'Violet' at Charing Cross Theatre

It's been a good year for Jeanine Tesori who wrote 'Violet' which is on at Charing Cross Theatre while another of her shows, 'Caroline, or Change' is playing down the road at the Playhouse and just six months after another of her shows, 'Fun Home' was on at the Young Vic. It's clearly her time in London.

'Violet' is based on 'The Ugliest Pilgrim' by Doris Betts, a short story telling the tale of a young woman who travels by bus across America to get a prominent scar on her face magically repaired by a charismatic preacher. It's set in 1964 with the racism of the time and on her bus journey we meet several of her fellow passengers including two soldiers, on black and one white, who she develops relationships with. There are flashbacks to her as a young girl with her father and we find out that he gave her the scar in an accident with his axe. We follow Violet's adventures as she travels across country until she reaches the preacher but can he heal her? And what actually needs to be healed?

I quite liked the structure of the work, a bit picaresque moving from one set scene to another courtesy of the motif of the bus and the journey. What didn't work terribly well was the character of Violet, the heroine who should be sympathetic but I found her a bit too militant, too sure of what was she was doing and what the outcome would be - a bit of self-doubt would have helped a lot, I think.

Kaisa Hammarlund was good, if a little bit turbo-charged, as Violet, with an excellent voice and she delivered the songs really well, especially her quiet song to her soldier lover as he falls asleep after their first night together. I also liked Jay Marsh as the soldier who falls in love with Violet but, sadly, isn't the soldier she sleeps with.

I think my main problem with the show is that I couldn't remember any of the songs, even while walking to the tube station. They sort of oddly work while watching the show but aren't sufficiently memorable. A musical ought to have a few songs you go home humming. I wasn't humming anything.