Midnight Cowboy musical at Southwark Playhouse Elephant – review

The latest film-to-stage musical adaptation takes a real prestige movie as its source. Midnight Cowboy (based on the novel by James Leo Herlihy), which starred Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, received the 1969 Oscar for Best Picture and is considered one of the most significant of its era, as well as being the only X-rated film to win the Hollywood establishment’s highest accolade. With morally ambivalent characters and a gritty New York setting, it could make for a complex, adult show with an experimental musical style, but the execution of this adaptation leaves a great deal to be desired.

The music and lyrics by three-time Ivor Novello Award-winning pop songwriter Francis ‘Eg’ White (in his musical theatre debut) demonstrate a lack of theatrical understanding as the undistinguished, heavily synthesised soft-rock numbers lack any kind of trajectory and struggle to develop plot, character or atmosphere (additionally, the poor sound design means that many of the lyrics are lost, though the ones that can be heard aren’t anything notable). Furthermore, Bryony Lavery’s book moves from scene to scene with little momentum and the characters remain caricatures.

Following an incident that has left him bloodstained, protagonist Joe Buck leaves Texas for New York where he expects to embark on a glittering career as a rent boy to rich and grateful ladies, with a cowboy persona as his gimmick. Soliciting for business isn’t as easy as he expects and his inability to insist on payment up front leaves him out of pocket. Paul Jacob French does his best with this frustratingly listless protagonist; however, his Texan drawl, which translates as incoherent mumbling through the ropey acoustics, doesn’t help the audience connect with him.

More engaging, though underwritten, is the tubercular Rico “Ratso” Rizzo (former EastEnders star Max Bowden), who walks with a limp following childhood polio and, like a Dickensian urchin, clearly isn’t long for this world. He and Joe only team up properly shortly before the interval when Ratso takes Joe home to his squat in a condemned building and delivers the number “Don’t Give Up on Me Now” that has more character than anything that has come before it, but it’s too late for the show to pivot.

Despite Nick Winston’s extensive experience as a director/choreographer, the musical staging has little impact. Aside from a psychedelic party scene in the second half, the embarrassing simulated sex scenes are, unfortunately, what’s most memorable. Several members of the cast of 13 (including veterans Tim Rogers and Rohan Tickell) are only used a few times, which seems a waste. Andrew Exeter’s set design features a certain stylised grimness with a number of moving parts, and there are some groovy, ‘60s-style outfits from Sophia Pardon.

Earlier this week, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was developed at Southwark Playhouse, where it received two runs prior to the West End, deservedly triumphed at the Oliviers. Very few musicals feature that particular show’s level of artistry, but it does highlight how far this one falls short of the mark. As it stands, this Midnight Cowboy is lost in the murky hours.