Though I’ve only managed to visit in person twice over the years, the pandemic is changing my relationship with Southwark Playhouse for the better: over lockdown I’ve seen a brilliant version of The Last Five Years, and they’ve helped me make good on my commitment to see and support more new work: with their streaming of a new musical by Richard Hough & Ben Morales Frost: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. I write this on the back of a third viewing – there’s lots to enjoy and I wanted it to be fresh in my mind!
Inspired by the poem of the same name by J.W. Goethe (that in turn inspired the infamous Disney Fantasia sequence that I confess I haven’t seen!), we have a story set in Midguard, where the spunky, rebellious Eva and her mage father Johan live under the light of the Aurora, able to hear its music in their minds. Midguard has recently undergone a industrial revolution thanks to Fabian Lydekker, and the town has lost its faith in the old ways of magic. Johan and Eva’s relationship is fractured, but when the Aurora is threatened, can father and daughter reconnect and restore their world?
It’s hard to fault the ambition at play here, given that the musical packs so much into its running time: it’s a family saga, manages to say some perceptive things about climate change and has a sprinkling of romance. The trouble I found is that it doesn’t always balance the three well and loses focus: the romance in particular feels shoehorned in, but I don’t doubt the pair are immensely likeable! As a whole, the show also boasts tremendous heart and humour, and I could often be found laughing out loud, yet here again I found that there were occasions when the laughs came at the expense of emotional depth that it tries so hard to build, there’s a twist in the second act in particular that I felt had so much more potential that felt rushed and under-developed.
That being said, the cast are a delight throughout and throw all they have into telling the story that’s it’s a joy to go on the journey with them. David Thaxton came into my life five years ago courtesy of another new musical, and in the intervening years I have had the absolute privilege and pleasure of seeing him take on numerous roles, and they’ve often been the complete antithesis to each other. He always blows my mind with his versatility, and it was one of my biggest pleasures of the whole experience seeing him play the frustrated father: he was funny, tender and everything in between and his chemistry with Eva (Mary Moore) was palpable and endearing. I saw shades of my own relationship with my dad, and in light of his passing back in January that was the element that spoke to and touched me most deeply!
In her professional debut, Mary Moore makes a striking Eva, and I look forward to following her journey. Elsewhere, there’s scene stealing work from Marc Pickering’s dastardly Fabian Lydekker, accompanied by Dawn Hope who exudes class as his mother Lamia and a delightful dual turn from Nicola Blackwood as the town’s magistrate and Mrs Arno, the warm well meaning neighbour.
There’s a charm to the simplicity in Hough’s lyrics, but it’s Frost’s melodies that I’ll take with me: the harmonies in particular are a joy and it’s the ensemble numbers where things really come alive. My standout solos came from father and daughter as Eva & Johan battle with their respective pain in “Invisible” and “Echoes in The Dark”.
The piece does some brilliant work in terms of design that are crying out to be experienced live: Steven Harris’s choreography packs the intimate space with energy, and the puppetry from Scarlet Wilderink is strikingly inventive, all accented by Clancy Flynn’s characterful lighting.
Choc full to the brim with warmth and potential, albeit a little rough round the edges, I hope that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice can return one day for its planned in person run, I’ll be there with bells on, if my three home viewings are anything to go by…
Wheelie Stagey 