Sunday 18th June 2023
The Royal Academy of Music are doing a great job educating the next generation of Musical Theatre performers. And we are also grateful to them for giving us an education. The range of material they have tackled over the years is truly eclectic, ranging from classics to new and unusual work.
Jane Eyre the Musical may not spring to mind immediately, but it has quite a pedigree. With Music and lyrics by Paul Gordon and a book by John Caird of Les Miserables and Nicholas Nickleby fame, it premiered on Broadway in 2000, and won Maria Schaffel a Tony for best actress in a musical.
There is a lot to pack into one afternoon, and the book and staging are generally smooth and slick. The use of the cast to create some of the props was very effective, for example with Mr Rochester’s entrance on a horse re-created by having him carried aloft by some of the actors, and another scene where the portraits on the walls are created by the actors holding up empty frames. We particularly liked the way the wider themes were brought out in the structure of the piece, from the young child learning the power of forgiveness from her friend Helen Burns, to the older Jane having to face her embittered Aunt and learning why she was so hated and resented as a child. It is easy to forget that she has to be somewhat forgiving to Mr Rochester too, given the way his desperation drives him to manipulate her into confessing her feelings for him, only to then try to trick her into bigamously marrying him.
It would be impossible to include everything from the book, but the key scenes are well-chosen, with Jane’s feisty behaviour as a child (mirrored by her pupil Adele, whom Rochester describes as a ‘heart-breaker in the making”), Mrs Fairfax’s refreshingly comic turn giving the lonely house some life, and the banter between the Jane and Mr Rochester, both of whom find inner beauty in the other.
Although we wouldn’t say there are stand-out songs as such, the overall tone of the music fits the subject matter very well, and lends itself to the cross-cutting relationships of the story. As we have come to expect, the quality of the production and performers was very good, and the chance to see this work performed at relatively close quarters was a real treat.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the novel is the way Jane and Mr Rochester challenge each other. Isabella Stavrou and Alfie Richards capture this lightness of touch very well with their initial meetings, where she cannot bring herself to indulge in pointless flattery, and he teases her constantly from the outset. Stavrou brings a serious and sweet quality to Jane, and Richards brings out both the desperation and optimism of Rochester, with both on good vocal form.
Max Levy has an interesting double role as Mr Brocklehurst, the cruel and hypocritical vicar at Lowood, and St John Rivers, the unknown cousin who saves her life. With a beautiful voice, he brings warmth to character of St John which tempers his rather cold religious zealotry.
Mahlia Chellenbrom has an interesting double role as both Adele and the young Jane Eyre, bringing out the similarities between them. With a vivacious and charming stage persona, she lets us in to the less austere aspects of the heroine.
Tamara Tare shows off her considerable versatility with a comic turn as the housekeeper Mrs Fairfax and a poignant portrayal of the embittered Mrs Reed whose cruel treatment of Jane Eyre has come back to haunt her.
Leni Linnea is darkly comic as the mysterious servant Grace Poole, and Christine Kim has a beautiful voice very well suited to her role as Jane’s mentor and friend Helen Burns.
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