Review by Daz Gale
⭐️⭐️
An entire musical set in a toilet – that’s the premise of Stalled which is receiving its world premiere at London’s King’s Head Theatre this week. Perhaps the most ambitious production this still relatively new space has attempted with a bigger cast than you would usually see in this small yet versatile space, would this musical end up flushed with success or would it be full of sh**?
Set in a ladies room in Seattle, Maggie has taken a temporary job as the toilet attendant there in a show about mothers, daughters and moving on. Having dealt with a sudden change in her own life, she uses her time there in a bid to help others and hopefully heal herself in the process. That’s the idea anyway.
Stalled has great intentions but the problem is in its execution. Without spoiling what has caused Maggie (Lauren Ward) to up sticks and move to a Seattle toilet (literally. She lives there), it has been done to death and there is nothing about this storyline we haven’t seen before. When the inevitable reveal comes in fairly early on with one of the clumsiest pieces of dialogue there is, nobody is shocked and there is no emotional weight with this revelation that we have seen in a show with a very similar plot device (to name it would be to give it away).
The writing is full of potential but tries to cram in too many ideas and suffers from a serious case of being under-developed. Characters are underwritten and fairly one-note in their realisation. A mother having to deal with her “different” daughter with a throwaway comment about her probably being autistic is done with as much sensitivity as you would expect in a public toilet, while another character’s reference to self-harming comes out of nowhere and is very quickly moved away from as if it never happened. Stalled is a show with a lot of key, important themes but it does feel like a case of “too many cooks” as none of these ideas or themes are given the opportunity to breathe – instead feeling like a highlights package without any context or backstory as to why we should care about these random characters that seemingly spend more time in the toilet than they do at their workplaces.
The character of Maggie holds it all together as the Mother Teresa of toilet attendants. Why all of these characters feel the need to tell her all of their most personal feelings from their first meeting is never made clear. When its time for Maggie to move on, the over-the-top “goodbye, we’ll miss you” felt like something out of a very special episode of The Brady Bunch in the 1970s. With a tome that jumps all over the place, Stalled struggles to decide what it wants to be, but it lacks any sort of authenticity to make any of its various themes land due to writing messier than some of the worst public toilets I have seen.
The music doesn’t fare much better unfortunately – though the title number is a bit of an earworm, other numbers in Stalled aren’t of a strong enough quality, with lyrics that range from clunky and repetitive to, in some cases, downright bad. The worst example of this is one of Maggie’s solo number ‘Just Stop’ featuring repeated lyrics of “F*** off, f*** off, f*** off” – as someone who is fairly partial to a four letter word, even I found the use of that excessive. The closest Stalled comes to a standout musical number is in Cynthia’s (Josie Benson) big ballad ‘Different Not Broken’ though it is hard to say how much of that is due to the song itself (which also suffers from subpar lyrics) and how much is down to the talent of the amazing performer singing it.
Though the material doesn’t match their talents, the cast impress with their abilities and manage to lift Stalled to a far more enjoyable level. Lauren Ward is no stranger to an emotional musical having wowed me time and time again in Dear Evan Hansen. Dominating Stalled in her role of Maggie, she once again proves what a powerhouse performer she is, showcasing incredible vocals and raw emotion that had me desperately wishing the writing did it justice. Still a stunning performer to witness, the testament to her abilities is how incredible she is even when the show itself fails to deliver.
Josie Benson is an undoubted standout as Cynthia in a performance that dominates at times and showcases her outstanding vocal ability. Evita Khrime is another highlight as Serena, with her characters moments of spoken word/poetry performance providing another level to the material, though once again showcasing the inconsistency of it all. The entire cast can’t be faulted for what they bring, but some of them are so one-dimensional in their writing, it doesn’t give them much opportunity to do anything with the roles – such as the journey of self-discovery for Krystal (Regina Co) and her relationship with Sophie (a drastically underused Isabella Gervais). With so many characters in a show that lasts 90 minutes over a singular act, it’s no wonder why they are given no time to be explored and leaves me wondering if less could be more here?
Emily Bestow’s set design is one of the greatest aspects of the production with a fully realised luxurious ladies room a fantastic feat of design and lending itself well to Vikki Stone’s fun direction. There is also a strong use of lighting from Ciaran Cunningham with a particularly good (albeit overused) sunset effect. Not all production elements match that quality sadly with a questionable use of movement that failed to move me.
Seeing a new musical is always exciting, and the revamped King’s Head Theatre (now with much better seating) has led to some fantastic programming over the last year, so it is a real shame that Stalled has failed to deliver on this occasion. The show is full of potential but needs to really consider the story it wants to tell and how best to do that so that people take away what the creative team clearly hope. Though still enjoyable enough and with a couple of great things going for it, when it comes to star ratings, I have no choice but to give it a number two.
Stalled plays at the King’s Head Theatre until 23rd March. Tickets from www.kingsheadtheatre.com
Photos by Johan Persson