Améris’ story ties two feelgood formulas together – timid lovers coming together and shy sorts emerging from their shells. In “Brief Encounter,” the station staff remained earthbound and unmoved, while “Tristan and Yseult” were watched by a chorus of The Unloved, a flock of bespectacled, anorak-wearing oddballs – trainspotters of the heart. Friday, 27 October 2017. Photo: Tristram Kenton In finding each other, bit by bit, they prove the solutions to both of their problems. As Jean-René observes, he has spent his entire life “drowning on safe ground”. Angélique’s bold, brassy mother – a delicious Liverpudlian-soaked performance by Joanna Riding – is the antithesis of her retiring child, crushing her not only with flamboyant behaviour but also with words: “You don’t get to be more complex, more damaged, more special than the rest of us,” she yells at her daughter. Read Next: From Off Broadway to Marvel Superhero: Teyonah Parris on Her Journey to ‘WandaVision’, London Theater Review: ‘A Very Expensive Poison’, West End Review: ‘The Night of the Iguana’ With Clive Owen, Kellyanne Conway Accused of Posting Topless Photo of Her 16-Year-Old Daughter on Twitter, Lindsay Lohan Asks TikTok User to Take Down Viral Cameo (EXCLUSIVE), Hollywood Elite in COVID-19 Vaccine Scramble: 'It's the Hunger Games Out There', Carey Mulligan Responds to Variety's Apology for ‘Promising Young Woman’ Review, ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Release Date Moves Back a Week, WarnerMedia Sets New Zealand’s 'There is No I in Threesome' as HBO Max Original. CastMarc Antolin, Carly Bawden, Philip Cox, Joe Evans, Natasha Jayetileke, Dominic Marsh, Joanna Riding, Lauren Samuels, Gareth Snook. The impeccable production and talented cast are a … For a musical that advocates risk and taste, it is surprising bland. To get the latest news, reviews, interviews, new show alerts and ticket offers, sign up to our weekly newsletter Email * But Emma Rice’s parting gift to the Globe – the South Bank theatre she is leaving after just two seasons because of differences with the board – is no brickbat, but a bouquet. A musical adaptation of Jean-Pierre Améris’ piquant French-Belgian rom-com “Les Emotifs Anonymes” (2010), the show is a grand romance between the unlikeliest of lovers, two sweethearts wracked by social anxiety. Romantics Anonymous is a multifaceted gem, chock-full of love, generosity and joy, and it fits the space like a glove. Another, a crisscross of knitwear with plastered-up specs, taps away on his laptop avoiding eye contact. Emma Rice bows out at Shakespeare's Globe with a heart-tugger of a new musical about timid lovers. Kooman score and Dimond’s lyrics soar to emotional heights, with Joanna Riding’s floor manager belting out her boss’s secret: “He’s in love! I saw the charming, cute and delightful new musical Romantics Anonymous on Friday night and the only way I felt I could really do the show justice was to give you a “Reasons to see” in animated gifs!. 4 out of 5 stars. It sends a signal that Rice, unbowed by her Globe experience, is ready to take a leap in the dark with her new company, Wise Children at the Old Vic, and soar. Friendly warning! Rice proved in the giddy Brief Encounter (2008), where the lovers really did swing from the chandeliers, that nobody presents sexual desire and the transformative joy of love on stage quite as well or with such febrile intensity. Romantics Anonymous is an unusual and tender love story in which the obstacles to happiness are not the usual external barriers, but those sneaky little ones we know all too intimately: the ones within. Rice’s latest project “Romantics Anonymous,” entwines those two elements with soaring success. Theatre, Musicals. Recommended. Parents – sometimes knowingly destructive or just blind fools in hock to their desires – have often been catalysts in Rice’s work for Kneehigh, from the incestuous king in The Wooden Frock (2003) who wants to marry his daughter, to the misguided mother love that keeps a child imprisoned in a tower in Rapunzel (2006). London Theater Review: Emma Rice’s “Romantics Anonymous”Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, London; 320 seats; £62 ($81) top. As they get closer, we pretty much melt. A study of shyness, Romantics Anonymous examines the inability to speak up. Film, Theatre & Music Musings. CreativeDirected by Emma Rice, Set design, Lez Brotherston; musical supervision, Nigel Lilley; choreographer, Etta Murfitt; orchestrator, Simon Hale; lighing, Malcolm Rippeth; sound, Simon Baker. hen relationships fail because the parties concerned want different things, the breakup