The Far Pavilions

Synopsis

The Far Pavilions spans the 25 years between the Sepoy Uprisings of 1857 and the Second Afghan War, telling the story of forbidden love between a British Officer 'Ashton Pelham-Martyn' and an Indian Princess 'Anjuli'. This epic story evokes the romance of India, the intrigue of the Rajput Court and the over-confidence of an Empire at the height of its power.

Our Review:

15 April 2005

Just when shows like The Producers and Spamalot (on Broadway) have made it safe to go to musicals again simply to have a good time, along comes this lumbering great Asian white elephant of a musical that sets the genre back 20 years to the long shadows cast by Les Miserables.

There’s nothing new in that, of course. Les Mis has spawned any number of imitators on both sides of the Atlantic - from Jane Eyre and Jekyll and Hyde on Broadway to Tess over here - that earnestly fillet epic romantic novels, full of incident and character, and condenses them into big through-sung theatrical spectacles.

But then there’s nothing new in The Far Pavilions to justify the extravagantly staged effort or expense either, notwithstanding the passing orchestral and choreographic nod to its exotic north Indian setting that inevitably recalls another recent West End show, Bombay Dreams...