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why did critics hate TRAINSPOTTING the musical? | review roundup for the West End musical
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Now sometimes the reviews are good, sometimes the reviews are bad, but it has been some time since I have seen a bloodbath like this. The West End A few days ago Trains Spotting the Musical opened at Theatre Royal Haymarket in the West End ahead of UK tour dates and the critical response, with some exceptions, has been, pardon the pun, something of a train wreck with negative verdicts the likes of which we perhaps haven't seen in London since the iconic flop that was opening night. And alongside sharing with you my own thoughts about the show, I am going to check in with many of these reviews and try and answer the question why did the critics hate Trainspotting the Musical? Oh my God. Hey welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to those of you listening to this review roundup on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am also deeply obsessed with robust and great theatre criticism. As a full time theatre critic here on social media, and ahead of utterly wading into the critical consensus on Trainspotting the Musical, I do want to flag what we've seen this week, which is a great many negative, skewing reviews being published about the show and then from from audience members, from members of the creative team, an abundance of instant pushback describing the human beings who reviewed this show for their job as elitist nonces, ignorant, all sorts of dreadful things, all the while extolling the value of being kind and being mindful about how you use your words when describing someone else's work. Apparently that only applies when you're talking about actors on stage, not even creatives or the crew or anybody else. It's really only ever actors that they talk about, pouring their heart and soul into these performances because we only apply humanity to people that we can see, you understand? Evidently doesn't apply to the critics. Well, in defense of those critics and in utter solidarity, I'm going to present those reviews for you today and we can decide amongst ourselves if you think they are being unduly harsh or if there does seem to be some kind of an emerging consensus because they weren't all one and two star reviews. There are a few more positive ones that we should also take a look at, as well as my own thoughts about Trainspotting, which I will share with you momentarily. But just before I do, I would also like to remind you to share yours in the comments section down below. That is the beautiful thing about Theodore and any kind of art and its inherent subjectivity. We are all allowed to have a different opinion. In the meantime, if you enjoy listening to mine and would like to hear more of it, I really never stop talking about theatre. You can subscribe here on YouTube or follow me on podcast platforms. You can even sign up for my free weekly substack email newsletter. I know. Lucky you. I bring yet more opinions to your inbox on a weekly basis. In the meantime though, here is what I and the rest of London's theatre critics thought of Trainspotting the Musical. Now, you may be wondering why I haven't already published my own entire review of this, and I saw it the night after press night, by which point the writing was somewhat on the wall. And it did feel the littlest bit like that meme in the Simpsons where the one kid in the classroom is saying stop, Stop. He's already dead. So in lieu of needlessly twisting the knife, or should I say the needle, I decided instead to do a little bit of a roundup of all of the reviews that everyone's been talking about. But I will share my own thoughts with you first, out of fairness to the other critical voices that I'm going to represent here. And I think with Trainspotting, it's important to acknowledge that this is being reviewed in in the context of existing within the shadow of the hugely celebrated sort of generationally iconic film directed by Danny Boyle, which also adapted the book by Irvine Welch and was inspired by the play adaptation written by Harry Gibson. So Trainspotting has existed on stage and for some time. There was recently also an immersive fringe production called Trainspotting Live that put you amongst the chaotic action of these characters. But when you watch the film, you realize what a good job it does with structure, because the musical act one of the musical Specific specifically is so utterly directionless, it is really only evoking a vibe. We eventually attained some sense of shape in the stronger second act, but in the first it has been a long time since I have seen anything quite so dramatically incoherent. We waste precious moments of exposition with unnecessary side plot and minor characters. There's little to no sense of intention or tone. That's before we begin to talk about the show's relationship to its score, which is a hybrid of original songs, the Less said about which the better, and songs from the film's soundtrack as well as other 1990s hits. Meaning, yes, they do Perfect Day. Inexplicably, they also do Mad World and Bittersweet Symphony, brought to the stage with little to no creativity and, you know, very little by way of arrangement, reminding me in the wrong ways of the musical adaptation of Cruel Intentions. This would perhaps more appropriately be titled Trainspotting the 90s Musical, or based on their presentation of these songs, trainspotting the 90s pantomime. I think the musical also fails its characters in part because the most impactful emotional moments from the film are utterly undercut on stage. It mistakes the edgy, dangerous, bleak comedy of the film for silliness and doesn't capture any of the raw intensity and fascination of this glimpse into an aspect of the human experience. Simply put, and harsh as this may sound, and in spite of the effortful performances from the talented company and an initially striking set design which at transpires does very little train spotting, the musical offers little to enjoy and does very