Dorian: The Musical Explodes Onto The London Stage
A no-holds barred re-working of Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece, the Picture of Dorian Gray, explodes on the London stage this summer with Dorian: The Musical.
A cast of impossibly young, talented, beautiful and oh-so-thin people dig into a deep, dark underworld of lust, drugs and genderfluid sex in this strident rock musical.
It centres on a self-obsessed musician desperate for love denied him. He’s already killed his mother in childbirth; Not the greatest start in a life that is to become a tortured quest for eternal youth and fame.
With the help of a stylist, photographer and society mover and shaker – all desperately shallow and self-destructive characters – he becomes an overnight musical sensation. Social media adds to the poisonous cocktail.
Will he too join the notorious Club 27 whose members meet their deaths at the height of their artistic careers? Amy Winehouse, Janice Joplin, Bob Marley are a few of the portraits lining the sombre black walls of the set.
Achingly Hip & Stylish
A pounding array of 20 musical numbers played by a live band add to the intensity of this fully 21st-century production of the Victorian classic. What shocked then still has the power to make an impact on today’s unshockable audience. Ours was a committed lot – they’d abandoned the Euros England v Netherlands match – some to turn up in full Gothic, punk, faces white masks of make-up with panda eyes and black lips.
Which takes us to the stage costumes – a bizarre mix of achingly stylish outfits and charity shop tat of chiffon, diaphanous sleeves teamed with butch black studded leather. Cross dressing is in. As is gender bending.
Poor Dorian, played with little-boy-lost pathos by Alfie Friedman, is torn in every direction by fans who worship him as their King of Black Hearts. Record producers and photographers slowly warp his impressionable mind. Liberal measures of Scotch and coke stoke his downward spiral.
There is not one weak link in this young cast. Nor one bum note in their powerful singing, especially in their duets Blood and Vice, The Devil’s Bargain, See into my Soul, Song for a Dead Girl. Even these titles send a chill down the spine.
George Renshaw stars opposite Alfie as the hedonistic, monied, deeply compelling charmer Harry Wotton. Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson plays Victoria Wotton, Harry’s stylist about to be ex-wife.
A Gothic Glam-Rock Show
Leeroy Boone plays Baz Hallward, a deeply moral man and the painter of the portrait, who is infatuated with Dorian. Megan Hill takes the roles of Sibyl, Dorian’s first doomed love and her avenging sibling Fabian.
Just a note of criticism. If anything, there were too many songs that did not progress the plot. Fewer, tighter and more structured would have improved a glam-rock Gothic show that was otherwise powerful and thrilling and aims to stay true to Oscar Wilde.
“We have a huge sense of loyalty to the work of Oscar Wilde with our production of Dorian,” says Associate Director Elliot Pritchard. “At its heart, it’s a story about finding love at whatever cost.
“The team will ensure that this classic work, updated for the modern age, stays true to authentic queer storytelling at every turn. The play is not about queerness directly, but like Oscar Wilde’s life and legacy, it runs alongside, the constant companion.”
Dorian: The Musical began life as a reading at Café Royal, in the same room where Oscar Wilde staged his own readings.
This musical had a faltering start thanks to Covid hitting two days before it was due to open in March 2020. It was made available to stream during lockdown in 2021. After a workshop at The Other Palace, this version is deemed moodier, edgier, and ultimately more glam.
- Ruby in the Dust Theatre and Southwark Playhouse present Dorian: The Musical, a premiere at Southwark Playhouse Borough (The Large) for a five-week run, until August 10 2024.
- Dorian: The Musical features music and lyrics by Joe Evans and Book by Linnie Reedman.
