It’s amazing to think that Barnum has been around for more than thirty years. It’s amazing to think that shows like Evita and Les Mis have been going just as long. The most amazing thing is that Barnum, and the others, show no sign of age. We seem to have reached a sort of plateau; producers and writers have found a fully functioning formula which ain’t broken and don’t need fixing. Thirty years back from when Barnum opened you would arrive in 1950 and a completely different world of tuxedos, Cadillacs and cocktails in which Bing Crosby and Howard Keel would be the stars.
Nevertheless, Barnum is not from the same mould as most of the big shows of the past three decades. Firstly, it is not written by one of the big names in the genre – Cy Coleman is not a name that many would be familiar with and secondly, it is very much a vehicle for its star. The show virtually owes its existence to Jim Dale who created the role on Broadway and to Michael Crawford in London. The entire show rests on the shoulders of its leading man. We’ll come to that later.
The show is essentially the biography of a man who, in the middle of the nineteenth century and beyond, was the richest and most famous man in America. It takes us through the early days of his freak side-shows and culminates in the formation of the most famous, and biggest, circus in the world when Mr. Barnum joins forces with Mr. Bailey.
The current tour of Barnum, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Harrison with Chichester Festival Theatre, opened this week at the Bristol Hippodrome with Brian Conley as the eponymous showman. As you would expect, and want, this is a big, bold and brassy show with all the stops pulled out. The ensemble work is really excellent with the boys and girls not only providing all the singing and dancing but displaying lots clever circus skills as well. They look great and the costumes by Paul Wills were beautiful and really hit the mark. The set was fairly simple and multi-functional so it was Paule Constable’s spectacular lighting that really created the atmosphere.
For me, the stars of the show were the ladies. Linzi Hateley as Barnum’s wife was excellent as was Landi Oshinowo whose big voice and presence dominated the stage for her two spots. The most successful song of the evening, in a show that lacks a really big hit number, was Love Makes Such a Fool of Us All sung from a trapeze by Kimberley Blake as Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale.
Which brings us to Brian Conley. Firstly, I have to say that I have unlimited admiration for a man who, in his mid-fifties, can learn to walk a tight-rope, stilt-walk and fire-eat – with a bit of juggling and a few conjuring tricks thrown in for good measure. But for me Mr. Conley lacked the pizzazz that is the essential part of the character. Yes, he was personable enough but he wasn’t the showman par excellence that was Phineas P. Barnum. He was too familiar, too inclusive, with the audience rather than taking them for the suckers that Barnum believed the general public to be. Maybe it was just me because the audience loved him and showed it with a standing ovation at the final curtain. ★★★★☆ Michael Hasted
