Come on. I dare you to impress the girl who has Mr. Chaplin's figure forever tattooed on her back.
Let's start from the beginning shall we?
Starts out with an aged Charlie watching one of his old "flickers" and wondering what went wrong. Delovely much?
Top of show. Charlie's childhood. Felt more like Oliver! and less like the more appropriate Les Miz.
This theme of glossing over/airbrushing/glorifying/watering down unfortunately continues through out the show. For a broader audience! Make it family friendly! Like my friend noted, it's called the "story" of Charlie Chaplin, not the "life". And that's how it felt.
Show me human flaws and faults. It won't make me like the show less. It will actually make me relate to the characters more... which is what I thought was the point of Realistic theatre...
Charlie's mum seems more like a martyr than a mad man. Her illness is only shown very late in Act II.
SHOW, not TELL, the audience what Charlie wanted to run away from.
But it does show what Charlie did. And what others should learn from- If you can't fit in. Make others follow.
But I wanted to see a clear separation between the artist and the man.
Accurately depicting the man as a womanizer of teenage girls isn't going to make me adore the Tramp any less.
It felt like I was watching one of the Harry Potter film adaptations- Feeling cheated that certain parts of his life were sped through, or even cut out.
Um, where was Gold Rush?
My two major issues. One: the songs. Like most of Charlie's wives, were pretty and forgettable.
Two: Multiple Charlies. Multiple mums. The aged Charlie at top and show/closing is played by a different actor than during the rest of the show. I know quick changes are needed, but please don't turn this into the Aladdin show at California Adventure. It's hard to keep up.
Also, his mum is played by the same woman who is his last wife. Incestual much?
I do understand having his last wife being featured earlier in the production- It was done in the film version of Chaplin with Moira Kelly playing his first love and his last wife, which I actually found quite touching.
But having an actress play both his wife and his mum. Hmmm.
Then having a different actress play his mum later in life...
But there were moments that stopped my heart. The most note worthy being the discovery of his iconic Tramp character. They literally have the present day Charlie revisit an earlier scene in the show from his childhood to find the vital elements for his Tramp.
It ends this whirlwind of a scene with a bump spotlight on his finished signature look, complete with the bending of his cane.
If I had paid, this one moment would have been worth the price of the ticket.
This was Charlie Chaplin. The very essence captured. Bravo! The equivalent of "Defying Gravity" but not having to sing a single note.
With that being said, Chaplin himself, or Rob McClure rather, was the only thing that doesn't need any more work. Freeze. Cut. Print. And wasn't he just adorable in his Hynkel uniform? :) I would have liked to have seen him dance with his balloon globe though.
I will note that Limelight is still in previews and is changing each day. I'm eager to see it after it opens.
"What you gonna paint, when you cannot paint the town?"
