‘Curses The Musical'

Review by Asian News Drama Critic Victoria Payne

‘T'was evening time and many pairs of eyes beheld a great hall flanked by winding staircases. Strange music filled the air and dark shadows were cast by the flickering candles of a chandelier'. Described of course, is the opening night and world premiere of the new musical: Curses. For two and a half hours the audience at Queens Theatre in Hornchurch were alternately helpless with laughter and moved to tears by this clever musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play The Ghost of Canterville. As the story unfolds, a family of stereotypically loud Americans come to claim Canterville Castle from its perpetually terrified owners, Lord Canterville and his son Julian. However, they are thwarted by a mixture of Umney, the impeccable butler, Sir Simon, the ghost of Canterville and finally, love between Julian and Virginia, Mr Knight's daughter. The characters are very well defined, and for the most part, well-acted. Without a doubt the best lines in the show go to the butler Mr Umney. Very well played by Stuart Organ, who as well as managing to be there for every one of his many entrances with the right props, carried off a splendid tribute song to the king of rock and roll. The script is packed full of puns, double entendres and topical references keeping adults in the audience amused while children will be delighted by the more obvious slapstick scenes and the Scooby Doo-esque chases back and forth across the stage. Although the swaying chandelier would not look out of place in the set of Phantom of the Opera, Curses is largely tongue in cheek, sometimes bordering on pantomime but also includes sensitive moments. The song between Mrs Knight and her daughter brought a lump to many a throat and was very well sung by Allison Harding as Mrs Knight. The musical is performed and accompanied by the resident theatre company Cut to the Chase. They hold the UK title for being the only theatre company of actor-musicians where each actor also sings, dances and plays two or more musical instruments (Obviously saving hugely on orchestra bills). Without doubt, Curses has the potential to be a top West-End show, following in the footsteps of musicals such as The Producers, and deserves a much bigger budget. In the meantime we await the cast album to let the songs of the show – some of them very catchy – live on until the almost inevitable move to The West End.