Review: The show goes on as Barnum understudy rises to the challenge with Lee Mead injured
What’s the saying? The show must go on? Well on it certainly went as Barnum hit the stage at the Kings Theatre without its lead star.
But don’t panic, it is still a circus spectacular with some fantastic songs, music and an amazing cast also thrown in which means audiences will not be disappointed.
Okay, so it probably wasn’t what anyone would have wanted with Lee Mead injured and unable to perform on the opening night. And there is no real idea if he will return at all while the touring show is at the Southsea theatre.
But understudy Tom Sterling stepped into the breach magnificently and delivered a wonderfully enchanting performance, helping the audience to navigate its way through a stage show like other which is filled with so much action that there are times where you just don’t know where to look.
Barnum, of course, chronicles the life and career of 19th-century American showman PT Barnum, combining traditional musical theatre with circus spectacle as he works to create the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’.
And it is all about putting on a show, with its amazing ensemble cast of circus performers, dancers and musicians playing more than 150 instruments to ensure it is a real treat for the audience.
Not to be confused with The Greatest Showman, also inspired by the life of PT Barnum, this show also centres around his relationship with his rather more pragmatic wife, Charity played by the wonderful Monique Young. While the dreamer Barnum thinks he can achieve his dreams through ‘humbug’ (a combination of little fibs and a ‘fake it til you make it’ vibe), Mrs Barnum is far more realistic.
His constant ambition for more begins with a bizarre museum whose star attraction is a ‘160-year-old woman’, and elevates all of the way to to a dazzling circus.
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And while supporting her husband, Charity is always trying to bring him back to earth while he is dazzled by the stage lights and the delights of singer Jenny Lind (Penny Ashmore).
Their relationship holds the whole production together and the two leads pulled it off beautifully, which means that a Lee Mead-less show maybe something to lament, but is something audiences will certainly be able to live with.