Customer Reviews

By Jeeves [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - Australia ]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

BY JEEVES - this version - is a re-working (and to my way of thinking - an improvement) of the former musical version of the same material by Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is an odd concept that seems to defy capture on DVD. The show is supposed to be being played in a local English Grange Hall or some such thing and what we (the audience in DVD-Land and the audience in the Grange Hall in the musical!) are watching is really a reenactment of events that may or may not have occurred or be occurring. The end result is that while the songs are really quite captivating and easily and readily accessible (as is the case in most of ALW's work) there is a constant ambiguation (heavens, what a word!) of the story that prevents it from becoming immediate to those who are watching - especialy those watching in DVD-Land. It is an odd DVD watching experience. I gave it 4-stars (hating the "star" system all the while) but must caution you that this is a dodgy experience all around. I am not certain it really works as a concept (the show-within-a-show thing that we have seen so often) and even when it does work - to a certain extent - it seems always to be operating at its own expense - to its own detriment. In the end I feel the CD of this show is a better experience than the DVD. Much better in fact! In your mind, you can imagine a much more effective staging! This staging simply does not work! Had I known this *I* would NOT have purchased this DVD and put the images in my brain in the first place. (Be careful what you put in your brain - you never get it out again!)

I saw this show in London and have produced it with teens and adults here in the States. How I wish it were available to watch multiple times in US format. The songs (Andrew Lloyd Webber) and script make for a delightful rendition of PG Wodehouse on stage, as Bertie Wooster reminisces about romantical mix-ups among our favorite characters: Bingo Little, Madeline Bassett, the Reverend Harold "Stinker" Pinker, Augustus Fink-Nottle and, of course - Jeeves, who saves the day as usual.

As with any adaptation of a beloved work of fiction, there will be the inevitable comparisons with one's own ideas of how the characters should be interpreted and I thought Jeeves was played without his genteel and genuine appreciation for Bertie in both the London stage production (1996) and this Canadian cast. But the gags, the production values, and the storyline are pure enjoyment.