Apartment 40C
St James Studio
3 Stars
Apartment 40C is a two-act musical lasting a shade under two hours with interval. It began life as a well reviewed production at London Theatre Workshop, Fulham at the end of 2014, and now transfers after modifications and the addition of new material to St James Studio, the intimate cabaret-sized venue under the St James Theatre.
The action takes place across a single evening in a high-rise apartment in New York City. The apartment is very much lived-in, shabby, and not for show. A scatter of books, shopping, the debris of moving, a comfy sofa for end-of-day collapse, and hasty meals cooked up in a galley kitchen on the run – all this sets the tone for busy, if not frazzled, urban life with the noise and bustle and stress of the City never far away. But while ‘another hundred people’ may have ‘got off of the train’ nearby, this immediately feels an altogether more grainy, less leisured and more edgy experience than Sondheim’s Company. The set is gradually peopled by three couples all with similar names, who gradually unfold their separate yet ultimately intertwined stories in a series of scenes and songs. Sometimes the couples appear simultaneously on set and sometimes together, sometimes simply as singles. We move from dialogue and monologue to solo and duet and ultimately to ensemble. The couples span the generations from ingénues Katie and Eddie (Alex Crossley and Alex James Ellison), through young middle-aged professionals Kate and Ed (Lizzie Wofford and JohnJo Flynn) to Kathryn and Edward (Nova Skipp and Peter Gerald). Gradually we come to realize that the couples are in fact all representations of the same pair at different stages in their lives, a series of snapshots of key moments in their lives that take place all in the setting of Apartment 40C.
Stylistically and thematically this musical sits quite close to recent successes in this genre such as The Last Five Years and If/Then, but in its present form it only matches their qualities at intervals. As a way of understanding why it is perhaps helpful to bear in mind the three mantras Sondheim provides as a guide to writing for musical theatre: ‘Content dictates Form’; ‘Less is more’; and ‘God is in the details.’
On the first count the show really succeeds very well. The concept and idea of reviewing a relationship in this snapshot form is original and offers real scope for teasing the audience with gradual revelations that only lock into place fully in the second half of the evening. Moreover the musical numbers sit well as encapsulations of individual moods and moments and reactions that can then be recapitulated later in the show to even greater effect. These numbers offer good opportunities, well taken by this able cast, to develop character with nuance and subtlety. The excellent band of piano, violin and cello also fits the format most effectively, especially given the preponderance of music of elegy and wistful regret for which this combination is particularly affecting.
However, the evening is not so successful as an embodiment of ‘less is more’. This is a musical with ‘a lot of book’, to quote the programme, and while the dialogue can be incisive and effectively realistic, there are negative results too. The sheer length of the spoken scenes gives the impression, especially in the first half, that we are at a play with incidental music, rather than at a musical with an inevitable and meaningful ebb and flow between words and music as the natural vehicle of character and emotion. Moreover, much of that dialogue is not tightly focused on situation but more expositional, providing descriptive information and back-story that holds back the dramatic impetus. Snappier, shorter scenes would provide more energy and dynamism and make us believe in and care more for the characters as individuals.
This wordiness also has an impact on the music. Its predominant tone and shape is an arioso form operating at a leisurely walking pace. There are few up-tempo numbers and often the melody shifts to the instruments because the singers have too many words to get out. Melodies remain quite short rather than long breathed because so many words have to be set. More ruthless simplification of content and information would thus enhance the musical flow too. The compelling moments in musical theatre when that unique alchemy between words and music takes place; when you know a song, and only that particular song, is just the right fit for the moment, are hard to define, let alone deconstruct: but a removal of over-complication is surely a prerequisite.
This is illustrated precisely in the final twenty minutes of the show, when a key plot development suddenly focuses both dialogue and music into a taught and moving final sequence of raw emotion that makes you feel you are suddenly watching a different show. The last three songs ‘Pocket Park’, Time’, and ‘A Child’ are very fine, demonstrate what this creative team are capable of at their best, and vindicate the format of the musical as a whole. I would urge all involved to see what can be done to scatter the fairy dust of that final sequence over the first half as well.
Sondheim’s final observation is also pertinent. There are many detailed touches of acting and vocal inflection in this production, and in particular some artful passing of props from one couple to another when the same object plays in role in separate episodes, but overall the production needs to settle more securely in its current home. The set is at some points awkwardly arranged so that there was little room for the characters to move with ease around furniture and each other. Likewise there were points in the action where it was not clear why some characters remained onstage and others did not. These issues could easily be addressed as part of the general de-cluttering this show needs, all of which would reveal the simple and taut lines of what is basically an excellent concept still in need of further refinement and development.
Apartment 40c Runs At The St James Studio until April 12, 2015
