Songs for Swinging Gay Lovers

Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre

Two gay men perform love songs at a secret nightclub in 1965. The critics were ecstatic about Ben Platt‘s singing as Trevor and Mark Sonnenblick‘s Cole Porter-style songs. Platt’s songwriting, piano-playing partner Arthur is played by Gregor Milne. Barry James also appears. David Cromer directs.

4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Marianka Swain for the Telegraph introduced the show: ‘Life is a cabaret, old chum. That’s especially true for Trevor Copeland in Midnight at the Never Get, a singer at an illegal gay nightclub in mid-1960s New York, who expresses his forbidden love through defiant torch songs written by his paramour. It’s certainly an intriguing premise, but this bijou chamber musical has a huge additional draw: Trevor is played by Tony-winning American actor Ben Platt and, in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s intensely intimate production, audiences can experience his remarkable talent at close quarters.’

Kate Wyver at The Guardian described the scene: ‘With the Menier Chocolate Factory set up as a lamplit cabaret (set by Scott Pask), Platt is Trevor Copeland, a crooning bar-singer reliving the years he spent with songwriter Arthur Brightman, played with plate-spinning brilliance by Gregor Milne. The history of their love is told through stories shaped around American Songbook-style music, only occasionally syrupy, as the pair slip in and out of Sonnenblick’s inventions: now a jaunty knee-bouncing number; now a big-band ballad.’ ‘The draw for Midnight at the Never Get will inevitably be Platt, but there is more to this small gem of a show. Tender, funny, and thoughtful — the Menier has done it again.’

Writing for LondonTheatre, Aliya Al-Hussan described the star: ‘Sincere, self-effacing, with flashes of fragility and effervescent emotion, Platt connects with the audience from the moment he appears. Trevor brims with amusing quips and seemingly honest storytelling, which gradually crack to show inconsistencies and alternative narratives. Platt’s vibrato-tinged voice is perfectly suited to the material and it’s a joy to witness his talents from such close quarters.’

Theo Bosanquet at WhatsOnStage agreed: ‘This is a rare opportunity to see a singular talent at the top of his game giving full virtuoso flex to material that feels ripe with embryonic potential. And, although I found the protracted denouement a little too saccharine for my palate, there’s no question that when Platt and James blast out “My Song” with the defiance that only battle-scarred lovers can, it’s a moment you’ll be glad to say you saw.’

Clementine Scott at BroadwayWorld talked about: ‘The metatheatrical style of Midnight feels perfect for someone like Platt, who may be exceptionally talented and the most memorable musical theatre voice of his generation, but possesses a distinctive, vibrato-laden voice that can divide opinion. This is a show where he can play something of a caricature of an esoteric well-known performer, all while indulging his voice’s rich emotional potential and natural comic timing in Mark Sonnenblick’s songs. And what songs they are.’

Tom Wicker for Time Out also talked about songs: ‘The way in which Sonnenblick, partly through Trevor’s casual asides, creates in Arthur a fictional superstar of the great American songbook, is a delicious blurring of reality and theatrical invention. This is heightened by his score and lyrics, which are lushly evocative of Cole Porter. They feel like songs you almost remember. But as Arthur (initially) insists on keeping male pronouns in these classically framed love songs, they become – in one of the show’s strongest through-lines – a powerful social lens.’

3 stars ⭑⭑⭑

Holly O’Mahony at The Stage thought: ‘At this production’s core is a gorgeously intimate show – one that bottles the feeling of finding a love who feels like your missing half, before pouring out the misery that comes with losing them. But Cromer’s production often loses us, too, as the story’s timeline jumps about. Significant reveals are played down emotionally, which might be part of Trevor’s act, but denies these moments the magnitude that musical theatre would typically afford them. It needs some finessing.’

The Standard‘s Nick Curtis commented on ‘the suggestion that Arthur’s commitment to his art leads him to sacrifice his emotional life and betray Trevor. I wonder with which character Sonnenblick, who wrote the music and the witty book and lyrics, most sympathises? Actually, I think I know. While Arthur bangs on about being an artist, he’s a sketchy, background character, apart from one ill-advised dance routine. This show is all about Trevor and therefore all about Platt.’

The Times’ Clive Davis commented: ‘It’s a lost world evoked in immaculate detail in David Cromer’s production: a bold, unconventional drama that doesn’t, in the end, pay quite as much attention to the inner lives of the two lovers, Trevor and Arthur, who eke out a living bringing their songs to audiences at a nightspot called the Never Get.’ He acknowledged: ‘Platt’s fans will surely enjoy the opportunity to hear him close-up. His heart-on-sleeve singing, topped by a delicate falsetto, is flawless. He captures too the inner desperation of a performer who is, we begin to realise, a less than reliable narrator.’

Critics’ average rating 3.7⭑

Midnight at the Never Get can be seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre until 12 September 2012. Buy tickets directly from the theatre www.menierchocolatefactory.com

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