The Human Comedy, Young Vic

The Human Comedy, Young Vic | reviews, news & interviews

The Human Comedy, Young Vic

This flop of an all-American musical fable is restored to life in a fabulous production

by Alexandra CoghlanTuesday, 14 September 2010

Beautiful music is in the air: The extraordinary ensemble cast of 'The Human Comedy'Keith Pattison

It takes a brave company to revive a notorious Broadway flop. It takes an even braver one to supplement a small cast with an amateur, community chorus of over 60 people, onstage for almost the entire duration. The Young Vic can rarely be accused of lacking ambition, and their latest production – sprawling American musical The Human Comedy by Hair’s Galt MacDermot – is as ambitious as it gets. Reinventing a flawed fantasy-parable about community as genuine community theatre, they have tapped into a sincerity that no amount of slick Broadway effects could hope to match – a sincerity that, if it cannot quite redeem the play’s faults, sure as hell comes close.

The Young Vic’s endlessly fluid performing space lends itself well to the inclusive, informal nature of the show

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