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# REVIEW: City of Angels @ Garrick Theatre
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/review-city-of-angels-garrick-theatre/
- Published: 2020-03-15T16:50:30.000Z
- Updated: 2020-03-15T16:50:30.000Z
- Description: City of Angels is a musical theatre homage to the golden days of Tinseltown and the genre of film noir and a truly under-rated musical in a category of its own.
- Author: Brian Butler

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/coa-600.jpg)](https://www.gscene.com/arts/music/review-city-of-angels-garrick-theatre/attachment/coa-600/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)

Take a stressed-out novelist turned Hollywood scriptwriter called Stone, played with a smouldering coolness by **Hadley**

**Fraser** and bring to life his fictional detective Stine , all laid-back sex appeal and sarcasm in every vein, wonderfully portrayed by **Theo James**.

It’s a terrific cocktail and in this re-creation of the hit [Donmar Warehouse production](https://www.cityofangelsmusical.co.uk/?ref=scenemag.co.uk) , we get huge portions of sassy,classy, sexy jazz-hot song and dance and one of the wittiest scripts you’ll ever come across.

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/city-of-angels600.jpg)](https://www.gscene.com/arts/music/review-city-of-angels-garrick-theatre/attachment/city-of-angels600/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)

The creative trio are a dream team – **Larry Gelbart**’s inventive book is matched by **Cy Coleman’ s** luscious, velvety ,sexy score and **David Zippel’**s witty, sarcastic ,sassy lyrics.

Josie Rourke’s stylish, slick direction and Brighton-based choreographer **Stephen Mear**’s deft craftsmanship combine with the best singing you will currently hear on the West End stage . All the principals are outstanding and the song and dance quartet ensemble have their moments in the sun thanks to Mear’s inventiveness on what is not a big musical theatre stage space.

The dance and movement is integral to the story and it’s adventurous, challenging ,camp and sensuous , combining the jazz rhythms and laid-back sounds of the musicians, led by **Mark Aspinall**.

Robert Jones’ set is stunning – at timers minimalist Art Deco but for the most made up of towering piles of film scripts high into the flies above the stage .

City of Angels is a musical theatre homage to the golden days of Tinseltown and the genre of film noir and a truly under-rated musical in a category of its own.

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/imagffe600.png)](https://www.gscene.com/arts/music/review-city-of-angels-garrick-theatre/attachment/imagffe600/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)

Theo James is a darkly handsome private eye in the self-deprecating style of Philip Marlowe . Hadley Fraser as his creator is witty, also self-critical but with a strong sexy attraction to the women he encounters. They both have magnificent singing ranges and are up to the machine-gun rate of lyrics that they have to deliver. Their duet “ *You’re Nothing without Me* “ is a total show-stopper.

[![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/image600.png)](https://www.gscene.com/arts/music/review-city-of-angels-garrick-theatre/attachment/image600/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)

The show boasts really strong female roles . **Rosalie Craig** as ther writer’s wife and true detective’s ex-mistress is bold, brassy and larger than life. **Vanessa Williams** is visually and vocally stunning as the scheming heiress Alaura and ex-Girls Aloud member **Nicola Roberts** is outstanding as the missing girl around him the plot revolves.

Virus-permitting, the show is a sure-fire hit in its short run until September . Bound to be Broadway-bound in my view once the world settles down.

City of Angels is at the Garrick Theatre, London. For more info or to book tickets check [out the website here](https://www.cityofangelsmusical.co.uk/?ref=scenemag.co.uk)