There may be Nazis and nuns in this old Broadway musical, now getting its European premiere, but it’s no Sound of Music. Even with a score by Jerry Herman, of Hello Dolly! fame, it ran for only 61 performances in New York in 1979, and it’s not hard to see why: the book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble is sedulously faithful to a pretty dreadful source play, Franz Werfel’s Jacobowsky and the Colonel.
The story is set during the fall of France in 1940 and involves a desperate flight from the Nazis with a list of names of those prepared to form a Polish government in exile. The list is entrusted to the aristocratic, antisemitic Colonel Stjerbinsky, who depends for his escape on a wily survivor, Jacobowsky. But, although fellow countrymen, the two travellers are Poles apart. The tension between them is heightened when the Colonel makes a detour to collect his fiancee, Marianne, who as they journey along is understandably drawn to the witty, humane Jacobowsky.
That is the nub of the problem. Jacobowsky not only has many of the best tunes, including the opening and closing I’ll Be Here Tomorrow; he also shows a sprightly resilience that includes turning himself into a circus high-wire performer and practising rabbi, which makes the Colonel look even more of a blockish dunderhead than he really is. Obviously the show is intended as a tribute to the strength of a Jewish survival instinct that eventually wins over the bigoted Colonel. But that makes nonsense of the story’s romantic aspect and Marianne’s ultimate loyalty to her bone-headed beau.
The show is partially redeemed by the liveliness of Herman’s score. It is also staged with astonishing inventiveness by Thom Southerland. Phil Lindley’s backdrop of a map of western Europe opens up like an advent calendar, Cressida Carré’s resourceful choreography manages to conjure up a travelling circus on this tiny stage and Joanna Cichonska’s musical direction allows two pianos to evoke a range of orchestral colours.
Alastair Brookshaw is first-rate as Jacobowsky: he has an unforced charm and easy presence that suggests the instinctive optimism of the born refugee. Nic Kyle has a tougher task as the stiff-backed Colonel but at least makes sense of his final conversion, while Zoe Doano is softly beguiling as Marianne and the other eight actors swap roles with unstinting energy. It is all done with great brio, but I fear it is a part of the Herman back catalogue that remains justly neglected.
• Until 21 February. Box office: 0844-847 1652. Venue: Finborough, London.
