Playwright Claudio Macor joins forces with Amy Rosenthal on book, and Duncan Walsh Atkins and Adam Meggido on music and lyrics to turn his original play The Tailor-Made Man into a musical.
Charting silent movie star William Haines’ career, it documents the before and after he was sacked by MGM studios for refusing to give up his relationship with Jimmy Shields and be married off to avert scandal. This adaptation has also managed to attract star quality with Steps member Faye Tozer and American actor Mike McShane joining the cast.
Tozer is fabulous on stage and is easily the best thing here, although the entire company is solid and talented, especially Bradley Clarkson as Shields. Tozer exudes the class and sass that her character, starlet Marion Davies, demands, commanding attention not through her celebrity but with genuine gusto and ability.
Macor and Rosenthal’s book is also bitingly witty. Dialogue is quick-fire and cutting resulting in a scintillatingly fun affair. But neither does it hold back on, or overdo, the sentiment and sadness inherent in the tale.
But, apart from a few exceptions, the songs detriment the brilliant writing. Whilst ‘Movies’ is a richly scored trio with pathos and panache, and ‘Design’ is a fun and cheeky number that does well to close the show, it’s mostly a generic American-esque score complete with so-so Sondheim emulations.
Clunky rhyming schemes often turn what should be tender moments into something from a sixth form poetry club. With the songs letting it down one leave’s the theatre wondering if a revival of Macor’s original play would have been more worthwhile.
Despite this, it’s still enjoyable and entertaining and worth seeing just to indulge in the slick and well-presented true story told with zingy candour, or even just to see Tozer be marvellous.
The Tailor-Made Man:
• Arts Theatre, 6-7 Great Newport Street, WC2H 7JB.
• Box Office: 020 7836 8463