can be acrimonious and ill-tempered. ProductionA Radio Mouse Entertainment production of a musical in two acts with book by Emma Rice, music by Michael Kooman and lyrics by Christopher Dimond and based on a film by Jean-Pierre Améris and Philippe Blasband. Opened, reviewed, Sept. 27, 2017. The story’s so surefire, it’s very nearly too much, so sugarly it almost tips into sickly sweet. (And, believe me, when it comes to that damn “Loveland” sequence, I’m still trying to....) A little further down the Southbank there’s now a lovely, intimate, humanly-scaled alternative. Emma Rice is an old-fashioned romantic – no doubt about it. We're working hard … This new musical, based on the 2010 Franco-Belgian film Les Romantics Anonymous, theatre review: Romantic whimsy makes for a sugary sweet affair | London Evening Standard ES_Masthead Their delicate love affair is almost derailed by their crippling shyness, emotional inarticulacy and burdensome parental expectations. That phrase isn’t entirely translatable – Romantics Anonymous isn’t quite right. Factory owner Jean-René (Dominic Marsh) sits in his office, plugged into self-help tapes, while Angelique (Carly Bawden), a master chocolatier, joins a support group for the out-of-sorts, Les Emotifs Anonymes. • At Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, until 6 January. “Hello,” each whisper by way of introduction, “Je suis emotif.”. Posted September 11, 2020 13:25 by Rachel Wise. One sits entirely tucked into her clothing: knees in her jumper, hands up her sleeves. Make sure you catch Dad’s jaunty interval song performed in the foyer, a musical poke at the misconceived wisdom of avoiding risk in the theatre and sticking with what you know: “If you don’t do anything, nothing can go wrong.”. But I was disappointed by this production of Romantics Anonymous, streamed from Bristol Old Vic in a virtual form to support theatres around the country, many of which it planned to visit live. Box office: 020-7401 9919. Based on the French film of the same name (Les Émotifs Anonymes), Romantics Anonymous … There is also an exquisite Frenchified, tongue-in-cheek design by Lez Brotherston that brings neon lights to the Sam Wanamaker and neatly plays up the space’s chocolate-box aesthetic. Romantics Anonymous review. For a play that champions daring to stray from the recipe, Romantics Anonymous is slightly lacking in innovation. The small chamber musical based on a French film of the same name follows a pair of chocolatiers, Angélique and Jean-Pierre, who fall in love despite their anxiety-wracked personalities. Reviews; Contact; Advertisements. So when these lovers risk taking their feet off the ground and tumble through the air, it is utterly irresistible. Wise Children today announce the full cast for the revival of Emma Rice’s musical adaptation of Romantics Anonymous in a co-production with Plush Theatricals.. There is also a sly nod to the self-help market, with Lauren Samuels terrific as the voice on a CD whose best advice for Jean-René is to be “strong and stable”. BWW Review: ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS, Bristol Old Vic. ‘A gentle, joyous, melt-in-the-mouth show’ Running time: 2 HOURS, 20 MIN. Theatre Review: Romantics Anonymous (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) Forget Follies. Share on Twitter Share on Facebook. This is a real heartburst of a show. To both stories though, Rice added the opposite: those left behind by love. Romantics Anonymous was the final show that Emma Rice as Artistic Director of London’s Globe Theatre staged at that venue before both parted company. Romantics Anonymous at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. A third is a bobble-hatted, mitten-wearing mumbler. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. He’s in love!” A string of characterful cameos from Marc Antolin and Natasha Jayetileke offset the flush of feeling, but there’s no denying that this one’s a real treat. What happens when a man and a woman share a common passion? You might call them The Overwhelmed or The Insecure, all cowed by the world. But Emma Rice’s parting gift to the Globe – the. With Benoît Poelvoorde, Isabelle Carré, Lorella Cravotta, Lise Lamétrie. Based on the 2010 French movie Les Émotifs Anonymes, this musical confection – composed with charm by Michael Kooman, and featuring sometimes droll lyrics by Christopher Dimond – is best described as a play with songs rather than an all-singing, all-dancing musical. © Copyright 2021 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Photo: Tristram Kenton. Music: Michael Kooman. When relationships fail