Review: THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT - Southwark Playhouse Borough (22/07/26)

Moving yet muddled tribute to musical theatre revolutionary loses its way

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In the year when we're singing happy birthday (wrong musical, I know) to his biggest hit "Rent", with a west end revival just around the corner, the timing has never felt more apt to take a deep dive into Jonathan Larson's hidden back catalogue, with the UK premiere of this new revue, conceived by Jennifer Ashley Tepper, featuring a range of material that had been previously unheard. It is made especially poignant considering that this year also marks 30 years since the untimely passing of the composer, making "The Jonathan Larson Project" feel like equal parts tribute to the great man's life and celebration of his work.

Opening with a beautiful video tribute to Larson, featuring old footage of his life, work and close friends and colleagues, we are then treated to a neat 90 minutes of cut songs from his best known musicals, as well as standalone musical pieces, pop tracks, and songs that had previously never been performed publicly. It was truly a real joy to experience what felt like the full range of Larson's musical and lyrical abilities, with everything from chaotic character pieces full of vim and verve, to more muted, vulnerable works during which you could hear a pin drop, with the projections onto the back wall providing chronology, and contextual clarity.

The company of "The Jonathan Larson Project" (credit: Danny Kaan)

In spite of being treated to so much of the work of which, one would imagine, Larson had little to no intention of sanctioning public performances, we never really feel like there's a sense of cohesion between them all, and the vision of director John Simpkins has fallen short of what could have been. It is not unusual for a revue to dot back and forth between songs from different points in time, as was recently achieved with marvellous success by "Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends", however this never really presented a sense of connection between the songs, feeling rather like they were somewhat thrown together with gay abandon.

Before I move onto what worked particularly well, we have to address the bobblehead-shaped elephant in the room, with another theatrical exponent that is clearly unashamed with its use of AI generated imagery. One has to wonder how Larson himself, a man whose work often expressed the very best and worst of humanity in all its guises, would feel to see an inherently inhuman means used to celebrate his life and work, and it feels like the industry is becoming all too willing to drop its historically high standards for the sake of saving a few pennies here and there.

Jonathan Larson and the company of "The Jonathan Larson Project" (credit: Danny Kaan)

The good news is that, as was to be expected from the range of actors involved, the standard of performances was exceedingly high, each given ample opportunity to show what they can do individually, particular highlights including Imelda Warren-Green hilariously regaling us of hosing the furniture down in a plastic house, and Marcus Collins constantly stunning us with his smooth, soulful vocals every time he opened his mouth. However when all five of them came together in ensemble, their rousing, soaring chorus left every single hair in the audience standing on end, particularly in the final few numbers.

There is no doubt that "The Jonathan Larson Project" was extremely well intended, and had the late legend of the stage fully at its heart, which is clear to see. Unfortunately, though it was undoubtedly an enjoyable and heartfelt experience, jam packed with brilliant performances, the flagrant use of artificially generated images by Alex Basco Koch, as sanctioned by Simpkins, simply cannot be overlooked; highly promising potential, excellently performed, let down by disappointing decisions made regarding the visuals.

★★☆☆☆ (2*)

"The Jonathan Larson Project" runs at Southwark Playhouse Borough until the 22nd of August (tickets)

{PR/Gifted Tickets}