'Anyone Can Whistle' at The Jermyn Street Theatre

I continued my Sondheim education this evening with Chris and Angela when we went to see 'Anyone Can Whistle' at The Jermyn Street Theatre. I'm afraid the lesson learnt was to be wary of early Sondheim.

I used to work in St James's Square, just round the corner from the theatre, but I've never been to that theatre before. Bijou is being complimentary, with maybe seating for about 70 people, so we were all very close to the stage. Sometimes it's better to be further away than too close.

I had no idea what the play was about and am not familiar with the songs but my worries started when it was clear that 'the band' was actually the actors who occasionally picked up instruments to play. I consider that to be a worrying sign. And I'm afraid it went downhill rapidly from there, with its almost adolescent plaintiveness, the starchy performances, the poor musicianship and the, well, daft story that strings the songs together. Whether it's Sondheim or the director, I don't know, but I didn't get the whole uniformed sub-Nazi thing going on that just made it a bit of nonsense.

I'm sorry people, I know you've poured sweat and blood into the production, but did you have to be so earnest about it as well? Would it have ruined the thing to smile once or twice? It's not your fault that Sondheim does the whole 'mad people are sane, it's the sane who are mad' '60s thing but how you interpret it is down to you. And I was not impressed. I had to cover my mouth to prevent laughter at the end when the stage was invaded with the cast as grim faced sub-Nazis - what on earth was that all about?

I'll think of Sondheim in the context of seeing 'Sunday In The Park With George', if you don't mind, and consign this to the list of things not to revisit (like 'The Sea').