little well for the star rating to go with my thoughts. Stay tuned until the end of this review roundup. For now, let's find out what everyone else thought. And we're going to begin with the most unforgiving, the lowest star ratings, beginning with this one star review in the Guardian from Arifa Akbar Trainspotting the musical Forgettable songs make this a bad trip. Arifa begins by describing the introductory moments of the show. Choose Life. Those iconic words from that era defining film are said more than once in this musical take on Irvine Welsh's novel about Renton and his renegade gang of smack heads from Leith. I'll spoil it for you. We hear them three times and we hear them bookending the narrative in the same way they do on screen, but we also hear them in a needless pre show introductory message that ruins their own impact when we hear them spoken live moments later, inexplicably. Side note, if I use the word inexplicably multiple times in this conversation, you're going to have to forgive me. Sadly, the drug addled escapades and the legal highs here look about as dangerous as a double dose of Gavison written by Irvine Welch, which is an interesting note. Adapting his own work and directed by Caroline J. Raynor, the story appears chopped up so that one scene is disconnected to the next. There are some touching moments which are described in more detail. I'll curtail the spoilers for you for now, but these are not nearly as devastating as they should be and are briskly enacted. Arifa also makes a good point here about the wider arrival of the show and its advertising. She notes that it declares the return of these characters 30 years on from Danny Boyle's film. But that's not quite true, because this train has been chugging on ever since the publication of Welsh's novel in 1993, which has spawned a prequel, three sequels, a stage play and a second film. It could be Trainspotting Ink, never ending in its mutant life forms, she continues. The leads are mutants of sort here, visibly styled on the film, actors albeit cardboard flat Renton with shaved head and jeans, but without the dark charisma of McGregor. It is hardly Kidd's fault characterization doesn't allow nuance or individuality in its music and songs. The COVID numbers bring the few high points. There is Iggy Pop's lust for life so synonymous with the film that you can still picture McGregor's sprint along the streets of Edinburgh and renditions of Lou Reed's Perfect Day. But much like the musical itself, they do nothing more than imitate a far better original already out there. Yeah, there are a few moments where they really leaned into their theatrical capabilities and achieved Something utterly new that was exciting and impressive and that felt at home in this story. There was a moment of trio vocal, some of the female characters in the second act that I enjoyed, but I don't know that it made any sense that we were arriving into that moment or from what it had emerged or the value that it provided to the narrative. Meanwhile, those chase scenes that Arifa describes can't possibly aspire to the original version, but they do feel simply regurgitated onto the stage. Alongside the covers are songs written by Stephen McGuinness and Welsh, which are forgettable at best, or best forgotten in the case of one with a country and western twang and another which sounds alarmingly like a riff on the Proclaimers. I can't even begin to describe this country western number two, you. But for whatever reason, inexplicably, some might say we hear it twice. And the second instance is in the very opening moments of the second act, almost like a deliberate punishment for those audience members who have decided, in spite of themselves to remain during the interval. Which, let me tell you, isn't everybody. Next, let's go to Alan Hood in what's on Stage, also with a one star rating and brilliantly titled Trainspotting the Musical review signal failure. The lesson here, being in a world of substance abuse based puns, take the locomotive option, Alan pulls no punches here, beginning cringe and boredom in one misconceived package that's only shocking in all the wrong ways. Welcome to Trainspotting the Musical, which looks about us at home in the gilt and plush surroundings of its current Theatre Royal Haymarket home as a vegan in a steakhouse. And there's room for this to be ironic, to feel this edgy, explosive, countercultural, anarchic thing on stage in spite of the grandeur of the West End where it sits. But none of that comes across, unfortunately. It doesn't feel nearly exciting enough to really play into that inherent tension. And almost immediately Alan, I think, nails the key problem at the core of this. And recently I had a conversation on here about stage adaptations of films and misconceived, I think, is the thing that almost before the show had begun performances, people were quick to label it. Why do we have a Trainspotting musical? That seems like a terrible idea. And there have been surprisingly good musicals created out of shocking ideas in the past. I'm thinking about teeth, I'm thinking about Groundhog Day in many ways, but this does not seem to be one of them. We'll carry on if Irvine Welsh's seminal 1990s phantasmagoria. Any opportunity of addiction, degradation and despair has to be set to music. Maybe the operatic genre would best suit that wild non linear tapestry of obscene poetry, adrenaline and misery. That's a fascinating idea and something that I think could evoke that same sort of tension that I was describing before in terms of what you see in the sound that you're hearing. I'd be fascinated by that. Certainly more interested than a hybrid part jukebox, part troublingly original score. What it doesn't need to be is an incoherent musical same Alan, same on the same page that achieves the dubious distinction of being simultaneously distasteful and deeply tedious. I don't disagree. Caroline J Ranger's version places chunks of vivid original text alongside songs by Welsh and Stephen McGuinness, aka dance music producer Stevie Mac. Anybody that evokes the 90s but are filtered through a