Picture: lhphotoshots
Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story continues at the Hope Theatre, London until 20 April 2019.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
This chilling revival of Stephen Dolginoff’s musical take on one of the most famous murders in the history of the USA is engaging theatre.
Bart Lambert as Nathan Leopold, about to be granted parole in 1958, recalls what actually happened when he and fellow law student Richard Loeb (Jack Reitman) murdered a boy in 1924.
The piece explores the psychology of cold-blooded, planned infanticide and most British audiences will be reluctantly reminded of the murder of Jamie Bulger in 1993.
In this case the killing – or at least the planning – and the arson which precedes it is partly an aphrodisiac which drives the sexual relationship between the two men so the issues here are complex and thoughtful.
Lambert’s is an impressive performance. He has an interesting, unusual face whose hollows are stressed by Chris McDonnell’s lighting and often looks terrifyingly manic. His use of voice and body language to mark the 34 year time difference is strong too as is the blinkered passion he shows for Reitman’s character when they’re young.
Reitman, though, fresh-faced and compelling despite the cold horror of what Loeb is proposing, is the better singer of the two.
Dolginoff’s music – MD Tim Shaw at onstage piano – is often a quasi-continuo under the voices rather than in any sense an accompaniment. And some of the numbers require rhythmic intoned speaking rather than singing with speaking often fading into song and vice versa. There is, however, also some reasonably effective full belt harmony at high-powered moments.
It’s a tight-knit two-hander which, under Matthew Parker’s direction makes intelligent use of the Hope’s intimate in-the-round space and designer Rachael Ryan’s moveable boxes which form most of the set.
I found it rather relentless, though. However awful the subject matter, 80 minutes of theatre needs an occasional ironic chuckle at least. Even King Lear lets you grin at the Fool in the early scenes. This show is totally unleavened.
Susan Elkin
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