A Face in the Crowd Reviews Round-up – The Young Vic

"A scathing morality tale for our strident Trumpian era"

"Kwame Kwei-Armah’s farewell production is a crowd-pleasingly indulgent choice full of effervescent, foot-tapping numbers and rousing ballads"

"Given his liberal politics, his penchant for songs and our proximity to the US presidential election in November, it is perhaps unsurprising that Kwame Kwei-Armah’s choice of farewell production to mark the end of his seven-year tenure as Artistic Director of the Young Vic should be a timely musical about the manifold dangers of demagoguery and the flagrant abuse of power in the media age."

"Anoushka Lucas is mesmerising as small-town American radio producer Marcia Jeffries"

"West End and Broadway stalwart Ramin Karimloo, exuding a rugged, hobo masculinity, excels as Lonesome Rhodes

"Directed with brio and crowd-pleasing indulgence by Kwei-Armah, his valedictory production is full of effervescent, foot-tapping numbers and rousing ballads, anchored by the impressive vocal ranges of the main actors and well served by Anna Fleischle’s expansive, skilfully rendered set design."

"A brash and gaudy musical for the Trump age"

"Kwame Kewi-Armah’s final production as the venue’s artistic director – a musical adapted from a 1957 movie with songs by Elvis Costello – feels like a superior high school staging"

"Costello’s country-inflected score has some fine and some indifferent numbers and is beset by effortful rhymes and scansion. There are full-throated lead performances from Ramin Karimloo as Rhodes and Anoushka Lucas as his producer Marcia Jeffries, enthralled then appalled by her creation. Overall, Kwame Kwei-Armah’s production feels like a superior high school staging: energetic and gaudy, sketchy in its scene changes and choreography, and convinced that banal political observations carry great weight."

"Part of the problem is the character of Rhodes himself: it’s hard to take his aw-shucks, good-ole-boy broadcast schtick seriously, even as a period piece; harder still to think it could propel him to demagoguery. Karimloo has extraordinary vocal range but his performance has a calculating, demonic edge from the start. The charm is missing."

"For the soaring finale, American Mirror, the full cast amble on, hands-in-pockets, as if for the credit-sequence of a star-studded Christmas TV special. The lyrics carry a prissy, finger-wagging message that the Americans – and we – should take a good, hard look at ourselves. Lucas manages to sell it."

"Despite great lead performances, Elvis Costello’s musical adaption of the cult 1957 film never quite hits the mark as satire"

"I wouldn’t say it doesn’t work; but I would say that it doesn’t quite live up to its considerable potential. That’s not the fault of its two excellent leads, Ramin Karimloo and Anoushka Lucas. He’s a heavyweight commercial musical theatre star, who as far as I’m aware has never set foot on the stage of a subsidised theatre before this. His wallet no doubt thanks him for that, but it’s a shame because he’s excellent as Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes"

"Star of the Young Vic’s recent ‘Oklahoma!’, Lucas initially feels stuck in the straight woman role as Marcia... It’s a part Lucas really grows into as the show wears on, and is an appreciably more complex part than the film Marcia, who is simply straightforwardly besotted with her subject."

"The pace isn’t necessarily helped by Costello’s songs, which are deft evocations of the popular music of the day, but don’t tend to drive the narrative and their number tends to add to the cumbersome feel of the first half. Kwei-Armah has a slick, light touch that does help it all go down smooth, but he can’t really style out the slow start and lurch in tone after the interval."

"It is, nonetheless, a compelling story with great lead performances"

"Elvis Costello’s satirical musical isn’t extreme enough to skewer Trump"

"Costello and playwright Sarah Ruhl adapt the 1957 film about the rise of a populist demagogue in this new, uneven Young Vic production"

"Here, as adapted by Ruhl, the story is a bit schmaltzy, the politics quite hand-holdy, as if the production doesn’t quite trust us to make the Trumpian connections ourselves. With its cheery 1950s palette and poster-paint backdrop, Kwame Kwei-Armah’s production never quite breaks out of its one-dimensionality."

"The moments when Costello’s songs kick in are a delight, romping through the great American songbook in all its colours, from folk, soul, country and western – rattling snares, twanging bass – through to gospel, barbershop, military march, and more than a dash of Rodgers and Hammerstein in the anthemic title number. It’s a really smart score, full of witty lyrics and changing textures."

