Marguerite - new musical at the Haymarket January 31, 2008
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Ruthie Henshall will star with Julien Ovendon in a brand new musical at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket from May 7th 2008. Marguerite the musical will be the World Premiere of a collaboration between Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (Les Misérables, Miss Saigon and Martin Guerre) and the Oscar award-winning musical legend Michel Legrand and lyricist Herbert Kretzmer (Les Misérables).
A love story set in Paris during the Second World War, Marguerite is based on the great romantic novel, La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas. That’s right - the exact same story as Baz Lurmans’ film Moulin Rouge! This stage version though is set against the background of occupied war time Paris.
In this tense, dangerous atmosphere Marguerite,the beautiful and notorious mistress of a high ranking German officer, falls for Armand a young musician half her age. Armand’s obsessive love for Marguerite puts them both at risk.
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This is also starring the fantastic Andrew C Wadsworth.
I saw Marguerite last night and it was truly amazing. I particularly enjoyed Andrew C Wadsworth’s portrayal of Georges, Marguerite’s agent.
I know I’m so excited I think he is amazing
Went to see this last night Monday 12th May and it was fantastic, the best thing I have seen in many months. The cast were brilliant, also the costumes and set. A thoroughly enjoyable performance in a beautiful theatre.
We saw this dreary musical last night 19th May 2008. We struggled through the first half and only went back for the second half in the vain hope that it would improve (it did not). We were not surprised to see a load of empty seats at the start of the second half.
The performances were good dont get me wrong, with the exception of a VERY unconvicing Otto, the German general, almost as unconvicing as the story line. Leaving the theatre felt like The Great Escape.
BEAUTIFUL THEATRE though
Saw this a few weeks ago. The score was quite pleasant, but not much stood out (China Doll was a beautiful song, but I’d be hard pressed to recall the tune or lyrics.) Very unsympathetic main character, but a strong ensemble.
What a load of rubbish. i have seen everything on in the West end and this is up with the best of them. The music is amazing-such a shame that there isn`t a CD out yet. Julien is amazing and has a great voice for this part although i do admit that sometimes Ruthie`s voice is missing something! If you haven`t seen it yet, do go before it leaves London-who knows I may see you there as I can`t wait to go again!
The music throughout Marguerite is indeed very good, and complicated enough to satisfy my demanding taste too. The double duets are quite something and there’s plenty of key changes and variety of tempo and harmony even during reprise of the same basic melody, which is what musical theatre is all about at its best. As for Ruthie’s voice, yes I’d agree that it never seems to move up into top gear for some reason, although the quality of sound and skill in her singing is superb. I wondered if perhaps she was holding a little bit back in order to preserve the voice and survive the season, which would be a perfectly professional thing to do. No good singing yourself hoarse for three nights and then needing time off to recuperate the vocal chords for the rest of the week. I hope Marguerite the musical moves on to one of the other London theatres to continue a lengthy West End run.