BWW Reviews: CLOSER THAN EVER, Landor Theatre, September 15 2010

It is so NICE to see a show with grown-ups in. The West End is packed full or twenty-somethings playing older than their age, or teenagers playing teenagers in screechy shows for young people. I'm increasingly aware of my advancing age, and no longer just want to hear girls rock-belting their throats into oblivion.

So it is nice to see Closer Than Ever get a revival. Maltby and Shire never seem to have caught on in the UK mainstream; their style is a very American style, with patter and wordplay, and this show in particular is ahead of its time for a late-80s production, full of Oprah-esque self-analysis. It'd be easy to stuff this full of cliches and play it for the laughs, to be honest.

It's a tribute to the skill of the performers - Clare Burt, Ria Jones, Glyn Kerslake and Michael Cahill - that this never happens. And how nice to hear proper musical theatre voices as well. By turns, this production is moving, funny, and always engaging. Some occasionally slack direction around the Landor's slender space occasionally pulls the eye (Kerslake has to perform some very awkward twists to look at Burt and Jones in turn during his final number) but in the main the intimacy of the venue adds to the draw.

A clever, witty, beautifully-performed evening out.

Closer Than Ever runs at the Landor Theatre.