Writer and Director: Linnie Reedman
Music and Lyrics: Joe Evans
The Picture of Dorian Gray was Oscar Wilde’s only novel. Published in 1891, and used against him at his trial for sodomy, it is now regarded as a classic of Gothic literature. In the text, Dorian Gray makes a pact with the devil, exchanging eternal youth for his soul. That didn’t end well. Now, Dorian: The Musical has arrived at Southwark Playhouse after years of development and numerous iterations including Dorian: The Rock Musical, which went online in 2021 after being shut down by the pandemic. Created and directed by Lynnie Reedman and Joe Evans, co-founders of Ruby in the Dust, this dynamic duo has staged over a dozen West End Fringe Shows and West End Productions.
The decadence and dissolution of Wilde’s original text is transposed into the contemporary music scene and draws parallels with celebrity culture, stardom, and the trappings of success. A dark and moody set, with the requisite chaise longue and kilims, has cocaine on every counter and the sorts of over-the-top characters you might expect in this mythical world of sex, drugs and rock and roll. There’s the camp and braying agent, Victoria Wooten performed beyond parody by Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson. Her husband, Harry Wooten (George Renshaw) is the record company’s aristocratic producer and Dorian’s guiding –or misguiding – hand, supplier of Class A drugs and gregarious groomer of his talented protégé.
The central figure, Dorian, partial to a frockcoat and string of pearls is played by Alfie Friedman (Laughing Boy, C4’s Undeclared War) in his first lead role in a musical. The talented, beautiful, and narcissistic young singer wants fame and to retain his beauty. But selling one’s soul to the devil comes with all kinds of dark caveats and small print. When he transforms into a superstar, the Black Hearts are the name of Dorian’s fan base, and a black heart is what Dorian ends up with, causing chaos and carnage in his relationships and losing the ability to feel anything.
With an aesthetic nod to Todd Hayne’s Velvet Goldmine, the film/musical set in the Glam Rock era, Dorian: The Musical proudly promotes its transgender credentials in a kind of steampunk, glam rock, gothic fusion. Wilde who was imprisoned for his homosexuality, wrote Dorian beneath a cloak of darkness, it was the ‘love that dare not speak its name.’ He would have delighted in today’s orgy of pronouns and could only imagine the freedom (in the UK at least) around gender identity and sexual liberation. It’s a shame the cast couldn’t have been similarly more racially diverse.
Megan Hill multi roles as Sibyl and Fabian Vane. They have an incredible voice and real stage presence. Leeroy Boone as Baz Hallward (formerly of the Hamburg Ballet) plays the photographer who captures the eponymous portrait. He dances elegantly and dies – sorry for spoiler – but it is in the novel – with entertaining expression. For those who enjoy musicals, this production gives audiences an album full. 22 songs in total, 11 in each act of respectively 70 minutes and one hour, dominate this production with sometimes sticky transitions and action cut unnecessarily short because of the sheer number included.
Wildeans of all generations will enjoy the many references and quotations secreted in much of the dialogue and lyrics. Once upon a time, many performers, were closeted and any whiff of scandal could potentially end a career. Those days are gone, yet age remains a fearful spectre. Many performing arts industries including music, continue to trade on youth and the idea of a ‘sell-by date’ remains prevalent and amplified by social media.
In Dorian: The Musical, references to Tok-tok are cleverly juxtaposed with the loud ticking of a clock as time continues to pass for one and all. The vast number of songs in Dorian means characters are rendered rather thin and cut out. Ultimately, there’s more surface than depth here but Oscar Wilde who famously said “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearance” would almost certainly have approved.
Runs until 10 August 10 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Oscar Wilde does sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.
