The Shawshank Redemption
Wyndham’s
Othello
Trafalgar Studios
All change at Wyndham’s. The wayward sophistication and creative adventure of Michael Grandage’s first West End season has drawn to a close and been replaced by a karaoke version of The Shawshank Redemption. Smart move. Cameron Mackintosh, the theatre’s owner, must be hoping that this stale piece of air guitar will sharpen our appetite for Grandage’s return in 2010. The Shawshank copycat, directed by Peter Sheridan, has been cast with lookalikes in the Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman roles, reinforcing the impression that the priority is to cook up a comfort-food replica and not upset the punters with unfamiliar tastes. It’s a maddeningly average concept. But the show is still wonderful entertainment. It can’t fail to be. The brilliantly crafted storyline, with its false trails, unexpected climaxes and cosy Hollywood conclusion, inevitably works its schmaltzy magic.
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