Writer: Roger Kumble
Adaptors: Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble
Director: Jonathan O’Boyle
It’s 1999. Poor little rich kids – and step-siblings – Sebastian and Kathryn are living a hedonistic lifestyle inside
their own little bubble. It seems that they can only ever be honest with each other, sharing their conquests and their petty rivalries in school and outside. They are also selfish, vindictive and manipulative, treating others as playthings and meting out punishments to those who cross them.
The plot is incredibly twisted – Kathryn wants to punish her ex, Court, for dumping her, and asks Sebastian to help by seducing Court’s new squeeze, the naïve and gauche Cecile. Sebastian, on the other hand, has seen an article about their incoming headteacher’s daughter, Annette, who has taken a pledge of chastity until marriage. Kathryn bets him he can’t seduce Annette into bed, offering a prize he cannot ignore should he be successful – herself.
Seducing Annette proves to be more difficult than either would imagine – she’s been warned about his tricks by a mystery letter writer. Attempts to unravel all these strands lead to blackmail (directed at Blaine, Sebastian’s gay friend, and his, Blaine’s, closeted football-playing lover) as well as sabotaging a putative relationship between Cecile and her music teacher, Ronald.
The versatile set from Polly Sullivan moves us effortlessly between locations in New York City and underscores the lavish lifestyles of Sebastian and Kathryn. Sullivan also designs the costumes, which help place the characters and their individual circumstances. Nick Richings’ lighting design is also resonant of the 1990s, with plenty of neon. The whole is soundtracked by 1990s classics accompanied by a small electric house band. Choreographer Gary Lloyd has provided energetic choreography with a period feel to it. In many ways, this is a feast for the eyes.
However, it’s not without its faults. There’s a huge number of songs included: if you’ve come to enjoy a bit of 90s nostalgia, this will be music to your ears, but, as is not unusual in a jukebox musical, they don’t always fit the situation or carry the story forward. When given the opportunity, the cast members can deliver a song with impact – an example is Kathryn’s rendition of Torn – but unfortunately, too many songs are sung with harsh, bluesy overtones that do not always fit the mood. One consequence of the number of songs included is that the characters other than Sebastian and Kathryn are really very two-dimensional. Director Jonathan O’Boyle has gone down the route of caricature and stereotyping as a shortcut: as Cecile, Lucy Carter has fine comic timing and physicality, but O’Boyle strips the character of any nuance, filling her performance with pantomimic mugging. Similarly, opportunities are lost to inject more depth into the clandestine romance between Blaine (Luke Conner Hall) and Greg (Joe Simmons).
Nic Myers’ Kathryn is gleefully over the top, but the character is so obnoxious we really can’t find it in ourselves to care about the unravelling of the tangled web she weaves; Will Callan (Sebastian) has a resonant voice and does allow his character to develop a hint of self-awareness.
After the interval, as all the birds come home to roost, the mood becomes more introspective, making it more effective than the frenzy of the first act.
While fans of the music of the era will find much to enjoy and be able to overlook the dramatic shortcomings, it’s hard to feel any empathy for the characters as they face the consequences of their actions, ultimately leaving one unsatisfied.
Runs until 7 June 2025 and on tour
