REVIEW: Two Cities - Original London Cast
It was the best of shows, it was the worst of shows. The appeal of Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities as source material for a musical isn’t difficult to fathom: it can easily be presented as a sweeping romance with an epic historical backdrop, there’s plenty of room for spectacle, and the story can accommodate a large chorus. It’s also a familiar title, and (like Les Misérables for the French) everybody knows the most famous lines, and has at least some idea of the basic plot. It’s been adapted for the musical stage several times – at least four musicals, plus a couple of operas – but (unlike Les Misérables) it’s never become a major stage hit.This particular adaptation, titled simply Two Cities, opened at London’s Palace Theatre in 1969, and it has two headline attractions: music by Jeff Wayne, who went on to compose the score for the War of the Worlds concept album, and Edward Woodward making a (relatively) rare musical appearance as Sydney Carton. They’re both worth your attention; as for the show itself, it received a decidedly mixed critical response, and based on the material on this album, it’s not at all difficult to see why.
That said, the best parts of the score are very, very good indeed. ‘And Lucie Is Her Name’ is lovely, and Kevin Colson gives it a lovely performance. ‘Two Different People’, a duet for Colson (Charles Darnay) and Elizabeth Power (Lucie Manette), is ravishing, and thrillingly sung. Much of the score is at least attractive; the chorus numbers understandably sometimes come across as a grown-up version of Lionel Bart’s work on ‘Oliver!’, which is no bad thing, and in the big romantic moments the sweeping strings are reminiscent of a huge Hollywood epic. Woodward is a (much) better than decent singer, and while his ‘Only a Fool’ is basically a warmed-over retread of ‘The Impossible Dream’, it’s an enjoyable listen. Power’s zesty, charismatic soprano is always a joy, and there are characterful performances in all of the supporting roles. A lot of the material on the album is thoroughly entertaining.
To get to the good stuff, though, you have to wade through the turgid opening chorus, ‘The Best of Times’, which really doesn’t work on any level. The chorus numbers are the weakest part of the score, and this is probably the weakest of them; it doesn’t help that the chorus singing throughout is rather ragged around the edges (the album was apparently made very quickly). The album includes an appendix of demo recordings made a couple of years before the show was produced in London; they’re interesting to listen to once, but you probably won’t go back for more. And it’s painfully obvious why ‘The Wine That Flows in the Street’ was cut: it sounds like a Herman’s Hermits reject with a ham-fisted lyric about blood.
Your first impression of this score, then, may not be all that auspicious, but it’s worth persevering; like many of the other albums Stage Door Records have re-released, this is a fascinating recording. It’s reasonably clear that at least some of the material didn’t work on stage at all, but the best things in this score are superb, and the performances are very fine indeed. And the best (in terms of the main body of the score) is saved for last: Sydney Carton’s closing ‘It’s a Far, Far Better Thing’ is simply stunning, and Woodward sings it with real power. For this, and for more or less everything sung by Woodward, Colson, and Power, this re-release of Two Cities is a welcome reminder of a score that had all but disappeared without trace.
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