DORIAN: The Musical – Southwark Playhouse, Borough

Music & Lyrics: Joe Evans 
Director: Linnie Reedman

Reviewer: Christine Stanton

“Convoluted”

1.5 / 5

Oscar Wilde’s cautionary tale of Dorian Gray is a well-known classic, shrouded with brooding gothic horror, and has been adapted many times since its original release in 1891. This iteration is a musical set in the 21^st century – while still closely following the original storyline.   

Dubbed as a modern day queer fairy-tale – Dorian (Alfie Friedman) is supposed to be the next big thing – an orphaned rockstar who has the world at his feet after signing with a prestigious record label but decides to sell his soul in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. In doing so, he cements both his success and his future with the fateful photograph that solidifies his fall from grace.  

While bringing the storyline into a more modern sphere is a great creative choice, the execution is poor – never quite committing fully to a 21^st century version and over-complicating various scenes with half-baked concepts and conflicting aesthetics. Isabella Van Braeckel’s costumes straddle the line between Victorian and 80s glam rock, and although they are beautiful and eye-catching, don’t help to set the scene of a modern day protagonist. Equally, the script makes brief throwaway comments to social media, yet not much else aside from this, and still uses outdated archaic language patterns, which again convolutes the time period and adds an unnecessary layer of confusion.  

The cast have strong voices, which are enjoyable to hear within the glam-rock score, though much of the music is far too similar and lacks an engaging number to elevate the writing or capture important moments within any of the scenes. Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson (Victoria Wotton) and George Renshaw (Harry Wotton) in particular, have stand-out vocals, while oozing the snootiness that is required for their characters.  

Considering the show is 145mins long, it feels like only a light brush from the original text, and even though much of the subtext is bought to the forefront it still lacks the required substance and edge that is needed to make this show compelling.  

Runs Until 10^th August 2024