Playing at the Hoxton Hall, London until May 10.
Since first appearing in 1887 we’ve seen a wealth of Sherlock Holmes’, including a teenage incarnation and two bang up to date 21st century sleuths. With their boisterous production of Leslie Bricusse’s The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes, Morphic Graffiti give us the music hall version.
Bricusse’s musical is an enjoyable, if patchy affair. While the tempo and style of this vaudevillian score are engaging, the numbers themselves feel slight and do little to forward an even slighter plot. But with a character so beloved it feels churlish to dwell on such things and The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes will certainly satisfy fans of the famous detective.
Tim Walton’s Holmes dances his way out of retirement tempted by the prospect of one last duel with his arch nemesis Moriarty. Against the atmospheric backdrop of Hoxton Hall, the East End comes alive in a mixture of rousing cockney numbers and speciality acts as he faces an opponent who is both familiar and utterly new.
Superficially the variety framework successfully reinvigorates Bricusse’s musical. Melodramatic diva Mrs Moriarty (the deliciously wicked Amanda Goldthrope-Hall surely channelling music hall legend Marie Lloyd) almost steals the show with each pop up operatic aria and the pieces of magic are entertaining.
The Revenge of Sherlock Holmes cast works its hardest to create the instant familiarity original audiences would have had with their favourite performers. But the success of music hall was based on the social status of its stars and the chummy nature of this relationship without the fame of its instigators feels forced.
At first Walton feels constricted as the ‘great detective’, his Victorian gentleman persona falling a little flat. It is in Holmes’ disguised reconnaissance missions where he flourishes, showing a dab hand at clownish caricature, a charm he then carries over into his performance sans fancy dress, winning us over in the end.
He is matched in buffoonery by John Cusworth as the womanising Dr Watson, while as the plucky love interest Bella Spellgrove, Leonie Heath more than shows her metal in some sparkling duets with Walton. Lee Proud’s choreography is audacious while neatly fitting into the intimate proscenium arch space and, while Luke Fredericks could have used the entire Hoxton Hall space to greater effect, his staging is dynamic and full of well-researched bits of period comedy business.
Honour Bayes
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