La Cava / Victoria Palace Theatre (London)

What a headscratcher. I had to see it three times to decide if I enjoyed it. And the answer is "yes but". The story is gripping but at the heart of it quite hostile to women. Seems that Spain got smacked up by the Moors in the 8th century and invented a legend to rationalise their defeat: of course it had to be a woman who betrayed her native Spain. So here is the tale of Florinda, who gets a bit annoyed when Spanish King Roderich accidentally ...
...king and then CRIES RAPE to her daddy, a big shot Spanish general. Daddy turns coat and brings an army of Moors over to liberate her and everyone dies and Spain falls to the Arab horde. I was a bit disturbed to say the least that Florinda's revenge is the most passive-aggressive sort imaginable AND sets back the cause of women's rights about 1500 years. But that said, I liked much of the show, if I found it schizophrenic in the same way that Les ... more

What a headscratcher. I had to see it three times to decide if I enjoyed it. And the answer is "yes but". The story is gripping but at the heart of it quite hostile to women. Seems that Spain got smacked up by the Moors in the 8th century and invented a legend to rationalise their defeat: of course it had to be a woman who betrayed her native Spain. So here is the tale of Florinda, who gets a bit annoyed when Spanish King Roderich accidentally kills her Moorish lover. In retaliation she seduces the king and then CRIES RAPE to her daddy, a big shot Spanish general. Daddy turns coat and brings an army of Moors over to liberate her and everyone dies and Spain falls to the Arab horde. I was a bit disturbed to say the least that Florinda's revenge is the most passive-aggressive sort imaginable AND sets back the cause of women's rights about 1500 years. But that said, I liked much of the show, if I found it schizophrenic in the same way that Les Miserables is: The pace was fast and I was whipsawed between moments of jaw-dropping ineptitude -- such as a hideous solo for the Queen of Spain (the King spurns her for infidelity and then she sings a song in which she hopes they will "gently reconcile") -- and moments of jaw-dropping brilliance or beauty, such as the stunning duet "Womans Hands" in which the Queen's servant Egon plants the seed of revenge in Florinda's mind. But time and again brilliant ideas are harvested but left to rot: there's a gorgeous solo for Florinda at the end of Act One in which she seduces the King, but the song is over too soon and then reappears after the interval in a ludicrous new song "Say Goodbye" with a ludicrous new setting: now all of a sudden Florinda has changed her mind and decides she LOVES HIM? Doomed King Roderich whom she's just ratted out to her father? The beautiful tune from Act One turns to mush just as does Florinda's resolve.

All told it's big but not as sprawling as Les Mis; and loud but not as earsplitting as Notre Dame; and witless but not as tawdry as Phantom. Like Phantom, it only has three memorable tunes but they're with me still. I note there were five writers on this show as there were for Sunset Blvd, and I can only conclude the show suffers from a similar surfeit of cooks. But any time I wanted to stalk out or start giggling, suddenly it would all be redeemed by something thrilling. So I've come a cropper. This old girl will likely attend again after it moves to a better theatre, because at least it sticks to the brains, and even occasionally to the heart.
 

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