Marguerite: Original London Cast Recording

YEAR: 2008
CAST: Ruthie Henshall, Julian Ovenden, Alexander Hanson, Simon Thomas, Annalene Beechey, Matt Cross, Andrew C. Wadsworth, Gay Soper, Keiron Crook

I was perhaps in the minority when I saw Marguerite at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket back in 2008 – in that I rather liked it. The musical – “the world premiere of a new musical” to be exact, as proclaimed by the front cover – had a lot of very pretty melodies. In earnest, that is about all it had. Noted very French jazz musician, Michel Legrand, wrote my all-time favourite movie musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (and the fun Broadway flop Amour), so perhaps it was no surprise I’d find the music appealing. Remarkably, the show also boasts orchestrations from Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyrics by Alain Boublil, the award-winning team behind Les Miserablés and Miss Saigon.

The CD remains a pleasant listen. The piece has a quirky jazzy operatic vibe (jazzy opera! jazzpera?) which certainly makes the score varied. There are some very pretty melodies and gorgeous harmonies; “Take Good Care of Yourself” is a lovely tune and the operatic grandeur of “Intoxication” and “I Am Here” gives the show a big-time feel.

Hailed as the start of a new legacy at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket for producing brand new musicals, Marguerite pretty much killed the policy in its infancy, closing two months early at a large financial loss. Whilst producers predictably blamed the economy for the show’s failure, there was a bigger problem at hand – the show itself. So what went wrong?

I know nothing about the show’s alleged troubled production, so I can’t use that as a reason for this review. I can comment on some of the dreadful lyrics*, universally unsympathetic characters and, damningly, the boring love-triangle at the heart of the plot.

Marguerite is based on Dumas’ La Dame aux Camélias, updated to Vichy France. “Come One, Come All” opens the show, a sort of Sweeney Todd/Jekyll & Hyde-ish invitation to the audience to, well, watch the show. In an otherwise serious musical play, with an intact fourth wall, I’m not really a fan of musical theatre’s habit of randomly speaking to the audience – but that’s a rant for another day.

The show does a reasonable job getting over the hypocritical, self-serving nature of the French elite, initially supporting the German war effort; “these are good times, it’s a good war”, before only changing their stance when defeat seemed certain; “always be ready to turn”. Our titular protagonist (Ruthie Henshall) while cozily shacked up with a German general Otto (Alexander Hanson), begins a passionate affair with native jazz musician Armand (Julian Ovenden). With Marguerite being part of said French elite, more troubled by her lovesickness for Armand than the horrific crimes being committed, likely by her own husband, I use the term protagonist lightly.

And this sums up the biggest problem with the show; there is nobody to root for. Marguerite isn’t very likeable. Otto is a Nazi officer and meant to be the villain, but as played by Alex Hanson, comes off somewhat affable – almost sympathetic. Ovenden’s Armand sings beautifully but is self-absorbed and a bit wet (think Marius in Les Mis). Another issue are the character’s ages. Marguerite is mentioned as being 40 and Armand 23. Alexander Hanson and therefore Otto is roughly the same age as Marguerite, making her an odd choice for a trophy wife. She should also know much better and perhaps be more morally adjusted; “youthful ignorance” is hardly an excuse for her collaboration in middle age. It also leads to some unintentional giggles as Ruthie, a lady herself in her 40’s as this point, sings about being ‘like a schoolgirl’. Mind you, I also snicker when Emile sings about being like a schoolboy in South Pacific, so I think that’s just me. Marguerite is implied to maintain her unhappy marriage in order to protect her ‘friends’ and, crucially, Armand from Nazi interference, so there is some justification for her behaviour.

Julian Ovenden is the standout performer by far, purely for his beautiful operatic vocals, in what is a very tough role to sing. I also seem to recall him playing a piano on-stage, but I may have dreamt this. He comes off like a real toff though, making him just another poshy and hard to relate to alongside all the upper-class collaborators singing about their hatred of jews.

The only characters I care for are Lucien (Simon Thomas) and Annette (Annalene Beechey), a young Jewish couple, trying to flee from persecution to Britain. But their roles were stronger on stage with dialogued scenes, as on the CD their interaction amounts to the song “Take Good Care of Yourself” – a very nice song it is too.

There are also songs for the sake of songs; early on, we have “Jazz Time” which is absolutely pointless. “China Doll” starts off as this, but becomes something of a leitmotif for Marguerite’s character. The most unforgivable filler number is “Paris”, sung by a character called the Chanteuse (Gay Soper), who doesn’t from memory appear until the middle of Act 2, sings her song, then disappears again. The song itself is reminiscent of “Diamonds are Forever”. And pointless. So pointless.

It’s easy to see why Marguerite failed, but I still find it a good listen. The music is generally great and Ovenden in particular is lovely to listen to. I am unfamiliar with the Czech Republic production or the London revival, so I can’t comment on those, but I would see this again hoping for big changes to the book and lyrics.

*Although I do praise the producer of the CD for a fine inner booklet containing the full show libretto, cast list and, unusually, full credit for the orchestra of fourteen. Having the libretto actually in front of me though, does somewhat expose some of the weak rhyming.