1985 saw some musicals open on London's West End:
LES MISERABLES divided the critics. One review stated, "Frankly, LES MIZ is a disappointment...the music is neither strong nor varied enough
to sustain three hours...classic novel reduced to a comic strip...stands in relation to the original as a singing telegram to an epic." But some critics found the show an enthralling spectacle filled with good tunes. Sheridan Morley raved, "Not since Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD has there been a score which soared out from the pit with such blazing theatricality. LES MISERABLES is everything the musical theatre ought to be doing...a brilliantly guided tour of Victor Hugo's novel and indeed there is no way that in three orchestral hours we can ask for more than that."
Michael Coveney called Colm Wilkinson's lyrical high tenor version of the Verdian "Bring Him Home" one of the year's highlights. Wilkinson as
Jean Valjean and Frances Ruffelle as Eponine would repeat their roles on Broadway in 1987. Patti Lupone won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical as the original Fantine as well as her performance in a revival of THE CRADLE WILL ROCK at the Old Vic. LES MIZ was nicknamed the Glums and has been an undeniable hit with audiences and been running in London ever since its debut in 1985.
FIGARO
was a new adaptation of Mozart's opera which updated the story to the 1960's and put the libretto into colloquial English. There was sharp division over the rightness of giving Mozart this cut-down, brushed-up treatment and the small-scale musical only ran three months. "If you are going to play around with Mozart, it helps to be Peter Shaffer," warned one reviewer.
GIGI was one the year's disappointments. The Lerner and Lowe musical was first a 1958 Academy Award-winning movie and turned into an unsuccessful Broadway musical in 1973. The West End production starred Jean-Pierre Aumont, Beryl Reid and Sian Phillips as the aristocratic Aunt and was criticized for John Dexter's slow and unimaginative staging. One critic said, "great film though it may be, GIGI just doesn't cut the mustard
onstage...what it desperately misses is atmosphere and style." Without style, GIGI was lost because it has little plot.
Most of the cast seemed decidedly uncomfortable which wasn't surprising considering none of them could sing. Apparently it wasn't the night
they invented champagne and the revised and scaled-down GIGI ran at the intimate Lyric Theatre from September 1985 to April 1986.
KERN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD
was a revue of Jerome Kern's film songs starring the 81-year-old Elisabeth Welsh and Liz Robertson. It came to Broadway a year later.
1985 also had some revivals of musicals such as the joyous return of the 1937 musical ME AND MY GIRL which won the Olivier Award for Best Musical of the Year. (The only other nominee was LES MISERABLES.) Robert Lindsay won the Olivier as Best Actor in a Musical and was hailed as the new Michael Crawford. The critics felt that ME AND MY GIRL seemed guaranteed to set Lindsay firmly on the road to stardom. One critic enthused, "He gives as ingenious a performance as I've witnessed in a musical. He dazzles and charms and avoids sentimentality." Lindsay's co-star was 25-year-old Emma Thompson. The Lambeth Walk musical was called the happiest show in town and it ran from February 1985 to January 1993.
GUYS & DOLLS
arrived at the Prince of Wales Theatre after a long tour and apparently bore little relation to the landmark 1982 National Theatre revival. Critics were unhappy with the "terrible touring tackiness to it."
THE CRADLE WILL ROCK
was revived at the Old Vic with John Houseman as the director. Critics found the show dated and felt that the musical's history was more thrilling than the show itself.
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