Michael Richmond’s and Nola York’s quirky little musical made its debut at the Orange Tree in 1975 and, judging by this revival, overreached and overachieved when it transferred to the Fortune Theatre in the West End.
Perhaps it became a victim of its own success. The show built up quite a following when it first appeared. Queues went around the block when the block was the pub in whose upstairs room founding Orange Tree artistic director Sam Walters set up shop in 1971. These days the venue has its own building over the road.
The run at the Fortune ended after just five weeks — too short to be considered anything other than a failure, but in the long catalogue of West End crashes, far from embarrassing. Much worse shows have lasted longer. Much better shows have closed more quickly.
But anyone coming to The Lady or the Tiger afresh is bound to wonder what all the fuss was about. The pleasingly silly premise is drawn from a story by the 19th-century American humorist Frank Stockton. The action takes place in what Andrew C Wadsworth’s amiable, fez-wearing factotum calls a “semi-barbaric kingdom” — a country run by Howard Samuels’s ironically short Highness.
In the programme this king is described as a lovable tyrant, though in truth he makes Caligula look like Harold Macmillan. Laws include compulsory bingo in which losers are executed, orgies are encouraged, and — government take note — the Ducie Supremo, as he likes to be known, has hit upon a novel way to control both population and pension costs — his subjects are put to death at the age of 65.
The tuba's tone hits you like a deep-tissue massage
It is a policy that would have a drastic effect on the Orange Tree’s box office. Apart from National Theatre matinees, this theatre probably attracts the oldest demographic of any venue. A colleague once told me he saw a show here in which, whatever direction the cast performed — the auditorium is a cosy circle — they were faced by snoozing patrons with their chins resting on their cashmere-covered chests. That was not the case on this night — although there was one elderly chap sitting opposite me who valiantly fought the urge to drop off by viewing the entire two-and-a-quarter-hour show through just one open eye.
This is no particular indictment of the musical or Waters’s peppy production. There are longeurs but mostly they are entertainingly filled by musicians Greg Last and Tom Sellwood, who impress with an array of instruments including a double-bass that is heartily slapped jive-style and a tuba whose delicious tone hits you like a deep-tissue massage.
One number even prompts a sing-along with the audience. Don’t worry — it is all done in the potty, fun-loving spirit of the evening, with everyone singing a childish little ditty beloved by the king about how chariot wheels go round and round and which has similarly insightful observations about fish in ponds and the wings of birds.
By now you could be forgiven for thinking that plot is not the point of an evening in which the late Michael Richmond’s lyrics provide rude wit — for example, a life can apparently be measured “from sperm to worm”. There is also some very good singing delivered by Riona O Connor as the king’s 25–year-old daughter, “daddy’s little girl” who yearns for some grown up hanky panky.
But you would be wrong about the plot. For the evening builds to a diverting little dilemma. As with Stockton’s story, the stage version of The Lady or the Tiger features a minstrel who is punished for falling for (and in bed with) the sex-starved princess. So he has to take part in the king’s hare-brained form of justice which involves choosing between two doors. Behind one awaits a hungry tiger, behind the other, the most beautiful woman in the land — not the Princess. The minstrel’s guilt will be determined by which door he chooses. But the real dilemma is the Princess’s. Does she save her beau by having him choose the unseen mysterious lady, or does she show him the tiger door and save herself a life of jealousy? What Would You Do? — performed directly at the audience — is the show’s catchiest tune.
It would be wrong to tell you the end. But still, a little reworking of Richmond’s and Jeremy Paul’s book — maybe starting with the dilemma and playing the rest of the story in flashback — would have given this show some much-needed tension.
Quite how in 1975 the producers thought that this musical could make it in the West End is an utter mystery. But you can see why Walters looks back with fondness on the thing. It has charm, and thanks to Nola York’s melodies, some better than average songwriting. And in the Orange Tree’s snug auditorium, it delivers a warming evening in this brutally cold January.
(Tel: 020 8940 3633)