A second life has been granted to the musical adaptation of From Here To Eternity, complete with new staging, added songs, and a completely revised order. Under a new creative team, this version of the show feels a lot darker with some welcome changes.
I saw the original production of this show back in 2013 – which was also professionally recorded so you can still view it if you missed out! When I heard this musical was coming back, I knew I had to go see how it would fair in a much smaller space.
** SPOILERS AHEAD **
What’s it about?
Adapted from the Oscar winning 1954 movie, From Here To Eternity tells the story of soldiers in G-Company in the midst of an escalating war. With dark themes of military brutality, queer treatment in the army, prostitution and illicit affairs, it’s not an easy watch. This production is grittier than the West End version, just as the source material, written by ex-soldier James Jones, intended it to be.
As the days pass by, and we get ever closer to the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbour in 1941, we watch as these soldiers battle with the mental challenges of being in the US army. The main story follows Private Prewitt, a young man who has been ordered to join G Company to help Captain Holmes win a boxing tournament and secure his promotion. However, Prewitt is battling demons which prevent him from being able to follow through with this. Meanwhile, the Captain’s wife is having an affair with another soldier.
Chopping and changing
The creative team have really taken a pair of scissors to the original production and cut and and changed things to try and fix the problems the show had. In some ways, I really thought this worked. But in others, not so much. I prefer the new song order mostly, and really enjoyed the addition of the sultry ‘At Ease’, which replaced an arguably dull song. The only addition I despised was ‘I Know What You Came For’.
Meanwhile, I don’t agree or understand the choice to move ‘Fight the Fight’ to the second act. I feel like once we put it closer to the end of the show, the song becomes irrelevant to the plot as it is telling us things we already know. This is a huge shame as it is definitely one of my favourite songs in the entire show.
The scenic design felt both simplistic yet effective. Being in-the-round gave a really intimate and darker feel to a show that at times felt like a spectacle at the Shaftesbury Theatre. The video design by Louise Rhoades-Brown was a clever and visually appealing way to inform the audience of the location and date in the style of a ticker-tape printout. Choreography was performed with military precision (sorry, can’t help myself), and it was amazing how such a large cast managed to not collide with one another in such a small space.
The music and lyrics, by Stuart Brayson and Tim Rice, is a gorgeous mix of swing, blues, jazz and military marching beats. Some stand out songs for me have always been ‘Fight the Fight’, ‘Thirty Year Man’ and ‘Ain’t Where I Wanna Be Blues’. New orchestrations from Nick Barstow have breathed a joyful new life into the score.
The performances
Jonny Aimes has mastered how to make the audience both laugh one moment, then weep in despair the next. He plays Maggio, a soldier who ends up being thrown into military prison for his sexuality, ironically beaten to death by the very organisation he pledged his life to. ‘I Love The Army’ is a bitterly sarcastic song lamenting how the army isn’t the life he thought it would be.
Adam Rhys-Charles as Warden adds some beautiful vocals to the cast, as does Jonathon Bentley who captivates everyone with his version of ‘Fight the Fight’. Desmonda Cathabel, recent recipient of the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Award, shows us why she deserved that award with a devastating rendition of ‘Run Along, Joe’ as Lorene.
Final Thoughts
With some first-rate performances from emerging talent, this revival has attempted some fine tuning to this originally flopped show. But even with these changes, I feel like the characters are lacking depth and you leave the theatre wishing they were a bit more fleshed out.
The simple staging and minimal use of props didn’t impede on the action, and I think it’s an incredible feat to put a show like this on a smaller stage. I may be in the minority when I say I think I much preferred this version of the show to the original at the Shaftesbury Theatre. However, I really enjoyed some of the new additions, and Nick Barstow’s orchestrations so much that I’m already booked to go back just to hear this score live again.
Have you seen From Here To Eternity? Let me know your thoughts on the show in the comments below!