The Little Prince at London Coliseum.As a children’s book, the story offers interplanetary adventure and surrealist landscapes so why then did last evening’s grand theatrical reworking (presented at the London Coliseum no less), fail so thunderously to deliver the remotest element of magic?
First off, irrespective of some notably accomplished performers (Lee Kok Liang as The Vain Man, Marie Manuge as The Rose, Edouard Goux as The Drunkard and Dylan Barone in the title role), the choreography lacks focus in spite of the performers who genuinely seem to be trying their best in a production which lacks humour and eschews intelligibility in favour of self-conscious, even pompous gravitas. It’s often dull and only rarely veers towards interesting (e.g. The Ballet of the Roses). Am I being unkind? With few exceptions the performers looked as though they long for their agents to secure for them a role in the umpteenth French regional tour of Cats!
The tale’s wildly diverse landscapes should offer enormous design potential for any creative but here, gaudy and unsophisticated backdrop projections courtesy of Marie Jumelin serve only as clumsy segmentation to the storyline. In truth the graphics appear barely more advanced than those deployed in Lloyd-Webber’s 2004 production of Woman in White (which lingers in the memory, for all the wrong reasons). There is simply no excuse to be using such stylistically passé effects in 2025.
Press night was peppered with pregnant pauses whilst performers awaited applause which rarely came. On those few occasions when it eventually bubbled forth, it did so apologetically and with a faint hint of condolence (or was it death?)
The overarching question I found myself wondering throughout the show was, who is this aimed at? There were smatterings of adults with young children who’d clearly hoped the show would prove a dazzling distraction, but there were no squeals of delight or amused giggles to be heard. The likelihood was any kids would have nodded-off with their exhausted parents. Dance aficionados won’t see anything compelling in the contribution from choreographer Anne Tournié who also directs, and as for the much publicised acrobatic elements, they appear as cruise ship-style, third-rate-masquerading-as-Cirque-du-Soleil efforts.
On reflection this may seem a harsh appraisal, but with seat prices as high as they are, the production offers an exceedingly poor return on investment for patrons (never mind its producers).