sound design by Rory Madden that's apparently set to a low enough level that won't disturb the neighbours in another own goal. Oh, this is the production includes songs connected with the acclaimed 1996 Danny Boyle movie or the period of that setting that only serve to point up how inadequate the newly created songs are. This is the danger of writing new stuff alongside existing celebrated bangers is it's really going to show up your own work, at least in a wholly original score you might get away with it a little more because that's the level of songwriting that we've become accustomed to for the last couple of hours. Alan goes on to describe the unimaginatively staged Farrago Gosh, word of the day that Maroons are talented, talented acting company on an island of zero dramatic impact and ill conceived visuals where the most striking moment Lewis Kidd's drug adult Renton swimming joyously and free is borrowed from the film. There's lots of video used, none of it inspiring. The heroin induced line dancing Fever Dream number. We've discussed this already. I expect it'll come up again. Needs to be experienced to be believed. And Alan goes on to make another great point that I will absolutely co sign about this sort of implied understanding of the film. It sort of relies on you knowing it already. So poor is the level of storytelling going on, he writes. This is one of the visually darkest shows I've ever watched, with key moments unfolding in such gloom that only aficionados of the original will know what's happening. Some praise for veterans such as Rebecca McInnes, Kieran Brown and Melanie Marshall delivering professional, credible work, as well as Rosie Dignan scoring a genuinely impressive West End debut as a young woman whose personal tragedy morphs into narcotic induced deterioration. Yes, she was great, utterly committed to her material. Ranger's production and Welsh's writing have moments where they appear to send up the conventions of musical theatre. But the problem, one of many, is that you can't Trojan Horse, a genre where you have apparently no idea of why it works. Who is this for? Ultimately, it's the ineptitude rather than the tricky subject matter that sinks Trainspotting the musical and I'm sure this isn't the last time we will hear this turn of phrase, but the conclusion of the review is choose life. Nah. Choose to see something else. Next we move to the standard where Nick Curtis has delivered the same numerical verdict, writing Trainspotting the Musical Woefully missed There's that word again. The latest Trainspotting adaptation at the Theatre Royal Haymarket is a leaden musical that loses all the edgy, hedonistic thrills of the book and film. What's that dull, sickening thud? He asks. Oh, it's the sound of a dead horse being flogged. Not to be confused with the summer return of War Horse to the Olivier stage at the National Theatre. Very much a live horse and also wonderful, for what it's worth, back to this. Since Irvine Welsh's non linear novel about losers and addicts in Edinburgh's impoverished Leith went from underground cult to breakout hit in 1993, it spawned plays, films, sequels and one of finest soundtrack albums ever. Worth pointing out here. While there has been such criticism of these elitist theater critic types, almost all of them seem to have, in one way or another, an enormous appreciation of the source material. Now with grim inevitability, writes Curtis, his fingers on the pulse of musical theatre trends, the antics of Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud et al. Has become a woefully misconceived West End musical. Off the score, he writes, it shackles emotively Pavlovian stalwart hits like Lust for Life, Perfect Day and Bittersweet Symphony to a rag bag of pub rock novelty songs written by Welsh and Stephen McGuinness as Steve Mack, the latter has apparently been a house producer and remixer for decades. You wouldn't necessarily know that from the mawkish ballads, grumpy laments and other dimwit genre spoofs he and Welsh serve up here. The country and western line dance number There it Is Drink every time you hear it with the chorus. The lyrics for which I can't read out online but you can go and find out, is particularly egregious. The production, developed, directed and nominally choreographed by Caroline J. Ranger, is underpowered and pedestrian. A saving grace. Some praise here is Lewis Kidd, who is impressively loose and cocky as the shaven headed anti hero Renton, having stepped into the role after the original actor Robbie Scott suffered a rehearsal injury. Had I been reviewing this, I also would have thought it fit to mention that, so I'm glad that Nick Curtis did. Worth pointing that out because it happened not that long ago in the grand scheme of things. In the show's rehearsal process, parents and religion play a bigger part than in previous adaptations. Curtis expertly points out Trainspotting's original energy was unapologetic, but here everyone is endlessly explaining or lamenting, please didn't let him be on that stuff that heroin mules renton's mum Rebecca McInnes previously the chemical formula of the product has been tweaked to serve each new iteration. Here the creators clearly feel they must lamely emulate well known lines and set pieces from the first movie. Spud soiling himself and gurning through a job interview on speed, Renton diving into the worst toilet in Scotland to retrieve accidentally evacuated opium suppositories. The latter is done through a projected fantasy submersion, you'll be pleased to hear, or perhaps disappointed if anyone was curious how they would realise that on stage. The answer is lazily I shan't read you every paragraph, but I do need to pull out this note. He's talking about the cartoonish depictions of these characters, what they've been rendered as, and that Frankie o' Connor's psychotic Begbie looks like Oswald Mosley, reimagined as a muscled marvel supervillain. He's also the production's resident fight director, which made me laugh. I enjoy that from Nick Curtis very much. I can't tell you what this show wants to be, he goes on to say, but