Ben Woods (left) and Jo Parsons in Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story at the Greenwich Theatre, London and Touring. Picture: Nick Rutter
Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story continues at the Greenwich Theatre until 18 April before embarking on a UK tour.
Star rating: 2 stars ★ ★
The appalling story of Leopold and Loeb – ‘Dickie’ and ‘Babe’ – is one of those lurid, early 20th century Chicagoan cases dubbed “the crime of the century”. A thrilling cocktail of murder, anti-intellectualism, anti-semitism and homophobia, it tells of the slaying of a 14-year-old boy by two Nietzsche-obsessed law students. Such is its power as a piece of storytelling that it continues to live on in popular culture 90 years after the sensational, headline-grabbing trial.
It’s the story that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 movie Rope starring James Stewart and the 1959 Richard Fleischer movie Compulsion. And the David Rintels play Clarence Darrow, currently showing at the Old Vic, stars Kevin Spacey as the murderers’ lawyer recounting his experience during the so-called ‘Thrill-Kill’ trial.
It also prompted the critic and broadcaster Sheridan Morley to observe in his Times newspaper column in 1990, on the eve of yet another stage version opening in London, to comment: “if all goes well, we shall doubtless then get the film of the play of the film of the film of the play of the case!”
It was perhaps inevitable, then, that a musical interpretation should follow. New York-based composer/lyricist Stephen Dolginoff’s version – Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story – dates back to 2003 and has just opened at the Greenwich Theatre. Described in the programme as the show’s ‘first revival’, this London opening is a prelude to a UK tour, with the revival presumably referring to its Fringe productions at the Tristan Bates Theatre in 2011 and Edinburgh in 2014.
For all its sensational baggage, tantalising title and award-winning pedigree, Thrill Me is a quiet, introverted piece, and, I’m sad to say, disappointingly so. Director Guy Retallack has crafted a beautiful-looking piece of theatre with a cinematic quality and nods to film noir thanks to Richard Williamson’s very effective lighting design. It’s economically staged, with few props and little set to speak of, although what’s there works well, riffing on the idea of jail cells. But beyond this, it’s lacking sufficient substance or energy to give the show life.
It’s a pity, because the two-hander features decent-enough performances. Jo Parsons (Leopold) and Ben Woods (Loeb) do what they can with the material on offer, but the occasional sparks of light in the script are few and far between. Parsons – who played Loeb in the 2014 Edinburgh production – is particularly believable as the bookish Leopold, portrayed here as a lovesick acolyte of the twisted Loeb; Woods is less well cast, not quite having the aloofness or alluring attractiveness that you’d imagine his character needs. Both performers peak when the tale takes an interesting (although, as far as I know, fictional) twist towards the end, which goes some way to piquing the audience’s interest.
Intriguingly, also identified in the cast list are Lee ‘Joseph’ Mead, Patricia ‘Rocky Horror’ Quinn and Les Dennis, who provide the voices of the parole board reviewing the case. (The story is told in a series of flashbacks from the incarcerated Leopold’s hearing in 1958.)
Musically, tonally, the show is muted and single-speed, and the whole piece is effectively sung-through. The accompaniment vamps along almost non-stop – kudos to MD/pianist Tom Turner for his on-stage contribution – and at times the score is hypnotic, with a haunting quality. There’s also the occasion flash of wit (‘Nothing Like a Fire’ was particularly enjoyable). But on the whole, I failed to find the songs particularly notable, and the rhapsodic nature – and excessive use of underscoring and safety bars to keep the music flowing – meant that very little musically stood out for me. The songs aren’t without merit, but I don’t feel they help to vary the pace or add anything to the drama.
The show has an impressive pedigree, with more than 100 productions in 14 countries and performed in ten languages, according to the programme notes, so there is clearly the kernel of a powerful show here. But for me, something is lacking. It simply failed to thrill me in the way I hoped it would.
Craig Glenday
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