Whistle Down The Wind

Synopsis

In a twist of fate the bright-eyed and youthful Swallow discovers a mysterious man hiding in her family’s barn. When she asks for his identity the first words he utters are ‘Jesus Christ’...and it’s as though her prayers have been answered. While the rest of the townspeople are searching for a fugitive escaped from jail, Swallow gathers the town’s children who make a pact to protect their new found saviour from the cruelties of the outside world.

Our Review:

28 March 2006

You have to hand it to Andrew Lloyd Webber: few contemporary theatre composers write with such an expansive or eclectic musical voice. After the operatic-like intensity of The Woman in White, the return of Whistle Down the Wind to the West End (as a temporary filler at the Palace Theatre before the autumn arrival of Monty Python's Spamalot from Broadway) finds him writing in his most explicitly pop rock idiom since Jesus Christ Superstar.

While form does indeed match content here for a tale - based on the Mary Hayley Bell story originally set in Sussex, subsequently changed to Lancashire for the 1961 film version, and here relocated to one of kids growing up in an American South of the 1950s that was itself waking up to the sounds of rock 'n' roll - too much of it, however, is phoney and hokey.

Characters may screech of "tyre tracks and broken hearts", but the main sound that’s heard is of tire...

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Latest User Review

84.130.199.215) - 12 August 2006:

I saw Whistle down the wind twice on oktober 9 mat. and on oktober 10... it's a fantastic show with a great score. I enjoyed it so much and I really cannot unterstand why this show is only a "filler" between woman in white and spamalot. I could watch this show again and again. It's a very good cast especially Tim Rogers as "the man". With his voice he would be a great Jean Valjean in Les Mis or a "real" Jesus Christ in JCS. Claire Marlowe does a great job as swallow and the kids are veeeeeeeery good. Luckily I got the see all of them. Christopher and Henrietta on Wednesday on the 9th and Laurence and Emma on the 10th (Christopher you were in the audience, right?). They played their role so cute and very professional, hope I get to see them again sometime somewhere. The show on august 1 was officially filmed, right? Will there be a DVD of the show? Maybe someone knows? Please email me... ellbilly@gmail.com...

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