it definitely doesn't want to be a musical. And I wonder if that is the crux of the problem. If we said the big issue here is that this never ought to have been a musical in the first place place, are we seeing some sort of unfortunate capitalist result of a musical that its writers never really wanted to write? Are we seeing a musical brought to the stage by people who perhaps unashamedly don't like musical theatre all that much? The actors look embarrassed whenever they have to trade dialogue for music. I thought this too. At one point, the three young female leads sing Republica's Drop Dead Gorgeous into upside down brickphones for no discernible reason, which is the part I told you was actually a surprisingly strong number, but it makes no sense. And then, carrying on the trend, Nick Curtis concludes with choose the pub, choose the odyssey, choose a night in watching Bargain Hunt. But above all, choose something else. Now we're going to leap up from the ground floor level of one star reviews to the lofty heights of two star reviews, beginning with the write up in the stage. This from chief theatre critic Sam Marlowe, who writes tame, meandering show robs Irvine Welsh's 1990s cult classic of all its jagged wit and with similar praise for the source material, begins there's no question that the springboard for this show was a pop cultural phenomenon. Irvine Walsh's cult 1993 novel of Edinburgh Skag Heads is a ravening beast of a book read in tooth and claw, wildly compelling, as killingly funny as it is furious, couched in a resolutely Scots accented kind of punk poetry. A staged version followed, but it's from Danny Boyle's hit 1996 film that most people will be familiar with Renton, Sick Boy, Begbie, Tommy and Spud, whose sordid misadventures are interwoven in Welsh's freewheeling narrative. And the legacy of Boyle's movie is clear to see in this new musical. Its title is emblazoned above the stage in the iconic orange and white of the film's publicity posters at the start, and many of Colin Richmond's costumes are heavily referential, if not downright copies. That's the first time we're hearing that. Plot wise, though, the show is far more diffuse and meandering than either the film or the novel. That's what I said. Characters are thinly drawn in Welsh's baggy book. It's as if the story has been castrated, all its cynical, tough, jagged wit, all its fu attitude lopped off. Gosh, it's hard to come back from castrated and yet two stars. Instead, it's ploddingly literal often and lapsing into mawkishness and soapy tedium, repeatedly ramming its social conscience down our throats. Theatrically, it's almost in Blood Brothers territory. Hey, hey, Shots fired at Blood Brothers, although it's significantly less emotionally effective, and it suffers from a fatal lack of momentum each time it starts to get going, another pointless song turns up to bring it grinding to a halt again. While I would argue that while yes, the songs are utterly pointless, harkening back to a time before we realized how to advance the plot of musical theatre using sung moments moments, there's scarcely momentum being achieved anyway. There is a reference to that country in Western number, but after that, Sam Mallow goes on to say these songs suffer in comparison with the great songs included from the movie's soundtrack, even if those brilliant tracks do not lend themselves at all well to a Big company number, their abstract, idiosyncratic lyrics stubbornly refusing to be shoehorned into dramatic contrivance. What a turn of phrase. Are we going to attempt anything that begins to sound like praise here? With scarred brick, arched stonework, treetops and tenements, Richmond's set and o' Connell's video go some way to suggesting that two episodes, Edinburghs exist side by side, one genteel, elegant and tourist friendly, the other grimy and struggling, and the cast members battle against the aimlessness of the book and Ranger's primary colour direction. That's a read which allows for little more than stereotypes or impersonation of cinematic counterparts. That's a no, then, on effusive praise Lewis Kids. Renton is an amiable narrator who could do with a sharper edge. Sheridan Townsley's Sick Boy needs far more sleazy glamour, while Kieran Andrews, hyperactive gangly spurd, and Frankie o' Connor's thuggish meathead Begbie are cartoonishly entertain. There is some conversation here around the show's two biggest emotional moments. I do think we need to talk about it, so if you don't want to know, this is a spoiler warning. Skip ahead, skip away. But the review goes on to say Findlay Paul's Tommy, who succumbs to heroin in despair and heartbreak, doesn't really register strongly enough for us to feel the tragic waste of his life and potential. Similarly, there's limited impact to the death of an addict's baby, the nightmare of Renton's comedown, or any of the stories political backdrop of deprivation, unemployment, industrial decline and sectarian violence in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Even a defiant Renton's final mischievous dig at consumerist conformity, I'm gonna be just like you is defanged here presented as a simplistic happy ending. Gosh, what a great use of the word defanged. If you hear me say defanged in my next three reviews, pretend that you have no idea where I'm stealing it from. If you loved trainspotting in the 1990s, you might be tempted to take this nostalgia trip. Just don't expect it to deliver you to the exhilarating destination you remember. Train Pan. And also did that feel like twice as many stars as the one star review? And I know I'm really nitpicking here because that could be one of the hardest decisions critically. Like the line between one and two stars, we know that neither of those are good. What is your personal definition of one star versus a two star? As I was leaving the theater I was thinking to myself, if this isn't one star, it implies that a one star version of this show exists. And good God, what
