Review Roundup: Did THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON Impress the Critics?

And finally, the wait is over. The foot-stomping and award-winning musical, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, has arrived in London’s West End after capturing hearts and selling out at Southwark Playhouse.

With a breathtaking soundtrack brought to life by an extraordinary actor-musician ensemble, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic short story is relocated to a fishing village on the north coast of Cornwall by writing team Jethro Compton and Darren Clark. Under the light of a full moon, something most curious occurs... Benjamin Button is born old. Bound to the fate of growing younger each day, Benjamin wants nothing more than to live a little life. But will he ever find a place to belong? Only time and tide will tell...

What did the critics make of the show?

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner

Aliya Al-Hassan, BroadwayWorld: If you think folk songs and sea shanties are unlikely to make a hit musical, prepare to be very pleasantly surprised. The show is jam-packed with top quality, empathetic and carefully crafted songs, from the loud and vibrant to delicate and moving ballads. The music pulls you into the immersive quality of the show, with such flow and fluidity that a rumoured cast recording is surely inevitable. If you liked Come From Away or Once, you will fall in love with this score.

Emma John, The Guardian : The production’s full-bore approach to emotion is reminiscent of Come from Away; there are times when it substitutes pure sentiment for satisfying narrative structure, particularly in the second act as Button faces the unavoidably human experiences of loss and grief. Sometimes the fiddle tunes begin to blend into each other, too, although A Little Life may stick in your head like a mackerel in a net.

Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut: The company – doubled in size since the original Southwark run – all sing and play musical instruments and the walls of sea shanty-inflected choral song are a truly beautiful thing, surging and crashing like waves off the Cornish coast. This is as much the show’s USP as the reverse ageing story. Although unquestionably Compton’s project through and through, he wouldn’t have been able to realise it nearly as well without Darren Clake’s music.

Nick Curtis, The Standard: The script has been tweaked and the production recast since I saw and loved it at Southwark Playhouse last July: the sketched-in supporting characters feel more winsome and cartoonish, and the cast’s artfully dishevelled clothes and smeared faces make them look like extras from Oliver! but it remains a sweet love story that carries a powerful, almost mystical musing on the nature of existence. Plus you’ve got to love a show that rhymes “cup and saucer” with “divorce her”.

Alun Hood, WhatsOnStage: Sondheim stated that musicals aren’t written but rewritten, and watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s evolution from a tiny but profound gem in Southwark Playhouse’s smallest space to a fully-fledged West End show has been an extraordinary pleasure. I reckon the great Stephen would’ve approved of Jethro Compton and Darren Clark’s distillation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s tall tale about a man born old who ages backward to infancy, with its intelligent storytelling through song, piercing wit, and an electrifying emotional charge that seldom lapses into sentimentality. Already one of the best British musicals in decades, in this newest iteration, it looks like a world-beater.

Holly O'Mahony , The Stage: Many will know the plot from the 2008 film starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, but Compton freshens it up by transposing the story from North America to the UK. Set in an early-to-mid 1900s Cornish fishing village, it’s atmospheric, with fishing nets and buoys hanging above a wooden, dock-like stage. Darren Clark’s folksy score is studded with Clark and Compton’s sea shanty-style songs, and there’s a determinedly upbeat essence to the music that prevents the bittersweet story from ever dwelling in its darkness.

Tim Robey, The Telegraph: The entire vibe is a foot-tapping Cornish ceilidh slowing down for shanties – exuberant, but also deeply melancholic. The scruffy wooden set is ideal at suggesting tavern interiors, dockyards and ship decks all at once. With his mournful face, Dagleish – the first to play Ray Davies in Sunny Afternoon – can’t help seeming about 40 at all times, but he’s sincerely affecting in the role, not the human special effect that Pitt was.

Clive Davis, The Times: Clark’s melodies are sinuous and restless: it comes as no surprise to see him name-checking that powerhouse folk band Bellowhead in the programme notes. The lyrics, rich in references to the cyclical nature of all life (The Tide Is Comin’ in is a highlight of the second half) form an affecting blend of poetry and the down-to-earth. Chi-San Howard’s choreography is steeped in a sense of community.

Marianka Swain, London Theatre: The design (by Compton and Anna Kelsey) is a seafaring delight, with wooden crates, planks and ropes used to create everything from barstools to a boat, and, overhead, fairy lights twinkling among the fishing nets to suggest stars. Luke Swaffield’s evocative soundscape features lapping waves and a whistling wind; there’s a sense of the vast eternity of nature, in sharp contrast to the brief span of a human life. We must make every moment count.

Andrew Houghton, The Reviews Hub: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of those shows which deserves more than the five stars available to give. Whether it finds the commercial success it undoubtedly deserves or simply continues to grow its existing cult reputation, this musical will be remembered as a highlight of London’s theatre history. Nobody in good faith can deny the intelligence, talent and beauty currently being showcased at the Ambassadors Theatre.

Average Rating: 88.0%