Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Musical at Theatre Royal Bath

Alfred Hitchcock Presents was an anthology series telling thrilling stories of suspense and terror that ran from 1955 to 1962. Spanning 268 episodes averaging around half an hour per terrifying tale, bringing this format to the stage was nothing short of a challenge in theory. Where do you start to choose the stories you adapt to the stage?

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*

My Review:

The plot follows an ensemble cast of characters from some of Hitchcock's most classic episodes and their stories. It directly takes from the episodes:

Lamb to the Slaughter
The Motive
The Baby Sitter
Coming Mama
Dead Weight
The Man with a Problem
The Woman Who Wanted to Live
The Right Kind of House

Culminating all of the above with an additional overarching tale summarising “what everyone wants”, which in this case is simple - to commit murder.

The score of this show is a beautiful tribute to its source material. Being an ode to Hitchcock with the signature stings of Charles Gounod's Funeral March of a Marionette in the tone of the Late Great Stephen Lutvak’s wonderful composition, it’s upbeat and jazzy with a brilliant dramatic flair when the story calls for it. With a few nods here and there to popular 50s musicals, each song will easily get stuck in your head if you’re familiar with Lutvaks earlier work.

Jay Dyer's book brilliantly combines these elements of these tales and crosses them over each other, making the originally separate tales feel like we are swooping through a set, shooting multiple episodes within the same full-of-life world.

How Fast Do You Fall is a haunting melody that follows us through three quarters of the narrative before it’s payoff - a stunning refrain that highlights the best of Lutvaks tone, key and romanticism beautifully.

Scarlett Strallen embodies the role of a true Hitchcock Blonde! She brings Mary to life as the unsuspecting, driven-to-madness housewife effortlessly switching from elements of both James Stewart and Grace Kelly in Rear Window. Her solo number Lemon Chiffon evokes the feminine rage of I'm Breaking Down from Falsettos combined with the paranoia of Evil from The Witches of Eastwick, wrapped in a neat little package.

This entire cast brings this show to life so wonderfully, from Sally Ann Tripplet’s stunning performance as the comedic Lottie and shifting to the much darker Sadie Grimes in act 2, Alister Brammer and Matthew Caputo's fabulous duo of Richard and Tommy, Keanna Bloomfield and Ahmed Hamad as the lovers Millie and Arthur and the phenomenal vocal strength of Jade Oswald as Lisa.

The costuming is timeless and pristine, black and white monochrome with a mix of white and warm lighting beautifully emphasising the aesthetic and bringing you right into a living room of the mid 1950s. Tommy Greer’s costuming particularly stood out to me as it came across as an homage to many of Hitchcock's overconfident leading men's styles. There is a line quite early on that is Tommy turning to Richard, asking if he thought he was really capable of going through with murder, that evokes the feeling of characters such as Maxim De Winter and Bruno Antony. These details along with little nods visually and lyrically to some of Hitchcock's greatest films, prove this is a hoot!

In an interview available to read in the productions programme, Lutvaks love of Hitchcock is mentioned heavily, and this show encapsulates that love so well. It’s a wonderful tribute to the TV series by writers and composers that clearly loved the works of the master of suspense. The show has the makings of a cult classic, and getting to see it in its first run has been a personal privilege.

Content Warnings:

The theatre did not have any displayed content warnings that I could see, however, the poster used as part of advertising for this show did contain the tagline 'Everybody wants to murder somebody'. I did make note of some moments that I thought would be worth mentioning, which were as follows:

Murder depicted and implied in the following methods:
- Stabbing
- Gunshots/Bullets
- Poisoning
- Blunt Force Trauma
- Pushed off a Ledge
Contemplation of Suicide
Gang Conspiracy
Paranoia
People held at gunpoint
Infidelity
Blackmail

Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope this review has proved interesting and helpful for you :)

- AnxiousTheatregoer