BWW Reviews: THE STING, Wilton's Music Hall, September 14 2015

If David Rogers' stage adaptation of The Sting lacks a little of the film's panache, well, that can be forgiven - Paul Newman and Robert Redford in their early 70s pomp pretty much defined the word. What it does have over the movie is an extraordinary venue: the recently re-opened Wilton's Music Hall, which reeks of the rookeries of the old East End, of the variety shows that entertained the hard men and tough women of Victorian London, of vaudeville and, of course, Music hall. Get there early and wallow in a real live piece of working class history, a space restored, but not gentrified.

The show has quite something to live up to, given its ambition to stay loyal to its multi-Oscar winning inspiration and to pay homage to its iconic venue, home to many a scammer in the past. It doessn't take long before, during an extended piece of exposition (and there are a few) my mind wandered to the ghosts that must stalk this extraordinary space, its cavernous roof more suited to a cathedral than a... theatre is it? A Hall? A what exactly?

But I was soon roused from my reverie by a witty line, a beautiful dress or another twist in the tale, because this show, though hardly flawless, has much to commend it - especially if you haven't seen the film nor read the book that provides much of its source material.

It follows a few weeks in the life of Hooker (Ross Forder), a small-time grifter conning the public of smalltown Illinois who gets more than he and his partner Luther (Kevin Golding) bargained for, when their mark hands over $12,000 he was running to Chicago for his boss Lonnegan (John Chancer), the "banker" who controls the Midwest numbers racket. That triggers events that lead Hooker to the Windy City, still very much mobbed up in the 1930s and Gondorff (Bob Cryer), a legend in the grifters' world, currently on the run from the FBI. Almost for the hell of it, Gondorff agrees to assemble the old firm and pull off one last big con, using a horse-racing scam known as The Wire to exact revenge on Lonnegan.

With most actors doubling roles, the costumes have to be dead right and Claudia Mayer and Hilary Lewis have done a fine job with some very smart tailoring for the boys and figure-hugging outfits for the girls - suggesting the time and place well and differentiating the characters. There are plenty of strong supporting performances, particularly from a sexy Amy Reitsma and very funny Kate Quinn, and some splendid smoky singing from Nina Kristofferson.

Cryer's Gondorff gives a splendid turn, one minute Obi-Wan Kenobi-like in his fatherly wisdom, the next a boozy scammer in a poker game. Forder is more restrained, the calm centre round which these grotesques twist - none more grotesque than Chancer's monstrous Lonnegan, a fine villain overflowing with panto-like outrage.

Director Peter Joucla delivers a production that is lovely to look at and gets to the heart of the grifters' culture, but does struggle a little with finding the right pace - a touch too slow in the first half and certainly too quick in the second, in which the full nuances of Gondorff's glorious fix are rather lost as we rush to the ending. Nevertheless, it's a unique night out in London and a fine revival of a tale that never goes out of date - even if the location, the suits and the accents of the con-men change. On leaving the hall, have a look at the ugly glass towers a mile or two West, and you'll know what I mean.

The Sting continues at Wilton's Music Hall until 17 October.

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