The Stage

The Lady or the Tiger

Published Thursday 7 January 2010 at 15:00 by John Thaxter

What has happened to this charming little musical since I reviewed director Keith Strachan’s zippy revival back in 1989?

Then every critic in London urged their readers to rush and see a show featuring tuneful songs by Nola York and Michael Richmond - a musical setting for the adult humour of Jeremy Paul’s fable about a bloodthirsty monarch forcing his latest victim to choose between one of two doors, behind which may lie a nubile seductress or a voracious tiger.

The songs are still fresh and melodic, especially the tango title song and the satirical Light a Convenient Candle. But the tale seems tame and the refrains, forcefully delivered, are grindingly repetitive, perhaps because Sam Walters (taking over the helm from Strachan) has mostly cast for acting ability rather than the talent to hold a true note.

The former Wonderland setting becomes an austere arrangement of planked flooring and stylish but gloomy wall-hangings, while a quirky costume collection combines wellington boots and a kingly crown for Howard Samuels’ well-sung, witty despot.

The evening’s most engaging performance comes from Andrew C Wadsworth as the twinkle-eyed Factotum, controlling both audience and the on-stage action with cool, sardonic aplomb.

Meanwhile, romance unites Eke Chukwu’s strolling troubadour with Riona O’Connor’s mature princess who, while still daddy’s little girl, at last finds love. But alas, her luckless ‘guy with a guitar’ is then faced with the cruel twist of being eaten alive by a big cat or forced to wed an older woman he neither knows nor desires. How will he choose and can she help?