Very often small is not only more effective but the only possible right thing. Producer Danielle Tarento, co-founder of the Menier, and director Thom Southerland have proved this again and again with their pocket-sized musicals. They have packed the sinking of the Titanic and the sour politics of Parade into weeny spaces at Southwark, and made the pieces look not cramped but freighted.
Now they try the same feat with The Grand Tour. First produced 35 years ago, this is not one of the successes that made composer and lyricist Jerry Herman famous. It never will have the acclaim of Hello, Dolly! or La Cage aux Folles. Based on the Franz Werfel play Jacobowsky and the Colonel, it is an ironically titled musical drama about flight from the Nazis, set in the France of 1940. It has a syrupy plot and winsome, evocative tunes.
Put it on as a big show and it would look shabby. Yet as modestly staged here, it matters less that the plot is fey and the characters sketchy stereotypes: one bold, dunderheaded Polish officer; one witty, sympathetic Jewish refugee; one lovely female as the love interest. Southerland makes The Grand Tour look like a sideways glance at a big subject rather than a hopeless attempt at a full-on tackle. Phil Lindley’s pastel design unfolds like a pop-up book to show a map of Europe, the entrance to a circus tent, the lights of a wharf, and an understairs hiding place. Southerland’s direction drives the action straight on, with never a pause for applause. The score – klezmer and waltz and a touch of tango – whisks all over the continent, delivering sourness and terror with a lilt and scamper. A chorus of eight manage to sound like a mighty throng. Not a grand tour, but a memorable excursion.
• The Grand Tour is at the Finborough theatre, London SW10 until 21 Feb
