G“O big or go home” seems to be the guiding principle of this musical adaptation of the hit book and film about the aspiration of a travel reporter who is deeply embedded in the world of journalism. The sound is huge, with a pulsating disc and Elton John’s raucous ballad. , while the red, blue and white lights of Paris twinkle for a week.
It’s a great thing, but maybe you should go home because what is this, really? The hour-long musical, energetically directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, replicates the 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway to within an inch of their couture-clad lives, but without capturing the icy heart.
To his show’s credit, the production values are high, with Shaina Taub and Mark Sonnenblick’s helpful lyrics and John’s exuberant music. Vanessa Williams is a powerful singer as high-priestly editor Miranda, with songs like the clubby House of Miranda, and so is Georgie Buckland as her young, ambitious assistant, Andy. The view is nothing but impressive.
But as she moves from one iconic scene to the next, Kate Wetherhead mimics the android-like image, covering the screenplay almost line by line. You ask yourself: “Why?” How do these films add to the spectacle, take away from it or saturate it – and bring a celebration of industrial forms up to the present day? The clothes by Gregg Barnes (with some by Pamela Roland) are varied: one red, gold and black fashion collection has the imperial Versace and the theatrical edge of Alexander McQueen. Other similar looks can be found in the Autograph Christmas collection at M&S.
Based on the history of the late 1990s, the physical examples of fascism of that time reflect the equally tall and thin. This is as if Sophie Dahl never happened and is not even the smallest aspect of today’s revolution of greater magnitude.
Transposition characters are also eliminated. Part of the film’s appeal was how it was able to make its characters so unlikeable, yet Miranda. But none of the characters on stage feel real or alive.
Miranda comes from the underworld as if from the underworld, and the devil is too flat, Williams turning the vibes of that ugly Betty character. His famous “cerulean” speech, which cuts through Andy’s habit of stupidity, is not felt for the sharpness of his wit. Buckland’s Andy has very little personality, Amy Di Bartolomeo’s snippy assistant, Emily, sounds like the voice of Emily Blunt from the movie Rolling Stone, and Andy’s boyfriend, Nate (Rhys Whitfield), is too much of a cypher to care for, despite his voice. These are John’s songs in songs like I Mean Business and Old You.
Between the film’s glue, the retro film has to be filled in at the West End Curious Benjamin Buttonwhich reinvents the movement to make it a stage of beauty and integrity. This lacks both of those qualities. Is this kind of derivative show its own theatrical subgenre? And what is the next movie: Bridget Jones, Notting Hill … Love, Actu? The options are endless, and sad. Gird up your loins, it’s the shape of this show. That pretty much sums it up.