Lauren Samuels and Daniel Boys in Love Story at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton. Picture: Ian Tilton
Love Story continues at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton until 12 July.
“What can you say, about a girl, a 25-year-old girl, who died?”
A lyric that comes at the end of the very first song in Stephen Clark and Howard Goodall’s blisteringly powerful musical adaptation of Erich Segal’s novel Love Story and in answer to the question asked – you can tell a lot in just two short hours.
Performed at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2010 before a limited run in the West End, Clark and Goodall’s chamber musical receives its first professional regional production at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre. With new arrangements and musical direction from Tarek Merchant, this production becomes an almost but not quite actor-musician production, never really incorporating the band fully into the production, but not distanced enough to not notice them – and on the whole it works. After all, Goodall’s music is so strong it’s a character within itself, and this constant reminder only enforces the powerful melodies within.
Daniel Boys plays rich kid and Harvard Jock Oliver Barrett IV who, through a brief encounter in a rival university’s library, falls for the sharp-talking and beautifully sardonic Jennifer Cavilleri (Lauren Samuels). If ever there was a pair where opposites attract it is here – this is a couple where nature really shouldn’t have put them together, but the love they have for each other is almost insurmountable and instantaneous. We share their first and last moments together, and the years in between, as their love is put to the test as work commitments and illness take their toll on their relationship.
Boys and Samuels work in blissful harmony together, their on-stage chemistry is pitch perfect and never outstays its welcome. Both characters have traits on paper that could grate and irk, yet they both bring something quirky and likeable to this love story. Strong support comes from Matthew Woodyatt as Phil Cavilleri (Jenny’s father). Not only has he had to watch his wife die, but now he has to say goodbye to his daughter in exactly the same way. Woodyatt executes this painful moment with precision which cuts right to the heart.
Compared to her previous direction of musicals, Elizabeth Newman decides to strip things back. Gone are the mix-match ideas that plagued her production of Sweeney Todd, this is an astute and concise production, one that doesn’t shy away from simplicity. This really works, especially when played out upon Ciaran Bagnall’s symbolic set – which has music flowing through it, from the fives staves of a bar of music running through the polished wooden veneer of the staging to the clef shape produced by the entire set.
This is a musical that takes no prisoners; the melodies soar straight to the heart, while the performances given from leads Boys and Samuels are career-defining with a balance and maturity that surpasses anything they have done before. Pair this with Newman’s assured direction and the combination means that the Octagon Theatre, Bolton has produced one of its strongest ever musical productions. Just remember to take your tissues, I defy you to not need them!
Kevin Byrnes
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