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Might that be carrying on to the Telegraph? Also at two stars, Ben Lawrence writes Trainspotting with jazz hands and hoedowns. This musical is a muddle. A handful of moving performances are overwhelmed by weak new songs and an uncertain vision for the stage. This could be a little bit more positive though, in spite of fairly damning title. Let's see. The release of trainsporting in 1996 was a defining moment for Gen Xers like me. Again. See, there you go. Praise, praise and relevance. A mixture of Adidas, cool, indie pop and in your face deviants. It is partly enthralled to the film while also trying to broaden the canvas to show the effect of drug use on the wider community. We are living, after all, in more censorious times and while I would argue that Trainspotting didn't glamorize heroin. It certainly made us fall a little in love with Welsh's motley band of users. An interesting and important detail to highlight. Also, you know, that did make me in some ways appreciate what he said about the widening of the canvas. I begin to see the attempt made at that. The incoherence of this production at the Theatre Royal Haymarket is best illustrated by its music. While the film's famously killer soundtrack has in part been retained, it is diluted by a mixture of pop hits that weren't in the film and worst of all, a set of new songs, which, with the exception of a jolly hoedown entitled and I can't tell you the name of this song barely register. It is downright odd to see such cynical no hopers as Renton and Sick Boy going all jazz hands. And it undermines the power of Welsh's characterization. Now you can do, and I feel the need to insist on this here, here, musical theatre of a different kind of a tone. Look at a show like Kimberly Akimbo. Look at a show like A Strange Loop. Look at a show like Assassins. Look at a show like Rent look at a show like Next to Normal or Spring Awakening. The perpetual sort of campy, sequined quality doesn't need to be present in every single production. There is a sense, though, that this didn't necessarily know how to eschew, that frequent nods to the film's iconography also fall short on stage. The scene in which Halloween hapless spud has a revolting tussle with soiled bed sheets, an explosively hilarious moment on screen, why Make Me Remember becomes muted and almost sad. Meanwhile, Renton's famous dive into a foul pub loo is rendered via back projection. While it's not exactly bad, I would argue it's bad and provides relief from the otherwise uninspired set design. It also reminds you that there is too much going on here. It also harkens back to those really uninspired, lazy moments, moments in screen to stage musical adaptations where they think just doing the thing and not nearly as well is going to get a big audience reaction. Like we have to do that iconic moment. People are going to expect it. And it's done so half heartedly and with so little theatrical innovation. Like Remember how much we all enjoyed that and the film wasn't that great. Better than this obviously goes without saying, but wasn't it great? Pressing forwards and I found some praise, there are some saving graces. The scenes of heroin Addiction are well acted and directed by Caroline J. Raymond Stranger, and reach a rarely achieved poignancy. It is also hard to find fault with Welch's aphoristic dialogue, such as the Choose Life speech, which feels as fresh and exciting as ever. The performances, on the other hand, are mixed. Some characters are played too much like tribute acts to their counterparts in the film. However, I admired both Rosie Dignan as the helpless Alison and Townsley. That's Sheridan Townsley, who brings a genuinely fresh perspective to the nihilistic Sick Boy and amidst what I'm sure was a less than pleasant after show party, it's nice that members of the company got praise in some different places. In the end, though, with the same desperation as Trainspotting's darkest characters, you wonder what the point of it all is. Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a family. Choose the Phantom of the Opera at the Theatre over the road celebrating its 40th anniversary in the West End later this year. That's not important, but it is the end of this review. And if anyone's keeping a tally, that's another one for the Choose Life Send up at the end of the review column. For our third two star review, let's go to Sarah Heming in the Financial Times. Heroin addiction and musical theatre are uneasy bedfellows in this Irvine well, Shut Up T at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket. Trainspotting the Musical Choose Something, Anything but this. And to clarify that introductory statement, Sarah writes drugs and drama are no strangers. Noel Coward's The Vortex confronts addiction. Duncan McMillan's Brilliant People, places and Things. I added the Brilliant depicts withdrawal both superbly. Even so, Trainspotting the Musical is a big ask. Heroin addiction and musical theatre are, to put it mildly, not natural bedfellows, so it needs a very savvy take to make make it work, something as tonally nimble as Danny Boyle's edgy, funny and dark 1996 film of Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel. Sad to say, this musical treatment can't match up. A highly talented crew of young actors works hard and there are some witty moments, but it's a very awkward beast, rambling, blunt, shallow and weirdly anodyne. The highs and lows, the anger and the danger, the bleak waste of life. Too often it's smoothed out into something almost palatable. And I agree, reflecting on the film, there is this wild, dark wit to the whole thing. There are also some moments that are so but deliberately uncomfortable and challenging to watch, and I never experienced that on stage. The only thing uncomfortable challenging was how monotonous and dull and directionless the whole thing was. Where the film starts at full pelt, pitching you into the filthy Edinburgh flat where Renton and his fellow addicts hang out, the musical takes a longer run up. An opening number in a Leith pub introduces key players. Wired antihero Renton, his mates Spud, Sick Boy and Tommy, several concerned parents and the belligerent