Wednesday, June 4, 2014

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO at the WEBSTERS THEATRE

Glasgows newest theatre welcomed a musical adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas tale of Betrayal , Honour and Revenge set to a heavy rock soundtrack.
Ive only been to one musical since i went to four Broadway ones , especially Jekyll and Hyde which skipped the dialogue to go straight into songs ,  and a light Opera in a three day spell ,ultimately suffering a severe bout of Too-Many-Musicals-Fatigue-Syndrome from which i still suffer an aversion to this day.
It has been so long i had forgotten the etiquette of applauding after each song , a somewhat disjointed and incongruous practice as if we should clap Hamlet whenever he successfully delivers a soliloquy without mishaps.
The good thing about this was the quality of dialogue between songs.A very impressive performance for only ten days rehearsal time.
The lead actor tells the background of the play in this Evening Times article.

"Alex and Webster's Theatre boss Pete Sneddon initially developed The Count as a period piece.
"But after seeing Macbeth, I realised this re-setting into a dirty, grungy, gritty world really worked. It brought people down to the basics of humanity.
"And it gave me the idea; why not set the Count in this post apocalyptic world?"
Alex, 27, explains: "We've taken the story and the characters out of the world of the book. This new world is set after a major war and there are only little pockets of survivors.
"These characters, in that context, are all very selfish. Even though there has been a great catastrophe, they are still holding onto their own past."

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