Max Bowden and Paul Jacob French in Midnight Cowboy: A New Musical at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London. Picture: Pamela Raith
Midnight Cowboy: A New Musical continues at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London until 17 May 2025.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Emotionally bruising, entertaining but also occasionally frustrating, Midnight Cowboy, a new musical, based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy, is an impressively gritty attempt to transpose the iconic 1969 film, starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, to the stage – warts and all. Just how relevant it is to make mental reference to the John Schlesinger-directed classic probably depends on your age and for those in the audience that have seen that film, and it’s a tough watch, it’s nigh on impossible to totally deny yourself any comparisons.
Directed and choreographed by Nick Winston and with a soundtrack by Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Francis ‘Eg’ White, this latest adaptation has a book by Bryony Lavery (writer of the Tony-nominated play Frozen), which claims to breathe new life into the classic story of two very disparate and increasingly desperate figures thrown together and fighting for emotional, financial and physical survival.
As Joe Buck, the Texas raised cock-sure cowboy hunk, Paul Jacob French may not be the strongest vocalist on the London stage, but makes up for that with a powering, confident performance that his role needs and demands. Lured by the glamour of New York, he’s determined to leave his past behind, make an impact and take a big bite out of the Big Apple, only to ultimately be chewed up and spat out. His descent into gutter level male prostitution is shocking and graphically depicted, as are all the sexual encounters.
Much to Winston’s credit, there’s no sugar-coating the sordidness of this tale and the downward tailspin that some people’s lives take. Some people never have a chance in life, and polio victim, street drifter and hustler Rico ‘Ratso’ Rizzo is one of them. When Max Bowden first appears, as Rizzo, for a short while it takes a determined effort to erase all memories of Hoffman’s incredible performance and stay with Bowden’s. Come the end, he has made it his own and deserves huge plaudits as much for his totally convincing, unsettling and upsetting physical descent as for his confident acting.
His increasingly sick and sweaty pallor mirrors his unstoppable decline and unable to fund the medicine he needs, his eventual passing away on a Florida-bound bus alongside Buck is shockingly sad and finely executed.
Any production that can boast an opening song as good as ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’ by Harry Nilsson, is off to a pretty sound start and no one can accuse this musical of being predictable. From the impressive set to the music religious rant by Mr O Daniel (and company) of ‘Every Inch of This Earth is a Church’ (music and lyrics by White) through to Ratso’s sombre, touching ‘Don’t Give Up On Me Now’ (White), there’s a brazen unpredictability about this show that appeals and makes you stick with it. As Mr O Daniel, the deranged, maniacal religious predator, Rohan Tickell is almost flesh-crawlingly outstanding while playing Cass/Orange and Juanita, Tori Allen-Martin is just irresistible every minute she’s on stage.
The set (Andrew Exeter) mirrors the two main characters’ lives – desperately very grim one minute then bursting into the colourful, cocaine-fuelled madness of a New York party, complete with ‘snow’ showers.
The energetic ensemble choreography pieces, at times, appear somewhat superfluous to the action, at others they are quite joyous. It certainly works best during ‘I Would Never Do That’, performed by Joe Buck and Ratso.
For all its all many endearing qualities, distinct musical numbers and deeply touching moments, much like the tragic main story, this production does has a touch of the car crash about it – but most will find it pretty hard to look away. What this show and cast certainly does deserves is your full attention and respect.
Derek Smith
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