Begbie, a man who could start a fight in a phone box. Frankie o' Connor in a genuinely alarming depiction. Right. Sarah Heming characterization is skimpy and the plot bitty, some of the tougher stuff in the film has gone. And while other shocking episodes are present, which are detailed here, but I'm not going to tell you in case it's a spoiler, they don't get anything like enough stage time. When Renton goes cold turkey, it comes over as a bit of a bad dream rather than a terrifying, hallucinatory or deep deal. The songs, written by Welsh and Stephen McGuinness, embrace rock, northern soul and country and western and provide a welcome propulsion. Gosh, that was almost positive. But they're overshadowed There we go by cover versions of genuine hits such as Mad World, Bittersweet Symphony and Perfect Day. And while there's masses of spiky energy to Caroline J Ranger's production, it feels peculiarly hollow. Promising moments include Spud's absurd job interview while high on speed with Kieran Andrews gangly, twitchy performance nailing the physical comedy. At another point, a tripping spurt asks Renton why he's singing and you glimpse the potential for a witty metatheatrical use of the musical form that could be daring. Imagine if they only ever sung when they were high and there was some sort of a metatheatrical context to the show and it thereby had a relationship to song and a musical identity. It would also go some of the way towards explaining why we're hearing songs that existed outside of the world of the film from the 1990s. Real world music, music as well as the original songs. Whether we could do something sort of not diegetic and non diegetic, but hallucinatory and otherwise. I think that's interesting. Certainly more interesting than, you know, doing nothing. It's a show that could surely find resonance in today's messed up world where so many feel left behind or robbed of prospects. Instead, it feels like a pale imitation of better iterations. To paraphrase Renton, get ready to add to that tally. Choose something else, maybe cleaning the grill and you begin to understand I think what all of these critics have on their mind when they're writing these pieces. So those have been the more negatively skewing reviews of Trainspotting the Musical. And for the most part, when I sit down and we look at a sample of different reviews, there tends to be slightly more discord than on this occasion. Some have opted for one, others for two stars, but they seem to pretty much all be saying almost exactly the same things. If I stopped there, however, I wouldn't be telling you the entire truth because there have been a couple of outlier positive reviews, including in the Times, and I say positive. This from Clive Davis is a three star review. But hey, if I'm Trainspotting the Musical last week, this is music to my ears and much nicer music than my own original songs the musical adaptation that the novelist Irvine Welch has brought to the Theatre Royal Haymarket doesn't have anywhere near as much visual panache as the Danny Boyle film. The direction by Caroline J. Ranger, whose credits include the West End adaptation of Fawlty Towers and the musical version of Only Fools and Horses, often seems hesitant, and the climactic piece of streetwise skullduggery is dispatched so briskly that it almost seems as if a scene or two have gone missing. Still, there is unabashed energy to the performance and the new songs, co written by Welsh and the dance music producer Stephen McGuinness that just about keeps the evening afloat. True, it's a rough hewn venture that won't appeal to musical theatre traditionalists. Did I hear someone calling my name? I went in fearing the worst, in all honesty. But this is a production that, even if it is never going to supplant, the film at least delivers moments of communal intensity. Tell us more, Clive. I'm fascinated to get on your wavelength here. Carrying on, Clive also is pointing out that Lewis Kidd has taken over the lead role of Renton after the original star, Robbie Scott, suffered an injury shortly before the run began. No one is going to match the steeliness of Ewan McGregor's screen display, but there's enough insolent charm to kiss its Persona. And by setting more of the action in a local social club, Welsh gives us an opportunity to get to know the elders who watch their offspring descend into addiction and delinquency. Gordon Cooper is particularly affecting as Renton's father who has to contend with the death of another son, and I don't dispute that it gives us an opportunity to get to know the elders. I think the way in which we do lacks a sense of nuance, and I just think that it comes all together too quickly, meaning that it ends up feeling a little bit more like pandering than revenge. As for the new songs, Clive writes, they cover a broader palette than you might have expected, unless of course you've read any of the other reviews. We get a blast of rockabilly and a sliver of finger snapping jazz, as well as the tub thumping sentiments of Youth Opportunities. Other numbers fizz with punk energy. It's a pity though that the sound levels mean lyrics aren't always clear. That's another nod to poor sound design. Even a fair chunk of the dialogue escaped me thanks to the strong act sense, which wasn't the case with the film. And I concur there is some more praise for the performances. Frankie o' Connor exudes menace as Begbie the thug who spends his life looking for faces to punch, and Finley Paul's Tommy wins our sympathy as his life falls apart. Then, in what you could hardly call praise, Clive concludes by writing if you're a fan of the movie, you'll be glad to hear that Lou Reed's anthem Perfect Day makes the cut. And you may also be relieved to learn that the infamous toilet scene isn't quite as graphic this time around. Around 3 stars, 140 minutes reading very much like a 3 star review and is defended about as much as a three star review needs to be. It's only in the context of all of these other one and two star reviews that I want Clive to write twice as much about why he perceived value in the things that he did.
