Review: INDECENT PROPOSAL, Southwark Playhouse

Jonny and Rebecca are in love (we know because they keep telling each other so) but they need more money - curiously, they're not short of it, both having jobs, but so be it. When high roller, Larry, takes a fancy to Rebecca and offers her $1 million to spend a single night with him, their relationship pitches and yaws as the thought storms through both their minds. Rebecca is against, but has her curiosity piqued and Jonny hesitantly for as the money is good but neither is sure in their convictions - something Larry preys upon.

You're more likely to know the set-up from the movie, but this new musical is described as "inspired by the novel by Jack Engelhard" so it's best to leave Demi and co at the door - if you can. The difficulty of doing so (even for someone like me who has never seen the film) indicates the extent of the challenge accepted by composer, Dylan Schlosberg, and lyricist (who also wrote the book) Michael Conley. It proves too much.

The key structural issue is that we never get to know any of the three corners of the love triangle. Jonny is a moderately successful singer, but dresses in jeans and a tatty T-shirt unlike his besuited band - he looks more like a karaoke contestant. Rebecca is all smart business attire, busy in the casino's marketing department and running her own foundation to help women into the workplace - she's no victim. Larry has untold wealth from unrevealed sources and appears oblivious to any possibility of blackmail. It's also hard to discern why he chose Rebecca in a town full of showgirls and, if ego is more his motivation, power-dressing women more successful in business.

Few of the moral dilemmas are resolved, some barely posed. Sure there's money vs love, but there's little unpacking of that calculus, just a lot of shouty emoting. There's little condemnation of Larry's overweening sense of entitlement, no attempt to place it within a patriarchal society 30 years ago (when the events take place) or today. It also feels very, very American, with the accents and approaches to healthcare and charity driving the point home - why does any of this matter in a chilly South London? Norman Bowan, Lizzy Connnolly and Ako Mitchell are hamstrung by the lame script with which they must work, but surely a little more spark could have been conjured?

This lack of engagement with the main storyline is further underlined by a splendid secondary plot led by the excellent Jacqueline Dankworth as Annie, the lounge singer who is getting on but can still put on a show. She is much the best singer on show - not least because she finds the right amplification for her vocals in a mid-sized house - and she gets much the best songs too, the plaintive "Atlantic City" and bittersweet "Will You Remember". Conor Going leads the onstage band well, but too many numbers get more belt than their melodies (or our ears) can comfortably handle.

Is there room in 2021 for a reinterpretation of Indecent Proposal, the power dynamics shifting rapidly in a post-#MeToo world? Is there a case for musical theatre to be the vehicle for such a project? Is there a new generation who can step beyond the film's long shadow and engage anew with the dilemmas the novel sets? I'd say yes to all three - but I'd also say that we're still waiting for that show, because this one isn't it.

Indecent Proposal is at Southwark Playhouse until 27 November

Photo Helen Maybanks

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