Sherlock Holmes Musical
So apparently I either don't update my blog for several weeks or I post multiple posts a day... But I've had the urgent need to squee about the Sherlock Holmes musical the whole week and just couldn't find the time to put my thoughts into a coherent form - so I'll (try to) do that now. :-)
So... A Sherlock Holmes musical. Well, I must admit I went there more out of curiosity than because I expected it be to any good. I mean, seriously, Sherlock Holmes singing his deductions? What could possibly go wrong???
But then, I enjoyed the musical much more than I thought I would. No, let me say: I enjoyed it. Period. No: I enjoyed it a lot! There, we have it. :-D
The musical was set in 1910 (I think?), so Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were both played by older men. To appeal to the younger viewers, the musical writers had a very neat surprise prepared: Both Holmes and Watson had a son (appropriately called Sherlock jun. and Watson jun. ...) who formed their own detective duo. What could have been a cheap trick, actually worked really well! The two Holmes/Watson duos worked against each other trying to solve the case, always with the younger generation trying to prove themselves. The inevitable love story also worked much better with the young Sherlock than it would've with an older Holmes.
The case itself, well, maybe it was a bit of a weaker point. I mean, it wasn't bad, but if you compare it to Sherlock or so... But I suppose musicals have a different focus. The case was at first about Egyptian politics and secret organisations - then turned out to be some very personal revenge quest. Not telling you more, but there was some callback to Moriarty. (Actually one of the few references to canon stories. I felt some more wouldn't have gone amiss.)
The strength of the musical were the actors/singers and the music, though, both of which were fantastic. It wasn't a real musical performance yet - more like a beta test. That is, there were almost no costumes or props and no stage design yet and it was more like a reading / singing of the script. Apparently, this was kind of a test to convince sponsors to make a real musical out of it. That said, you didn't notice the actors hadn't been playing the musical for month already! It was that good. Both generations of Holmes/Watson were very convincing and had good dynamics (and I may have a little crush on the actor playing Sherlock jun. now... *cough*). And the music was really stirring, too. I would've bought a CD immediately had they had CDs... Also, the narrator telling the audience what would actually be happening on stage was really funny. :-D He'd be like "And they run across the stage dramatically!" while the actors were just standing there. Very amusing. ^^
Also, since this wasn't a "real" musical yet, the audience mostly were either huge Sherlock Holmes fans or friends or family of the actors and thus the atmosphere was really friendly and familiar. There were huge cheers after each song and lots of laughter at all the right moments. That was really enjoyable! :-)
Oh, and on the subject of fandom t-shirts (sunshine304 ;-) ): I was wearing my "Brainy is the new sexy" shirt and promptly met some friendly fellow Sherlockians (and Whovians as it turned out) sitting in the row behind me. :-)
So yeah, I really hope they'll be able to make this into a real musical on a big stage. I'd be the first to go and see it again! (Also, maybe then there'd be some kind of fandom for it. I've been so excited all week and yearning for fellow fans to discuss this musical, but I couldn't find any...)
Well, I hope my thoughts make any sense for people who haven't seen the musical... If not, have at least some pictures from the performance (not mine, taken from the facebook page of the musical):
Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, both sen. and jun.
Stage setup and the whole ensemble
Sherlock jun. and his love interest (Catherine Mason, who actually was quite a strong and interesting character!)
More pictures here on my tumblr.
So... A Sherlock Holmes musical. Well, I must admit I went there more out of curiosity than because I expected it be to any good. I mean, seriously, Sherlock Holmes singing his deductions? What could possibly go wrong???
But then, I enjoyed the musical much more than I thought I would. No, let me say: I enjoyed it. Period. No: I enjoyed it a lot! There, we have it. :-D
The musical was set in 1910 (I think?), so Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were both played by older men. To appeal to the younger viewers, the musical writers had a very neat surprise prepared: Both Holmes and Watson had a son (appropriately called Sherlock jun. and Watson jun. ...) who formed their own detective duo. What could have been a cheap trick, actually worked really well! The two Holmes/Watson duos worked against each other trying to solve the case, always with the younger generation trying to prove themselves. The inevitable love story also worked much better with the young Sherlock than it would've with an older Holmes.
The case itself, well, maybe it was a bit of a weaker point. I mean, it wasn't bad, but if you compare it to Sherlock or so... But I suppose musicals have a different focus. The case was at first about Egyptian politics and secret organisations - then turned out to be some very personal revenge quest. Not telling you more, but there was some callback to Moriarty. (Actually one of the few references to canon stories. I felt some more wouldn't have gone amiss.)
The strength of the musical were the actors/singers and the music, though, both of which were fantastic. It wasn't a real musical performance yet - more like a beta test. That is, there were almost no costumes or props and no stage design yet and it was more like a reading / singing of the script. Apparently, this was kind of a test to convince sponsors to make a real musical out of it. That said, you didn't notice the actors hadn't been playing the musical for month already! It was that good. Both generations of Holmes/Watson were very convincing and had good dynamics (and I may have a little crush on the actor playing Sherlock jun. now... *cough*). And the music was really stirring, too. I would've bought a CD immediately had they had CDs... Also, the narrator telling the audience what would actually be happening on stage was really funny. :-D He'd be like "And they run across the stage dramatically!" while the actors were just standing there. Very amusing. ^^
Also, since this wasn't a "real" musical yet, the audience mostly were either huge Sherlock Holmes fans or friends or family of the actors and thus the atmosphere was really friendly and familiar. There were huge cheers after each song and lots of laughter at all the right moments. That was really enjoyable! :-)
Oh, and on the subject of fandom t-shirts (sunshine304 ;-) ): I was wearing my "Brainy is the new sexy" shirt and promptly met some friendly fellow Sherlockians (and Whovians as it turned out) sitting in the row behind me. :-)
So yeah, I really hope they'll be able to make this into a real musical on a big stage. I'd be the first to go and see it again! (Also, maybe then there'd be some kind of fandom for it. I've been so excited all week and yearning for fellow fans to discuss this musical, but I couldn't find any...)
Well, I hope my thoughts make any sense for people who haven't seen the musical... If not, have at least some pictures from the performance (not mine, taken from the facebook page of the musical):
Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, both sen. and jun.
Stage setup and the whole ensemble
Sherlock jun. and his love interest (Catherine Mason, who actually was quite a strong and interesting character!)
More pictures here on my tumblr.