- [34:43]
B
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- [36:11]
C
But here's not the only slightly more positive review. And it's also not the only times. Because in the Sunday Times, if you can believe it, there is a four star review of of this show that writes Choose Trainspotting the Musical. It's big, beautiful and works brilliantly. Now, as I'm bracing to disagree with this introductory paragraph, it begins operas don't have to be joyous. Why should musicals be? Okay, so Rent is about AIDS and West side Story is about knife crime, but making a song and dance out of Irvine Welsh's 90s tale of heroin and hopelessness seems a tough ask. For all the black comedy in the original, there's not much sunshine or Leith here, except it works brilliantly. I'm intrigued. Let's carry on. Welch, who improbably admits in the program to being a Lionel Bart fan, I take back everything I said about the distaste for musical theatre has taken the best elements of the original, added some of the prequel Skag Boys, then worked with Stephen McGuinness to create new songs that energetically drive the story on with superb choreography and a fine young cast. Lewis Kidd is Renton, a smirking, confident wastrel drifting through life and into and out of a crippling drug addiction addiction. Sick Boy, his accomplice in grime and Gateway to Darkness, is played with charm and swagger by Sheridan Townsley. There's also praise for a strong performance by Finley Paul as Tommy. Frankie o' Connor gets the big laughs as the psychotic Begbie, always on the verge of smashing someone's face. In Kieran Andrews, gawky hapless Spud, the one most likely to be caught shoplifting, provides masterful physical comedy, not least during a scene when he attends a job interview on Speed. As has previously been praised, Yana Harris makes a lively, likable Kelly, desperate to escape the misery, then miserable when she does, a character I would have been intrigued to spend more time with, actually. New songs that especially hit the mark include the Eckies and the Brown A Country in Western number is this different country and Western number that reflects the rush of colour that comes into the characters drab lives with every armful of junk. Yes, it is the jaunty roll with the punches and renton and Sick Boy's duet late in Act 1. Props to this critic for remembering that many different songs the quality of singing is good, written like an HR appraisal, especially in the case of Ashley J. Russell as Spud's mother, although some Edinburgh accents turn jarringly American when the music starts. The voice of Melanie Marshall, who was memorable as Bertha Rochester in the National Theatre's Jane Eyre some years ago, I remember, enhances the drug taking scenes as the call of heroine, and I was so intrigued to see that character credited thus, and I was really hoping that they did something more with it. It's an intriguing idea, especially to, you know, find a legitimate way of musicalizing Trainspotting for the State stage, but I don't think it was really realized at all. One of the big things that happens towards the end of Act 1 is described here as beautifully staged and haunting. Act 2 loses its way, a touch nudging the star rating down. I feel the exact opposite about this entire situation. This is so fascinating and might benefit from trimming a song or two. Drop Dead Gorgeous is a great number, performed energetically but adds little, as everyone has pretty much agreed. Renton's decision to go clean feels too sudden, especially against other thing that I'm not going to tell you about and the disposal despair of his parents. Yet it works well on the whole, thanks to how human it is. Heroin loves misery, as Renton says, and misery loves company. And this company clearly loves performing Misery. Choose this four stars. And how's that for a timely reminder that we all interpret things and respond to things in completely different ways? And I can appreciate the flickering moments of humanity, the moment underscored by the delivery of the line heroine loves company, but for it to really cut through everything else that's happening in that moment, there's just too much for it to cut through. There's too much nonsense and we're already at least I was by this point drowning in disinterest. And yet they too are not alone, because there is another four star review this from Sophia Moss in the upcoming who writes at first glance, Trainspotting the musical seems like an unlikely addition to the West End, putting it mildly. But original author Irvine Welch's adaptation the For Stage keeps the grotty heart of the story while still managing to pull off a fully fledged musical. And I will agree in as much as it is a musical. As I was saying to people for days afterwards, that is a show and I saw it. Renton, confidently played by Lewis Kidd, has a nihilistic relish for life, he spends his nights at the pub with player and heroin addict Sick Boy. Hapless, hyperactive and well meaning sput. We know who these people are. The iconic 90s soundtrack was a huge part of the original film, so turning Trainspotting into a movie musical isn't as outlandish as it may first appear. Inasmuch as I suppose it has some kind of relationship to song because it had a soundtrack like the movie. This is interesting. Trainspotting the musical neither looks down on nor sanitizes its characters. They are honest, real and raw, making it easy to empathize with them.
- [40:48]
B
Wow.
