Musical theatre and science are not natural bedfellows.
You can perhaps count Young Frankenstein, but that’s more musical comedy, plus Charli Eglinton’s Fallen (about Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton), and more recently, Joel Goodman’s Alan Turing: A Musical Biography.
Here, we have a musical about one of the great women of science, Marie Curie (1867-1934).
With music by Jongyoon Choi, and books/lyrics by Seeun Choun, this musical has already wowed audiences in Korea and Japan.
This is an English version of the show with lyrics by Emma Fraser and a book by Tom Ramsay. It’s an interesting concept.
The technical aspects are astounding in this 100-minute show, with shadows, projected equations, letters, advertisements and much more.
We follow the young Maria Salomea Skłodowska as she makes the journey from Poland to study at the Sorbonne.
She was 24 years old at this point and the most brilliant scholar in a classroom of men who resented her.
Marie Curie, the musical, has a nominal framing device of the Curie’s daughter, Irène, finding documents that tell her mother’s story.
This is not a constant feature, though, and in fact doesn’t feel necessary. Either include Irène throughout, or set her aside.
Once we find Marie (a powerhouse Ailsa Davidson) on the train to Paris with a new friend, Anne Kowalska (a passionate Chrissie Bhima), we are intrigued to see how their story develops.
Anne is a fictional creation for dramatic purposes, a person to give a face and voice to Polish workers in France.
Both leading women have incredible voices and intense chemistry. Sadly, Thomas Josling’s Pierre Curie is underwritten and an afterthought.
Marie Curie is known as the discoverer of the new periodic table elements polonium and radium, and double Nobel Prize winner.
Marie – who quickly and almost inexplicitly marries Pierre – follows the tried and tested path of surviving as a woman who has to fight to be taken seriously.
In this show, the long and tedious discovery of radium is presented as a physical sequence of mixing, examining, and observing, with identically clad cast members supplemented by shadows.
It is very atmospheric and gives what may be a dry subject some interest.
The songs vary from solos for Davidson and Bhima, and more upbeat songs about radium and, well, the effects of radium.
Sarah Meadows directs a complex book that omits as much as it includes (Marie had a sister already in Paris studying science, for one example).
It relies heavily on invented characters like investor and radium factory owner Ruben Delong (Richard Meek) to add a layer of drama to what could be a rather cold plot.
Marie Curie may display the odd lyrical stumble or dodgy rhyme, but this is a show which feels right at home at Charing Cross.
The band offers strong accompaniment to the musical numbers, and the sound is not too loud or overpowering.
The set and costumes, by Rose Montgomery, are excellent, offering moments of light and shade.
They come into their own when the glowing property of radium is both celebrated and feared.
The lighting by Prema Mehta adds the glowing green of discovery alongside more muted tones to iluminate the college and laboratory scenes.
I enjoyed the visual ideas and set pieces that gave the story of Mme Curie a sense of purpose, place, and position.
This is the battle of a woman scientist to make a difference, and Curie is the perfect subject to bring to the stage.
I found the plot packed in a little too much while trying to cover every angle from the medical advances to the workers dying from radiation exposure.
Marie Curie is a show that might well soar if given a bit more thought and focus.
Marie Curie continues at Charing Cross Theatre until 28 Jul. Tickets here.
***.5
Image credit: Pamela Raith