Review: THE CAR MAN at Sadler’s Wells

Loosely based on Bizet’s Carmen the production uses the percussion and strings of The Carmen Suite by Russian composer and pianist Rodion Shchedrin which has been further revised and elaborated by Terry Davies to create a full score for the production. From the original’s cigarette factory in Spain, we are transported to a dusty mid-west US town ironically called Harmony, where the 375 inhabitants are about to meet a new stranger.

In this subtly stylised production, the filmic references come thick and fast and feature more than a passing nod to MGM’s back catalogue, most notably the Lana Turner vehicle from 1946 “The Postman Always Rings Twice”. In the movie, a beautiful woman embarks on a steamy and all-consuming affair with an itinerant traveller who has pitched-up for work at her older husband’s rural roadside diner. Lez Brotherston’s set, is a multi-level skeletal design which accommodates a roadside hoarding, 60s gas station, body shop repair yard, boss’s office with living quarters above and the all important diner. The frame later allows for nods to the Elvis vehicle “Jailhouse Rock”, while the choreography honours many movies, from “West Side Story” to “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” and even manages a nod to Cyd Charisse’s turn at the “Dem Bones Cafe” in the 1953 MGM musical “The Band Wagon” only here, we become momentarily immersed at the amusingly named “Le Beat Route” cabaret bar, presumably conjured for Beatniks on Route 66.

On their wild evenings off, and while the boss is away, the townsfolk, who are seemingly composed almost entirely of mechanics and waitresses, flirt, fornicate and finally commit a grisly murder. It’s film-noir-meets-glamour-musicals as mystery man Luca (Will Bozier) gets hot and steamy with Lana (Ashley Shaw), while naive Rita (Anna-Maria De Freitas) tries her best to make a boyfriend of Angelo (Harry Ondrak-Wright) who seems strangely more in awe of the physical power and brooding confidence of Luca. After some make-a-man-of-you sparring, Angelo falls under Luca’s spell and submits to a “Titanic” car moment, on the back seat of a Pontiac.

If only someone would create a production of Puccini’s “La fanciulla del West” with slung gun-belts, hip wiggling barrel rolls and stag leaps of the artistry, power and height attained here by the energised and electrifying New Adventures dancers. Aside from the performers already mentioned above, those who turned my head for all the right reasons on Friday’s press night, included: Eleanor McGrath, Serena McCall, Xavier Andriambolanoro-Sotiya and Karishma Young who are indicative of why this company continues to be at the cutting edge of superb, commercially accessible work.

Not to be missed.

The Car Man Tickets