- [40:49]
C
Neither the highs nor the lows of addiction are shied away from. When Renton first takes heroin, it is followed by a euphoric song and dance nodded number. The musical also shows Renton stealing from his parents immediately after a family tragedy, which was, I thought, actually one of the more striking moments of the stage show, as well as illness, death and the incredible pain that comes with withdrawals. By combining elements of Welsh's 2012 novel Skag Boys with the original story to flesh out the characters, backstories and family dynamics. Interestingly, both of the positive reviews have noted that, so I wonder if there is more appreciation to be had in a wider understanding of of I guess, the expanded Trainspotting universe. This version of Trainspotting feels less painfully stark than the film. Better? Are we implying better? That would be a first in any of these reviews. The first few songs are upbeat and full of life, but the mood becomes darker towards the end of the first act. The production has a grungy 90s aesthetic. There is no elaborate physical set design. Instead, digital projections and lighting are used to establish each location. There are no fluorescent spotlights here. Instead, the stage is lit with dim red, blue and purple hues that effectively evoke red. Renton's small, sparse room. The walls are grimy, with an Iggy Pop poster in Renton's bedroom quietly giving way to Fast Cash posters on the streets. I would argue that we don't achieve the necessary sense of claustrophobia in the moments when we want to. We then have an entire paragraph about Kieran Andrew and the physical comedy in the interview scene that's been commented on elsewhere. Perhaps we could go as far as to call that a standout moment, a highlight even of the show, given that it has been pretty praised by the the fans and the naysayers alike. The plot moves at a rapid pace and the characters speak in thick Scottish accents so it can take a little while to settle into the narrative and feel confident about what's happening. While the musical still includes the story's most confronting moments, they feel softened and less jarring than in the film. But I don't want them to feel softened and less jarring. That's such a peculiar praise to issue and the very thing that a lot of other reviews have criticized it from for. Why should it feel sanitised? It's train spotting, for crying out loud. And while I appreciate the bravery in acknowledging the occasionally impenetrable Scottish accents on stage, which could also be attributed to a challenging sound design worth pointing out, I do think there's no real praise like the suggestion that it can take a little while to figure out what's even going on, the review concludes. Thus the strangely uplifting, if morally ambiguous ending leaves the audience in surprisingly jaunty style, spirits feeling like Renton might for once choose life. And something we don't necessarily talk about is the experience of watching a story the conclusion of which you already know, because there will be some people arriving at Trainspotting the Musical for the first time. But you have to imagine a great many people going to see this, have seen the film at least once, are familiar with the film and its narrative. And I've spoken before about these bio jukebox musicals that tell the stories of celebrated artists. And these most moments, often in the middle of the second act when they're like, oh no, I could lose everything and never achieve a legacy and never be known and never be successful again before they've, you know, written and performed and produced their biggest hit. And we, the audience, are like, we know that's not going to happen because why else would we be here? We know the legacy that they're going to go on to have. It's the same thing for a story that we've already seen on film. You have to work harder to get us to buy into it emotionally, because there is no, for people who already know Trainspotting, there is no sitting there there and going, oh, is he gonna choose life? Like, how am I to end? We understand basically what we're heading towards. We may not know every single station that we're visiting, but we are aware of our final destination. That is the final train pun of this video. And it also brings us utterly to the end. Whether positive or negative, any other review that we read is going to at this point be sitting saying some variation of the same thing. We have heard the same ideas talked about. You have had, I think, a pretty strong sense of the response to this show, and one that, to my mind, doesn't reek of privileged critics pushing this away from the West End, but those who, with a fondness for the source material, were eager to embrace the edgy, darker, jagged, difficult qualities of Trainspotting realized on stage. Stage. The problem really is that with some debate, it wasn't necessarily realised. Well, with some going as far as to even suggest it never ought to have been conceived as a stage musical in the first place. And I have to agree, having read through all of those reviews, I can now tell you that I would also be a one star. Because as I stood there outside Theatre Royal Haymarket and I tasked myself with considering what a worse version of this show could look like, like I could not bring it to mind, nor did I have any wish to. And so those have been my thoughts, as well as the thoughts of several London theatre critics on Trainspotting the Musical. The only person we haven't yet heard from is you, the tiny people in my camera. So if you have seen Trainspotting the Musical, particularly if you're eager to come to its defense, please let me know why you felt how you did about it in the comments section down below. In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to this review roundup. I hope that you enjoy enjoyed. If you did, make sure to subscribe here on YouTube for more of this content as well as following me on podcast platforms. If you would prefer. I have been Mickey Joe and as always, I hope that everyone is staying safe, choosing life and having a stagey day. For ten more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe
- [46:28]
A
he's dribbling the ball with everything on the line. He's driving down the pitch.
- [46:31]
C
He's facing price hikes and cuts past him.
- [46:33]
A
Carrier contracts tries to block him.
- [46:35]
C
Oh he leaves him in the dust. He's at the edge of the box.
- [46:37]
A
He cuts past the non stop group chat trash talk. He clears on goal. He shoots no unlimited data for 25amonth.
- [46:45]
C
Forever.
- [46:47]
A
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- [47:31]
C
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- [48:17]
B
Com.