Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review.
Witches and warlocks, spells, and love which dares to dream.
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| Photo by Tom Bowles. |
'Dark of the Moon' is a dramatic stage play by Howard Richardson and William Berney. Originally produced on Broadway in 1945 as the maiden production of the now-acclaimed New York Circle.
Here, 'Dark Of The Moon' is given a new lease of life as a musical produced by WitzEnd Productions LLC (Michael Jackowitz and Jeffrey Grove) and Charing Cross Theatre Productions Limited (Steven M. Levy).
Charing Cross Theatre is an old music hall and is a brilliant choice of venue for this piece of musical theatre. It's a quirky space, with the added quirkiness of the rumbling trains overhead, for a quirky show.
So, what is the plot? 'Dark Of The Moon' is a tale of witchcraft, small-town prejudice and the power of love, easily identifiable with today's discrimination of strangers with differences. An Appalachian town linked to a world of magic, with the witches and conjurings from the mountain that looms high above. Barbara Allen, a human girl and John, a witch-boy, find each other through dreams, until he relinquishes his powers through a corrupt deal to become human himself so as to be with his one true love. But does this have a happily ever after?
The staging looks great. We are presented with solid-looking wooden buildings, a representation of the sturdy foundations of the townsfolk, becoming more than just a home, a church, a barn or a nursery. It is used and moved superbly well.
Faultless lighting design with impeccable timing made the piece 'pop' giving everything almost a four-dimensional quality.
When the show starts, we are given a lovely sounding folk song suggesting great things to follow, but at times the more rockier numbers jarred for me. They seemed to distract rather than add, with tuneless progression and unbalanced sound. The country sounding songs mixed far better with the folk music, voices available and piece overall. It was a good effort, but missed the target, which was a great shame, as what is right with 'Dark Of The Moon' is truly very right. The lovers' duets in particular were joyous to listen to with their tight harmonies, unusual syncopation and interesting vocal gymnastics.
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| Photo by Tom Bowles. |
Directed by Georgie Rankcom, who uses the small space well. In fact, with the very full set, it was great to see a fair-sized cast busy the stage without overcrowding it. At times, the choice to have the actors kneeling or sitting on the stage at the front made sightlines difficult, but this was only occasional.
The cast could have been utilised choreographically better. 'Raising Hell In Heaven' had the smartest use of their talents; it just would've been nice to see more from them. I am also surprised the witches weren't given something utterly insane to do together, rather than their simple writhing around.
The show is led excellently by its two principals, Lauren Jones (Barbara Allen), the girl whom John falls in love with, and John the Witch Boy, played by Glenn Adamson. Both have great moments, such as 'Wildflower' for Lauren and 'I'd Die For You' for Glenn, but it is together that they truly shine. 'Forgive Me', their final duet, definitely saved the best for last.
The cast is strong throughout, with a few standout performances; Martin Callaghan as Preacher Haggler, with his 'never quite right' quotes from the Bible bringing a constant bit of levity to the looming darkness. Appolilly Szwarc as Arwen - the mesmerising witch for me. Always twitching with a purpose, with an incredible use of face. And lastly, Samuel Murray as Marvin Hugdens, whose character has the biggest journey throughout, and (spoiler alert) is not your typical 'baddy', with an arc akin to Steve's in 'Stranger Things'.
The show isn't perfect. Some of the dialogue is a little elementary, and the strength of one style of music appears to be so predominant over the other that the piece loses a little identity.
But nonetheless, 'Dark Of The Moon' is a strong new musical, with two great leads, some nice moments and a lot of heart.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dark of the Moon runs at The Charing Cross Theatre until Saturday 8th August 2026. For tickets and more information visit https://charingcrosstheatre.co.uk/theatre/dark-of-the-moon
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| Photo by Tom Bowles. |
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