Beautiful and Damned

Synopsis

This evocative and glittering musical, set in the 1920's, follows the story of an outrageously glamorous and fashionable couple - The Scott Fitzgeralds. He's a successful young author and she's the stylish young wife who, together, become the envy of all with their high spending and high-flying lifestyle. They created their own world of enchantment. Scott christened the period The Jazz Age, and Zelda lived it. Yet the darker tale that lay behind the dazzling facade just begged to be told. British singer/songwriter Roger Cook (I d Like To Teach The World To Sing/Talking In Your Sleep) felt this was definitely the case and linking up with an old friend and fellow songwriter, Les Reed (It's Not Unusual/Delilah), along with bookwriter Kit Hesketh Harvey (The Vicar Of Dibley) they set about creating a musical out of the fabled couple who epitomised the triumph and the tragedy of the decade.

Our Review:

11 May 2004

It's difficult to resist calling Beautiful and Damned more damned than beautiful, but then this is a musical that never meets a cliché it doesn't like and rushes headlong to embrace, so I'm in good company. And as much as I would like to be able to welcome a new, British-originated musical on Shaftesbury Avenue that features an original score instead of recycling a pop jukebox, it's stretching it a bit to call the soupy, pastiche songs of Les Reed and Roger Cook original.

It's odd that a musical largely set in the 'Jazz Age' of the 20s that its leading characters didn't just epitomize but also christened as such should boast a score that sounds like it's come from the muzak age. Reed and Cook are variously responsible for such easy-listening standards as “It's Not Unusual”, “There's a Kind of Hush”, “Delilah” and “I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing”, so they might be able to tease out the occasional insinuating melody, but none of their wor...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (62.6.181.61) - 9 August 2004:

Seen this show twice and whilst it was always going to be 'damned' it emerges with far more credibity than expected and makes for a far more enjoyable evening than the critics would lead you to believe possible! and a very strong ensemble and commitment from the cast - and no I'm in may connected to this show, I just went along prepared to entertained and surprised!...

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