‘Rebecca’ Review: Musical’s English-Language Debut Is a Remarkable Debacle

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‘Rebecca’ Review: Musical’s English-Language Debut Is a Remarkable Debacle
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“What a terrible tragedy.” Indeed. That’s the lyric cried out as, in theory, the famously magnificent Cornish home at the heart of the story burns to the ground at the climax of the musical of “Reb…

“What a terrible tragedy.” Indeed. That’s the lyric cried out as, in theory, the famously magnificent Cornish home at the heart of the story burns to the ground at the climax of the musical of “Or, rather, when smoke is pumped into the auditorium, the frontcloth glows red and cast members race around to startlingly little dramatic effect.

The belief must be that the atmosphere would be supplied by the score, with 39 listed songs. Beyond the yards of sung dialogue with moody underscoring, Levay’s actual songs are mainly in the key of Lloyd Webber-esque romance, complete with multiple repetitions. But there’s a problem when the song you emerge humming is something from “Phantom of the Opera” rather than the show in question.

Take the song in which the famously frightened and unnamed central character finds her voice, “Mrs. deWinter Is Me!” Rounding on her nemsis Mrs. Danvers, who is handling a plant belonging to the dead title character, Lauren Jones sings, “Orchids never were my style/ Azaleas are far more versa-.” Warming to her theme, she adds, “Empty those flower pots/ On the compost pile.” All this manages to suggest is that there’s more to writing a lyric than making dialogue rhyme.

The house’s staff are, of course, all in thrall to Mrs. Danvers. Stern of manner, dressed in black and glued, whenever possible, on the staircase of the overwhelmingly brown house, Kara Lane never misses an opportunity to do fierce Wicked Lesbian Acting. As her boss, Maxim, Richard Carson sings well but the book scenes are so schematic that he is left with nothing to do but look handsome and deliver extremes of emotion. Engaging motivation is entirely missing.

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