Thom Southerland triumphantly steered his way past an iceberg with his fine revival of the musical Titanic at this address. But he is sunk by this impossibly earnest, English-language production of a new French musical about the early life of Louis Braille, the blind teenager who invented a system of reading and writing that opened up books to blind people.
Jean-Baptiste Saudray’s score is clearly influenced by the lush lyricism of Les Misérables, but substantial swaths appear to have been composed entirely from corn syrup. We follow floppy-haired, boyband-ready Louis (Jack Wolfe), permanently surrounded by winsome children (blindfolded; there are no blind performers in the cast), as he struggles to win over jealous bully Gabriel (Jason Broderick) and survive the machinations of Monsieur Dufau (Ashley Stillburn). Dufau’s the teacher who believes that until a cure for blindness is found – and he’s doing his wicked best to help, with a sideline in child-snatching for a mad medic – the children are best taught basket-weaving not sonnets.
This show’s heart is in the right place, but is shamelessly exposed all the time as the emotions run from mildly mushy to squelchy. Southerland’s production, which uses a revolve stage with determined, dizzying purposelessness, is as over-busy and overwrought as the score and the scenario. The unfortunate cast mostly get to display three facial expressions: beatific smiles, exaggerated concern or terrible anguish. They don’t stint.
• At Charing Cross theatre, London, until 24 June. Box office: 08444 930650.
