Whisper House

The opening of ‘The Other Palace’ this year is a very big deal for Musical Theatre lovers. Previously the St James’ Andrew Lloyd Webber has bought and totally overhauled the theatre as a hub for writers and producers to try out and refine new work.

Given that ‘Whisper House’, the seconds show of the season is written by Tony Award winning composer Dunkcan Sheik who wrote the incredible rock score for Spring Awakenings as well as American Psycho (the musical), there was huge anticipation and a distinctly musical buzz from the crowd at press night.

‘Whisper House’ is set in 1940, in a lighthouse off the coast of Maine. Curmudgeonly aunt Lily is forced to take her nephew, Christopher in after his father dies fighting, and his mother is committed to an asylum. Aunt Lily’s Japanese employee, Yasuhiro who has become more than a friend, along with the local Sheriff are the only other characters to inhabit this lonesome world. Except that is, for two ghosts who circle the lighthouse, calling Christopher’s name and belting out a lot of rock songs (it must be said this slightly undermined their spookiness for me). They are the ghosts of thwarted lovers who went down in a storm when a ship crashed into nearby rocks. Once the ship singers and now are the very angry singing narrators and manipulators of the story, they are willing the inhabitants to die...as the dramatic opening number suggests, 'You'd be better off dead!' 

The story and cast are thoroughly watchable, with Diane Pilkington (Aunt Lily) and Stanley Jarvish (the night we went) as Christopher standing out, but it doesn’t feel like a full realised musical yet. Andrew Riley’s set, simply but cleverly indicates a lighthouse, with wonderful sounds of the wind and the waves but results in much of the action taking place in a small pit in the middle of the stage (the interior of the lighthouse) which has the affect of distancing rather than drawing the audience in.

There are a few moments of Spring Awkaning Magic, with a seven piece band on either side of the stage and strong vocals from Niamh Perry and Simon Bailey but the emotional lives of the other characters would be more fully realised had they sung some of the numbers. There’s no doubt that ‘Whisper House’ has the ingredients for romance, terror and a timely exploration of xenophobia and it will be exciting to see it’s next stage of development.

Long may the The Other Palace thrive, opening with great support at a time when so many venues around London are being closed and cultural belts are being tightened.