I'll
be the first to admit this. I am not a big fan of Michael Crawford.
While many people have lauded his highly acclaimed performance as the original
Phantom of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera,
personally, I didn't like his raspy-voiced Phantom. Seeing the picture
of Crawford dressed like a clown on the DVD cover of Barnum, I was
intrigued to see how Crawford was like before he became The Phantom.
After viewing this DVD, I have to say that he has really won me over and
I can finally understand why Crawford has so many fans all over the
world.
This musical traces the career of America's greatest showman, Phineas Taylor Barnum (Crawford) and starts from 1835. Barnum takes pride in "the noble art of humbug" where he employs the eloquent use of partial untruths to get people to do what he wants. He signs up the oldest woman in the world, the 160 year-old Joyce Heth (Sharon Benson) and markets her as President George Washington's nurse. Other attractions in his circus include the smallest man in the world, the 25 inch Tom Thumb (Paul Miller) and the opera singer, Jenny Lind (Christina Collier), also known as the Swedish Nightingale. Barnum leaves his wife Charity 'Chairy' Barnum (Eileen Battye) to tour with Lind but he eventually returns to Charity when he realizes that she is the only one that he will ever love. Barnum decides to enter politics but with the death of his wife, realizes that his true calling is with a circus. He then joins James A. Bailey to form The Greatest Show On Earth.
Like
the colorful cover of the DVD suggests, this musical is full of vibrant
color and energy especially during the circus scenes. Stunts are executed
and coordinated to perfection by the cast and if you ignore the absence
of live animals on stage, you could almost forget that this wasn't a
real circus at times. On some occasions, circus acts are used as
metaphors to express real life situations. For example, faced with the
difficult decision to follow Lind on tour and to leave his wife behind,
Barnum has to navigate across a long tightrope towards Lind who is on
the other side.
Although
there are many amazing circus acts that are on display, at the heart of
this musical is a very strong and moving story of love between Barnum and his wife.
Both Crawford and Battye give strong performances in their roles and
their final scene together before the ailing Charity passes away is as
dramatic as it is touching. Their duets "I Like Your Style"
and the exceptionally beautiful "The Colors Of My Life" are
two stand-out numbers for me.
The music for the musical is written by Cy Coleman while the lyrics are by Michael Steward. It is said that one of the best gauges of whether a musical is good or not is how hummable the songs are after the performance. Barnum succeeds in this aspect with a variety of catchy and memorable numbers such as "There Is a Sucker Born Ev'ry Minute" and "One Brick at a Time".
Crawford
is charismatic, charming and funny in this musical. He demonstrates
excellent comic timing in many of his scenes and does all sorts of
circus stunts in his role as Barnum such as juggling, walking on stilts,
doing magic tricks, abseiling from the ceiling, walking on a tightrope
and doing many other balancing acts. This man definitely works hard for
his monthly income.
The other members in the cast also impress. Battye portrays Barnum's wife with a quiet subtlety and yet with a very loving heart. Benson gets a chance to shine in some of her solo numbers such as "Thank God I'm Old" and her singing voice does not disappoint. Collier has one of the most beautiful singing voice as the Swedish soprano.
On the face of it, Barnum seems to promise a circus experience to its audiences and it doesn't fail to deliver on this aspect. However, Barnum is so much more than this. With a strong story of love flowing through it and great music by Coleman and Steward, I am definitely glad that I watched Crawford in this incarnation of his. My respect for Crawford has definitely grown a lot after watching Barnum.
Reviewed on 4 July 2004