceive it. There is comedy woven throughout, which usually landed with the audience, although some parts went too dark and the comedy felt slightly more out of place. With slightly more connection and continuity of style between the songs and a slightly clearer direction being presented from the beginning it could be an excellent show.
