The Stage

Paradise Found

Published Thursday 27 May 2010 at 11:41 by Lisa Martland

Word has long since got around that this bijou Off-West End venue has a habit of producing quality work, not least in the musical theatre department. Enter two heavyweight Broadway directors, Howard Prince and Susan Stroman, collaborating for the first time in almost 20 years on a brand new musical, and deciding to present its world premiere at the Menier. Not only that, but the duo bring with them a string of great American performers led by the much revered actor and singer Mandy Patinkin.

Nancy Opel (Soap Manufacturers) and Mandy Patinkin (Eunuch) in Paradise Found at Menier Chocolate Factory Photo: Tristram Kenton

Expectations have to be high then of a piece supported by these talents. Unfortunately, the result is a demonstration of how even the very best creative team cannot save a project that in itself is badly flawed.

Adapted from Joseph Roth’s novel The Tale of the 1002nd Night, the action takes place at the turn of the century when the sexually frustrated Shah of Persia has been persuaded by his eunuch (Patinkin) to seek adventure overseas. However, while visiting Vienna, the target of the Shah’s affections turns out to be the Austro-Hungarian Emperor’s wife. In order to avoid a huge diplomatic incident, a plot is hatched by the eunuch and Shuler Hensley’s Baron to fool the Shah with a double of the Empress (otherwise known as local prostitute Mizzi). It is a decision that has huge repercussions for many of those involved.

Now and then, one can see what Prince and Stroman saw in the text - a lot of the story lends itself to high farce and yet there is a hint of serious themes of love and desire. But much of this is lost amid an occasionally amusing but unwieldy and weak libretto, a conveyor belt of clunky lyrics and melodies so similar that it seems impossible to remember just one of them on leaving.

Giving their all to the very end is a high class ensemble with the fine-voiced Hensley and Kate Baldwin (Mizzi) doing their best to draw some emotion from the confused content. McMartin offers a great comic turn as the Shah and Patinkin brings a genuine warmth and poignancy to his portrayal of the eunuch.

But despite all these efforts and a production that does not disappoint visually, nothing is enough to redeem a piece of theatre that lost its artistic way long before opening night. Paradise Found needs a transformation of vast proportions if it is to ever survive the return journey to Broadway.