Birds of Paradise ~ [The Drayton Arms Theatre] ~ Review

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Birds of Paradise is a funny, charming, and heartfelt musical from Winnie Holzman, the writer of the
smash hit Broadway and West End show Wicked. This is the sort of musical which will leave you
smiling, but without so much sweetness you get toothache. The story follows a community theatre
group in a small town, a group which provides an escape from the monotony of everyday life for its
members. Although there may be some bickering, the group is all agreed that they’re there for the
same purpose – to have fun. But this all changes when a face from the past arrives in town, Laurence
left years ago to pursue a career as a Broadway actor, surely a success story to inspire! But when
Laurence hears a song from the musical which one of the community theatre actors, Homer, has
written he makes the decision to direct the show. What ensues is a power struggle between a writer
desperate to maintain the heart of his work, and a director with an ambitious creative vision.

There are a lot of shows about making shows, but this has the nice angle that it’s set within a
community theatre setting. The relationships the characters have with theatre, and with each other,
is the core of the musical, and there’s no denying that it leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling as you
leave the theatre. There’s great energy from start to finish, with incredible voices across the board.
The quality of acting drastically surpasses anything you might expect to find in pub theatre, none of
the cast would look out of place on a major West End stage. The musical itself is a hidden treasure, a
simple but hugely entertaining piece about people and art. Some of the songs are hit and miss,
though generally very enjoyable, none of them are particularly memorable, although it hardly
matters in the moment as this show and its music is brilliantly uplifting.

The lighting design for Birds of Paradise is particularly good, a clever series of spotlights and fades
which really enhances the action, dialogue, and songs and adds another layer to what’s happening
on stage. The whole production feels very reminiscent of Jonathan Larson’s Tick Tick Boom! In the
way in which it deals with the connection between people and the theatre they invest themselves in.
It’s about maintaining the integrity of creation in a world that measures success by popularity and
money made. It’s also a witty, tongue in cheek parody of the process of making a musical hit that
sticks. It objectively explores the fine line between taking direction, making changes, and destroying
the heart of creative work.

Overall, Birds of Paradise is a delightfully entertaining musical with bags of character, it’s
wonderfully sentimental in the best way and highly recommended!


Birds of Paradise ~ [The Drayton Arms Theatre] ~ Review
★★★★