A Mirrored Monet musical at Charing Cross Theatre – review

A musical about Monet was not something I thought the theatre world was missing. Having watched Carmel Owen’s A Mirrored Monet, I remain unconvinced.

We first meet Monet in his later years, supposedly working on his Water Lilies, while in fact suffering from a creative block. He reminisces on his early 20s, when the work poured out of him, but nobody wanted to know about it.

Sure, there’s something a bit fun about seeing that Monet and Renoir were great friends, struggling in obscurity together, while their mentor Manet was only just about breaking through the snobbery of the stale art world. But besides some name-dropping and the usual creative struggles, there isn’t much to tell here.

There’s a tension between Monet and his wife Camille, who he drags hither and thither as his creative whims dictate, while she lives off a meagre artist’s wage, raising their son. But with apparently little to say about Camille’s actual character, we’re left with dissatisfying songs like “Do You Care” with the lyrics, “Do I care? I must stay here to paint. Do I care? She’s the one who doesn’t care.” Not exactly poetry. And Monet’s singular obsession with his painting is expressed in “My Paintings”, in which Monet sings about how his paintings are his best friends: “Dear paintings, loyal companions, you shine, you glimmer, you are all that’s fine.” It just falls flat.

On top of that, the lyrics and the music often seem to have nothing to do with each other, overstuffed with too many words. There are basically no choruses or catchy refrains, and all the songs – all 25 of them – end up melting into one another.

Casting director Jane Deitch has rustled up a cast far greater than the material itself. Owen’s score is heavily reliant on huge belting notes to let the audience know something emotional is occurring, and Deitch has at least ensured that everyone can hit the notes with gusto. Brooke Bazarian, playing Camille, is especially talented, trying with all her might to give a big Broadway musical performance. Unfortunately, you can’t paint a masterpiece with a dud paintbrush.

Steven Serlin, playing the Marquis, has a surprising bout of intensity during his big number, “I Was Important Then”, in which he mourns his former position of power. But again, it’s not enough to save the rest.

It’s disheartening to see Charing Cross Theatre put something on like this, because, as can be seen by the cast and live band, there’s an immense amount of talent in London, and there’s most certainly a brilliant script out there in need of a stage. This is sadly not it.