“Eberneezerly the best Scrooge! This is a glorious and spectacular new staging by director Nikoai Foster with a rollicking script by Bryony Lavery. Indeed, Lavery’s adaptation could become the standard musical version of Dicken’s short story. Why not? It’s got everything: it’s original but still faithful to Dickens, and it’s supported by a string of genuinely toe-taping songs by Jason Carr.” Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail *****
“Bryony Lavery’s new adaptation at the Birmingham Rep nails the intrinsic horror of a life gone bitterly wrong. [...]Nikolai Foster’s slick, well-populated production [...] grasps the essential perturbing spirit of the original. [...] Everything flows together like a childhood nightmare; even carols bleed into each other in Jason Carr’s superbly intelligent, fertile score. [...] Peter Polycarpou is spot-on as Scrooge[...]. Recommended.” Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph ****
“This is a particularly haunting version of the Dickens classic. [...] Nikolai Foster’s production, deftly blending the thrilling and the poignant, is deliciously spine-tingling — and made more captivating by Jason Carr’s sophisticated score. At times the music recalls Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. It doesn’t attempt that work’s complexity, but it has a similar restless, minor-key unease; and the presence of Lavery’s uncanny onlookers, the murky urban setting and the tale’s theme of social inequality also mirror Sondheim’s fable. There are lighter sequences too; the Fezziwigs’ party ushers in a number as bouncily “oom-pah” as anything by Lionel Bart, and Nick Winston’s heel-kicking, witty choreography rises to such occasions with alacrity.
The show is as stuffed full of memorable cameo performances as a pudding with plums [...] Peter Polycarpou[...] is a persuasive Scrooge [...] Lavery’s adaptation, the production and Polycarpou all employ an emotional directness that chimes as clear as Christmas bells with the compassion of Dickens’ novel. This is a Carol to make even confirmed Scrooges sing.” Sam Marlowe, The Times ****
The Rep’s spectacular production draws on every element of the Victorian ghost story and its attendant morality [...] Nothing has been spared to create the atmosphere. [...] Jason Carr’s music and lyrics are strong and memorable. The sharp focus and uncluttered nature of the whole thing precludes over-sentimentality and avoids clichés [...]
Scrooge [...]is [...]finely portrayed by Peter Polycarpou. It feels like a cast of thousands sometimes but there are just 13 of them in this versatile ensemble and that’s probably the greatest triumph of all. Pat Ashworth, The Stage
![]() | “[Colin Richmond’s] sumptuous frocks [...] Jason Carr's score, inspired by the tango and French cabaret music, and Wayne McGregor's elegant dance routines [...] capture the play's distinctive Gallic mood in which style, wit and moments verging on farce are accompanied by an undertow of melancholy.” Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph |
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Composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim himself has described Jason’s
new orchestration as superlative.
The score’s lush melodies and chromatic feverishness sound ravishing ... Sam Marlowe, The Times Musical director Caroline Humphris and a talented band do Jason Carr’s orchestrations proud for what is a much recommended production. Lisa Martland, The Stage |
![]() Under Anthony Van Laast’s direction the action moves swiftly and smoothly and enhanced by Jason Carr’s score, which is played superbly by a five piece orchestra, making it more operatic than your average musical [...] Anna Francolini is a superbly beautiful Lee Miller – a view endorsed by Lee’s granddaughter Ami - and [...] Now that I have discovered Lee Miller I need to know more. I now feel I have to read the book and visit the farm - it’s that sort of show! Sheila Ann Connor, Whatsonstage.com
[...] infinitely more alluring than most of the mindless jukebox musicals that have cluttered up the West End for so long.
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![]() [...] It receives a strikingly deft production from Samuel West,
stylishly designed by Ashley Martin-Davis and with music by Jason Carr that gives a strong
impression of Ella's atmospheric [piano] concerto.
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![]() [...] Jason Carr contributes terrific music and lyrics, with songs that range from the
yearningly lyrical to vaudevillian knockabout, with the odd knowing nod to G & S and Sondheim. [...]
The Water Babies is a treat, and, as well as being a delightful show for children, it strikes me as
that rarest of phenomena—a genuinely successful new British musical [...] It must surely have a life beyond Chichester.
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