"If a satire is less extreme than its target, you do sort of wonder, what’s the point?"

"A Face in the Crowd is a cautionary tale of our era, but ultimately fails to deliver"

"Like much at the Young Vic of late, this fails to hit the heights you may expect despite its rousing showing"

"A Face in the Crowd, with an attractive array of songs by Elvis Costello, is unlikely to grab headlines, but it is an intriguing curio of a show, a useful example of the sort of piece that the subsidised sector nurtures so effectively, thereby enriching the entire theatrical ecosystem."

"Lucas made a name for herself in the recent Young Vic production of Oklahoma, which subsequently transferred to the West End, and this is another fascinatingly watchful performance."

"Kwame Kwei-Armah directs this show, his final production during his underwhelming tenure as artistic director of the Young Vic. Like so much of the work that has been on at this venue over recent years, it frustratingly doesn’t quite manage to coalesce into a satisfying whole, despite promising components."

"Cautionary tale of the creation of a Trump-lite TV star"

"This musical has the seeds of a brilliant show for our times with Ramin Karimloo on fine form, but its complex themes are sucked away by sledge-hammer messaging"

"Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, this musical has the seeds of a brilliant show for our times which never quite flowers, and ironically appears old-fashioned despite the contemporary resonance. Much of this is down to Sarah Ruhl’s simplistic book, which trades on one-dimensional characters and thudding lines."

"A twanging country score by Elvis Costello brings some vim, but lyrics do little to explore the production’s ideas."

"Lucas gives a fine performance within the narrow limits of the role nonetheless, alongside Karimloo. The show is efficiently put together as a whole but the telegenic charisma that Lonesome has in spades does not kick in on stage."

"Elvis Costello’s musical let down by underpowered staging"

"His songs are tuneful enough, but this Young Vic adaptation of the 1950s film is hamstrung by an incoherent book and bargain-basement production values"

"... Budd Schulberg’s script contained a distracting number of plot holes, and, oddly enough, the playwright Sarah Ruhl, who provides the book for A Face in the Crowd, has managed to make them even larger. Which is a shame, because most of Elvis Costello’s songs evince a genuine affinity with good ol’ boy country and blues roots. Ramin Karimloo, meanwhile, possesses oodles of charisma as Lonesome Rhodes"

"Unfortunately, Kwame Kwei-Armah’s farewell as a director at the Young Vic stumbles from one underpowered scene to another. The piece is also saddled with bargain-basement production values: the small band at the side of the stage turn on the honky-tank charm, but the venture looks like an Edinburgh Fringe production."

"This musical has some interesting ideas at heart, but in its execution it’s about as fluent as Joe Biden on one of his off days."

"Star-spangled mess"

"Garbled musical satire with songs by Elvis Costello fails to hit home"

"On the surface, this new musical, with songs by Elvis Costello and a book by American playwright Sarah Ruhl, promises to offer pretty much that. Frustratingly, though, it turns to be oddball at best, and at worst bewilderingly aimless."

"Despite the sterling efforts of Lucas, who isn’t given nearly enough stage time, and Karimloo, who does his best with an unappealing, underwritten lout, nothing about this feels remotely urgent, interesting or, despite the remorseless rise of populism, particularly credible."

"Sadly, Costello’s music does nothing to improve matters. A mishmash of gung-ho marching tunes, country, jazz, 1950s crooning and Andrews Sisters-style jingles, the score lacks standout numbers and never carries any dramatic weight."

"With Ruhl and Costello as its creators – both of them extensively proven, incisive and highly intelligent talents – it’s a puzzle as to what has gone wrong here. But this is a show that, despite the low-hanging current-affairs fruit at its disposal, fails to make any sort of statement."

"An Elvis Costello-scored musical has too few high notes"

"Elvis Costello has written music and lyrics – jazzy, croony, with trumpet and sax as well as a welcome country twang, not heard often enough on stage."

"It founders. The charm of Costello’s score fades without providing a knockout number or driving on the action. Karimloo and Lucas are pallid versions of their best selves. The choreography is cramped. The Donald Trump parallels are remorselessly pounded home, with an excruciating episode of audience participation: flags are dispensed as you take your seat."

"There are glimmers of a stronger, more sidelong show."