“A Face in the Crowd” at the Young Vic
Neil Dowden on the South Bank
25 September 2024
Kwame Kwei-Armah’s final show as director while leading the Young Vic (before he is succeeded as artistic director by Nadia Fall in January) is – perhaps not unexpectedly given his recent work – a new musical, A Face in the Crowd. It is based on Elia Kazan’s 1957 movie written by Budd Schulberg, with a book by Pulitzer and Tony-nominated American playwright Sarah Ruhl and songs by Elvis Costello. The story is a satire on media fame, advertising, politics, and power, though this entertaining and engaging show lacks some of the film’s cutting edge.
The company.
Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz.
It may seem a fitting farewell for Kwei-Armah since the theatre has foregrounded musicals during his six-year reign. It is not immediately obvious why he chose this particular story from a slightly obscure fifties film – though the contemporary resonance becomes much clearer later on in the show.
Bookended with her narration, we see Arkansas small-town radio producer Marcia Jeffries – looking for a new addition to her “A Face in the Crowd” feature – discover a charismatic homeless musician sleeping off a drunken stupor with his guitar in the local jailhouse. Naming him “Lonesome Rhodes”, she makes him a star on the radio station where his upbeat folksy anecdotes strike a chord with ordinary people struggling to get by.
Television (still relatively new) comes calling with his high ratings boosting sales of the sponsors as he ends up on a glitzy TV show in New York. The tone becomes darker when a shadowy colonel recruits the increasingly arrogant Rhodes to turn a senator running for president into a crowd-pleasing leader for their far-right agenda, with a campaigning slogan of “Blood and Hot Sauce”. Marcia’s emotional involvement with Rhodes is also strained to breaking point due to his womanizing as she faces a dilemma about whether to cut herself loose – and take him down.
The story keeps us involved with its mixture of romantic drama and pointed social commentary, with a reference to the Frankenstein scenario of a creator forced to consider destroying their progeny. It shows the dangers of a meteoric rise from nonentity to celebrity and how that can disturb someone’s moral compass so they lose touch with their authentic roots. But of course here – with the incredibly high-stakes US presidential election now only just over a month away – the parallels with Trumpian populist politics are accentuated. Specific references to anti-immigration/anti-Chinese rhetoric have been added, while (unlike the film) Rhodes is intent on becoming vice-president. There’s also a line about entertainment merging with politics – Trump would probably not have become president if he hadn’t hosted The Apprentice. The only surprise is that Rhodes isn’t wearing a MAGA red baseball cap.
The company.
Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz.
The trouble is the show doesn’t have enough bite. Admittedly the movie becomes melodramatic, but Ruhl’s book could do with more of its savage satirical swipe. This is Costello’s first stage musical (though he wrote a couple of new songs to supplement existing ones used for Conor McPherson’s play Cold War at the Almeida Theatre last year). Perhaps that is surprising for a composer who has dabbled in so many different genres of music over the years. The musical style cleverly mixes blues, jazz, country, and gospel in keeping with the period and location, while there are amusing parodies of commercial jingles (including for the fraudulent energy supplement Vitajex), and the lyrics feature some of his characteristic wit. But though very listenable the songs are too tamely pastiche-like, making one long for more of Costello’s earlier trademark acerbic quality.
Kwei-Armah’s slick production speeds along, aided by Anna Fleischle’s ingenious design which smoothly transitions from prison cell and train carriage to radio/TV studios (with control room on top level), and saloon bar and penthouse. Jackie Shemesh’s lighting shifts from dazzling glare to moody shadows, and Emma Laxton’s atmospheric sound includes artificial applause and laughter recordings. There is some lively choreography from Lizzi Gee, while musical supervisor, director, and arranger Phil Bateman expertly marshals a small band who alternately play at the side of or behind the stage.
The cast is splendid. Ramin Karimloo – an Oliver and Tony Award-nominated international musical performer – has an impressive vocal range as the opportunistic drifter Lonesome Rhodes whose self-mythologizing turns delusional as he revels in the power he holds over audiences, but making him a more sympathetic figure than in the film. Anoushka Lucas – nominated for an Olivier as Best Actress in the Young Vic’s revisionist hit Oklahoma! – is also in fine voice, making Marcia a more independent but morally ambivalent character, fully implicated in her protégé’s corruption. Olly Dobson charms as the humorous TV script writer Mel in love with Marcia, Emily Florence plays young drum majorette Betty Lou who catches Rhodes’ eye, and Stavros Demetraki is his sharp-eyed manager Joey in a cutthroat show-business world.
