New Players Theatre, London WC2
I have a feeling that William Finn’s return to London (his previous West End show was in 1987) will go largely unnoticed. For a start, the venue is not so much off the beaten track as under it, and every so often a train pulling into or out of Charing Cross thunders overhead. Then there is the American composer’s very particular brand of music, written for characters who are generally self-obsessed, always neurotic, usually gay, invariably from New York and frequently Jewish.
But to go unnoticed would be far less than this revue — directed for this London version by Andrew MacBean — deserves. There are moments when the evening soars with terrific singing by the six-strong, high-quality cast including, Frances (Les Mis) Ruffelle, Sally Anne Triplett and the tender-voiced Ian Watkins (formerly H in the band Steps). Though Finn’s songs can be emotionally overwrought, they often stand as perfectly constructed character studies. Four Jews in a Room Bitching, for example, is exactly what it says on the tin.