Book: Stephanie Martin
Music and Lyrics: Calista Kazuko Georget
Directors: Rafaella Marcus and Karoline Gable
It’s inevitable that any new musical about the licentious atmosphere in Berlin between the wars will be compared, and usually unfavourably, to Cabaret. The 1966 musical, which is still going strong in the West End, is based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood who focussed the action around a single guesthouse, but Fury and Elysium has a broader vision looking at influential women of the era. However, this ambitious attempt to tell numerous stories results in a patchy evening.
The opening song introduces us to the various women who all have their own songs later on in the show. There is a pioneering Dadaist artist, the outspoken Rosa Luxemburg who fought for Socialism and Jewish journalist Gabrielle Terget. They are joined by infamous drag king Claire Waldoff and nude dancer Anita Berber. But in the few moments each character has in the spotlight we learn little about them.
Luxemburg had a packed life before her execution in 1919 but here in the five minutes allocated to her story politics are pushed aside for a same-sex relationship. Fortunately, Michal Horowicz captures Luxemburg’s busy optimism and sings her song well. Understudy Charlotte Clitherow, called in at the last moment, plays Berber while Ashley Goh, last seen at The Other Palace Studio in the musical Dorian is drag king Waldoff. The songs are pleasing but the dialogue, especially between Berber and their lover, is full of clichés.
Often the comedy fails to land as in the overlong skit between three generations of women when writer Terget announces that she will work for a living, With the Northern accents, this section resembles a scene from a 1970s episode of Coronation Street. It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the show.
The structure and the script still need quite a bit of work, but most of the songs are ready to go like Salon Kitty, sung by Danielle Steers as the efficient madam of a brothel. Most songs have the gentle oompah sound of the Weimar Republic, but Maya Kristal Tenebaum’s penultimate song, Across The Seas, could surely be reworked as the final ensemble number, so haunting is its chorus. But overall, the cast sings well and is ably supported by a three-strong band.
However, in an auditorium where the seating is not raked it would be considerate to the audience to not have so many scenes where the actors are not lying on the floor, visible only to the front row. It’s surprising this was overlooked in rehearsals. But any future iterations of the musical will definitely require a bigger stage.
Most urgently the show needs a greater focus and perhaps should tell the story of only one of these women, all of whom had colourful lives. As it is, Fury and Elysium seems a little random. But for sure, today is the right time to talk about these lives, especially in Britain where liberal identity politics are under attack by the Government.
Runs until 18 June 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Needs a focus