because the parties concerned want different things, the breakup can be acrimonious and ill-tempered. The scenes at the Alcoholics Anonymous-style meetings where everyone begins by announcing “Je suis emotif” are funny and heartbreakingly sad. But the production is also restrained, and is as unassuming and engaging as its two protagonists. Directed by Jean-Pierre Améris. She brings cue cards to their first date, only for him to flee to the toilet to change through a stash of sweat-sodden shirts. The theme winds its way through Rice’s book, from the ineffable pleasure of chocolate – a taste that defies description – to the support groups that defeat fears by voicing them out loud. Stage Chat / Regional / Romantics Anonymous musical cast announced for streamed online production . When the Lyon Chocolate Fair judge, Loizeau (Marc Antolin), a man whose medals are made from spoons and forks, proclaims with Bruno Tonioli-style hyperbole that Angélique’s entry is “so shy it becomes bold, so fragile it becomes strong”, he could well be describing Rice’s production. As ever, Rice counterbalances that with clowning. ‘So shy it becomes bold’ … Marc Antolin as culinary judge Ludo. With its roots deep in the very heart of British Theatre, you can feel the history in the air. Musically, their piano and clarinet orchestrations (with glockenspiels for good measure) catch the continental tone of Améris’ original, combining lush romance with light whimsy, as does Lez Brotherston’s  design of candyish costumes and bright neon signs. In less confident or sensitive hands this might be as cloying as an overscented violet cream, and it is definitely sweet-toothed. A chorus of Bretagne-striped beret wearers with “theek Franche ac-cents,” playing  Les Emotifs and factory floor workers alike, surround the pair, propping up the set pieces of Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond’s nimble, cabaret-style score. But with a book and direction by Rice, the ever-playful, tongue-in-cheek style just about sets. Reviews Oct 30, 2017 Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London Carly Bawden and Dominic Marsh in Romantics Anonymous at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London. Romantics Anonymous (French: Les Émotifs anonymes) is a 2010 French-Belgian romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Améris and starring Benoît Poelvoorde and Isabelle Carré. Funny, tender and painfully awkward, Romantics Anonymous is a delicious love story about breaking the mould and finding the courage to be happy. It received three nominations at the 2nd Magritte Awards, winning Best Foreign Film in Coproduction. It’s the kind of show that spreads through recommendation, one person falling in love and telling another. Review: ‘Romantics Anonymous,’ streamed live from U.K., is sweetly predictable — best for those who miss musicals Grief, too, lurks in the background: a private, inexpressible pain that links the two leads. London Theater Review: New Musical ‘Romantics Anonymous’ Emma Rice bows out at Shakespeare's Globe with a heart-tugger of a new musical about timid lovers. A delicious, Liverpudlian performance … Joanna Riding, centre, as Angélique’s controlling mother. What occurs when a highly emotional man meets a highly … Emma Rice's musical is a sweet treat for bitter times. As Bawden and Marsh go through a string of near-misses, you find yourself urging the hapless lovers together. One of the things the show does very well – and often with a wry comic touch – is to suggest that people sometimes see chronic shyness as an affectation, failing to understand how it can destroy a sufferer’s everyday life and relationships. Bristol Old Vic – until 1 February 2020. But like the small nuggets of confectionary at the heart of the show, the taste of the production's sweet-natured whimsy … With the company Kneehigh, she turned “Tristan and Yseult” into a tale of two people pulled together like planets. Musical confection … Carly Bawden (AngéŽlique) and Dominic Marsh (Jean-RenéŽ) in Romantics Anonymous. Tucked inside all this, there’s a survey of speech impediments. You will be redirected back to your article in. a multifaceted gem, chock-full of love, generosity and joy, and it fits the space like a glove. First of all, it’s always fun to go to the Shakespeare’s Globe. The performances are lovely, the production by Emma Rice's Wise Children is characteristically imaginative, but the show itself is anodyne. Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, LondonRice caps her brief Globe tenure with this endearing musical about a pair of shy chocolate makers – and shows she’s not done taking risks, Last modified on Thu 26 Mar 2020 08.33 EDT. Oscars Predictions: Best Picture – Is ‘Sound of Metal’ Peaking at the Perfect Time? And this is what happens to Jean-René, the boss of a small chocolate factory, and Angélique, a gifted chocolate maker he has just hired. When she brought “Brief Encounter” to Broadway back in 2010, the whole stage seemed to swoon, as lovers were knocked sideways and swept off their feet. ABC News Anchor Tom Llamas Will Jump to NBC News, Richard Lewis Will Not Appear in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Season 11, Kevin Hart to Star Alongside Cate Blanchett in ‘Borderlands’, How the Film Independent Spirit Nominations Could Affect the Oscars Race, ‘Harry Potter’ TV Series in Early Development at HBO Max, Pete Davidson and Glenn Close Were Made for Each Other, San Antonio Spur Trey Lyles Picks Up Brand-New L.A. Home, Yes, You Can Get a Canon Digital Camera Right Now for Just $229, This Chocolatier Would Love It If You Broke His Heart This Valentine’s Day, Record Super Bowl Ticket Prices Have Begun to Drop, Review: Focal Arche Amplifier Transforms Over-Ear Headphones Into High-Fidelity Sound Machines. The musical received positive reviews when it opened in London with five star reviews from BroadwayWorld and Musical Theatre Review and four star reviews from WhatsOnStage.com, The Stage, Financial Times, The Independent, Time Out London, London Times and The Guardian. Like a latter-day Hamlet, Jean-René is in thrall to the ghost of his dead father (Philip Cox) who believes staunchly in tradition and – perhaps like the Globe board – refuses to countenance change or risk-taking, even when the chocolate factory faces disaster. Intimidating French waiters are sent up mercilessly, too. This is what makes Améris’ film into a musical. It’s all the more bittersweet, because witty stagecraft combined with an ability to tug at the heartstrings is a reminder of what a great and distinctive talent the Globe is losing with Rice’s premature departure. It would be easy to dismiss this small-scale, quirky and original evening as nothing more than a delicious sweetmeat. Romantics Anonymous closed on 06 January 2018. by Maya Bowles It charts the tricky relationship between reclusive chocolate-maker Angélique (Carly Bawden) and chocolate factory owner Jean-René (Dominic Marsh). It’s bitterness, says Angélique, that elevates chocolate above other sweets and fancies. In the spirit of Alcoholic Anonymous-style public confession (something Emma Rice’s wondrous new musical is structured around) I feel I must open this review with some admissions. Time Out says. Review: Romantics Anonymous at Bristol Old Vic. Review: Romantics Anonymous at Bristol Old Vic Theatre In Theatre , What's On It’s a tad early in the year to be saying this, but, if you’re only going to see one play in 2020 you might want to consider making it Romantics Anonymous, a delicious confection from Wise Children and Plush Theatricals, playing at Bristol Old Vic ahead of a major international tour. It seems like longer than two and a bit years since Emma Rice first unveiled Romantics Anonymous. Bawden clamps her lips shut as Angelique, while Marsh’s Jean-Rene is permanently tongue-tied. 4 out of 5 stars. They fall in love. Photo: Tristram Kenton. Song steps in when speech falls short. The Wild Bride (2011) featured a dad who sold his daughter to the devil and maimed her in more than one way. But like the lonely-heart bird-twitchers in Tristan & Yseult, the production is layered with the pain of lives half-lived and constrained by fear. Not for nothing does Gareth Snook’s mumbler steal scene after scene. Joining the previously announced returning cast members Marc Antolin (Jean-René) and Carly Bawden (Angélique) are Brett Brown (Salesman/Fred), Me’sha Bryan (Suzanne/Mimi), Harry Hepple (Ludo/Remi), Laura Jane Matthewson … It’s an evening valiantly served not just by its leads but the entire top-notch, cross-dressing, shape-shifting ensemble and a small but perfectly formed live band. www.whatsonstage.comThe Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe will host Emma Rice's new musical Romantics Anonymous until January. Originally staged at The Globe in 2017, it’s a chocolate-based treat that Emma Rice has been able to revive Romantics Anonymous under her Wise Children company umbrella and give it a new life. The cast has been confirmed for Romantics Anonymous musical's upcoming streamed production. Music does what words cannot. Angelique’s too shy to take credit for her talent, while Jean-René’s anxious inactivity is ruining his business.