A Face In The Crowd
24 September 2024
Young Vic Theatre
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
The brand new musical A Face In The Crowd, with music by Elvis Costello, bursting into the Young Vic this month. It is based on the 1957 film of the same name, revolving around Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes, a drifter in mid-century Arkansas. When he is discovered by radio host Marcia Jeffries during a segment recorded at the local jail house, he immediately gains popularity for his upbeat, honest personality, and becomes a local radio celebrity. From there Marcia negotiates deals to get him onto local television in Chicago, and eventually national TV in New York. He turns the entertainment industry upside down by refusing scripts and just speaking his mind, connecting to the everyman (and woman) through his no-nonsense approach of elevating their everyday problems to empathised importance. But when he gets involved in a presidential candidate’s political campaign, his problematic views come to light more and more. Abusing his power and turning into an abusive egomaniac, Rhodes faces backlash and a falling out with Marcia.
The story is quite compelling, going from being a regular guy to extreme stardom Rhodes fulfils many of the stereotypes we have seen in celebrities whose fame went to their heads, their egos, their morals. From meteoric rise to the inevitable crash, it’s a story we’ve seen numerous times and know all too well. This familiar drama is clad in unhinged Americana 50s kitsch, unapologetically drenching the stage in the red, white, and blue. The presentation is very cheesy, teetering on the verge of cringe. It feels too much, too sparkling, too much fringe on the costumes.
While the acting talent put into the show is fantastic, with extremely strong voices, the songs is where it is let down more than the story and overwhelming U-S-A tackiness. The soundtrack is perfectly passable, but rarely rises above middling melodies. Belting out the title of the show constantly also does not do it any favours. Yes, it’s the title of the radio show, and later TV show, and a compelling metaphor, but it’s just too much, too often. It becomes a repetitive line that sucks the meaning from it.
The whimsical backdrops, again very American 50s kitsch, are a great accompaniment, though the costumes let the aesthetics down a little. There are too many clashing colours, no coherent feel from actor to actor, it feels a little like high school production level costuming that needed to make do with whatever was in the storage crates, cheapening the visual cohesion. Another decision that mystifies is the placement of the live band. To begin with, they are off to the side of the stage, visible to the audience, but they quickly disappear and only pop out once in a while, seemingly for no reason. The current trend of putting the band in musicals on the stage, visible throughout the performance, has been adding a fantastic air of artistic realness to productions, putting the usually hidden performers within view of audiences. So the decision to have them there for a few minutes, then hide them away again only for the band to run back to their spots on stage for the very last minute of the show seems like an odd one.
Overall, A Face In The Crowd isn’t necessarily a bad musical, but it isn’t a great one either. The soundtrack lets down the sparkling, overwhelming kitsch of the visuals and plot, not matching the unhinged Americana of it all. At times bafflingly intense, at others long winded and muddled, there’s an idea that could work, but this production is just a tad too messy, too manic, while at the same time not having a soundtrack to match.
