Little Lark of London

“And yet I must admit that this thing that has happened does not affect me as it should. ” – Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

Walking into Southwark Playhouse’s The Large for Dorian: The Musical, you are greeted by a thrust stage made to look and feel like both a club and a recording studio. The set, designed by Isabella Van Braeckel, extends out into the audience, with framed photographs of members of the infamous “27 Club” – Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones hanging above the seats. The band for the show, James Green, Ashley Blasse and Musical Director Aaron Clingham, are visible behind furniture and a makeshift sound booth. On the second floor of the set, records cover the walls and there is a vanity covered in flowers, quite reminiscent of something you may have found on the set of Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City. 

The show, directed by Linnie Reedman (who also wrote the book) with music and lyrics by Joe Evans, thrusts Dorian Gray (Alfie Friedman) into the 21st century, making him an aspiring rock musician who has just been signed to a record company after YouTube videos of him performing went viral. You would think that Wilde’s dark novel would be the perfect work to be adapted into a gothic-themed rock musical. Under better circumstances, you would be correct. In this production, however, there is a complete lack of connection to the original work. 

While the show has an interesting concept, it fails to deliver in nearly all aspects.The choice to make the action happen in the 21st century is questionable, especially because of how quickly the modern references are forgotten throughout the show. The “picture” of Dorian becomes a photograph, though it appears throughout the show as a framed painting in contrast to the actual photographs hanging around the theatre. There are references to YouTube and TikTok, yet there is only one scene in the beginning in which phones are even shown. It would have been much better to place the show in the 1970s or 1980s, where the rock vibe would have been all the rage and this Dorian would have fit right in. 

Where Dorian the Musical truly struggles is keeping to the spirit of the original work while still presenting their own interpretation. The music is very repetitive and fails to bring the energy needed for the vibe that they are going for, with ballad after ballad and only a few actual rock numbers. Even with the dark themes and the rock’n’roll atmosphere, the choreography is quite cheesy, with repeated hand motions throughout that don’t allow the performers to show off their dancing abilities as much as they can, though we are given short glimpses in a few numbers. There are also some bizarre choices like the fact that at the end of the show, Dorian is celebrating his 27th birthday. In the original book, the time jump from the first part of the novel to the end is eighteen years, which would have made Dorian only nine years old when he first met Harry. While I understand it was to make Dorian connect to the “27 Club,” the heartbreak of the real members of that club has no impact on the show as a show and feels slightly tasteless.

Basil Hallward is now “Baz” (Leeroy Boone) a famous photographer who obsesses over Dorian Gray after first taking his photo. Boone plays Baz as monotonous and nearly creepily obsessed with Dorian, instead of an older man wanting to take care of this young person who is being corrupted.  The demise of Hallward, the only moral character in the work, is meant to be a moment in which Dorian truly proves he has no humanity left, leading him closer to his downfall. In this version, however, the death of Baz is greeted with laughs and Dorian appears remorseful for what he has done, especially after the intense dance he just shared with the man. 

Dorian’s costumes are very Harry Styles-esque, with flowing robes and bursts of colour. Just as it is difficult to imagine Harry Styles committing atrocities, it is difficult to see Freidman’s Dorian as one who can be so cold-hearted that others can see he no longer has his soul. Friedman has a lovely voice, but it needs more power and darkness compared to what we are given with repetitive rock ballads. His relationships with Sybil and, eventually, her sister, Fabian (both played by the fantastic Megan Hill), appear to be full of longing with nothing sinister underneath, as one feels when reading Wilde’s work. There is a strong focus on Dorian wanting to be good, but it is difficult to feel anything for him when he commits random acts of hatred and immediately regrets them. 

It is incredibly frustrating to see young actors playing the Wottons and Hallward, especially with the time jump in the show where they still all appear to be in their 20s and 30s. Harry Wotton (George Renshaw) certainly pulls off the charm, but he is not the man who has years of experience and would be able to corrupt someone impressionable like Dorian. Victoria Wotton (Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson) is more fleshed out in this production than in Wilde’s novel, though she still mostly exists for the purpose of serving the men in the novel with a quick moment of a queer relationship at the end. Even with these complaints, a highlight of the show is Renshaw’s performance as Harry. He has some gorgeous songs, particularly “Where The Yellow Roses Grow,” that allow Renshaw to show off his vocal talents, even if they are wildly out of character.

Without going into too many spoilers for the ending of the show (though the original work is over a century old), there are changes made that make no sense and take away from the powerful impact that Wilde’s novel made. I found myself groaning in frustration at the choices being made, especially for the most pivotal scene at the end involving Dorian’s portrait – or, in this case, a heavily edited photograph. 

Ultimately, Dorian: The Musical is a disappointing adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray that manages to take away all the wrong messages from the original work. The concept is good, but the show needs some major changes if it is ever going to become a work that can truly honour Wilde’s work while giving it a modern, queerer update. To quote one of the characters, “Quite honestly, I have no idea what’s going on” in this musical and, like the life of Dorian himself, feels like it could go on forever.

Dorian: The Musical runs from 4 July to 10 August at Southwark Playhouse Borough. For tickets and more information, click here.

Photo Credit: Danny Kaan