Lazarus The Musical

Lazarus The Musical

It was with trepidation we entered the vast tin can like structure erected specially for this musical event in Kings Cross. A quick listen to the songs on the internet had put us –the Bowie / Iggy hard core fans -into a panic. We happened upon one of the two schmaltzy renditions of a Bowie past glory.

“OMG – they are going to give it the full-on jazz hands, singing and dancing Lloyd Webber treatment, aren’t they?” says Bowie fan #1.

“They better not or I will stand up and start breaking things “ I replied.

It isn’t like that , thank God. The story is hard work; Newton, The Man Who Fell to Earth, built a rocket with the billions he made from his 7 major patents, in order to return to his wife and daughter in a far off planet with no water. But Man stopped him, and now he is stuck in a New York apartment, drinking and hallucinating a girl who delivers all the schmaltz there is. But there are other characters, one is called Valentine, and another is a helper who becomes besotted. Played by Amy Lennox, she is terrific, as is Michael Hall of Six Feet Under fame in the main role.

The songs are pretty good, some are even an improvement !! Its No Game came early and was wonderfully twisted, Absolute Beginners was better than the original, Changes was invigorated by a loss of temper half way through, delivered by Lennox’ character, hurling the contents of the fridge at Newton in a fury. All The Young dudes just comes out of nowhere, as do This is Not America and Always Crashing in the Same Car – this was a highlight for me. The new songs all stand up fine, fitting in seamlessly with the 70s oeuvre. Where are They Now is a song I am beginning to think is an ironic look back to Berlin, does he really care? Bowie is proud of his legacy, but it is so unlike him to look over his shoulder at the past. Iggy already did it when they were in Berlin ; Dum Dum Boys does the same thing, just 30 years earlier.Lazarus the song is similar with the line about getting to New York and living like a King. Hmm.

The performance received a standing ovation so I guess most of the audience went with it. The large screen standing stage centre could have been used better. I know they were acting their socks off, but we couldn’t see enough to tell, being so far back. When the screen did relay the on stage action, it frequently seemed to buffer, so the visual was a second behind the sound. Occasionally it was well done, the shot from above at the end, when a rocket has been drawn on the floor in tape is a nice effect. But the shots of earth from space were too little as were the story telling sequences.

Bowie was involved pretty much all the way in the production so this is what he wanted. Its pretty good, I don’t know what many of the peripheral characters were doing there, but so what? Its great to have this treat to go and see on a grey Sunday afternoon.