The Knives are out for Polycarpou as Eternity makes way for Pajamas
by Phil Willmott on Tuesday 11 February 2014, 8:42 am in West End News & Gossip
Has the curse of The Shaftesbury Theatre struck again? The rather majestic theatre at the unfashionable Covent Garden end of Shaftesbury Avenue has a long inglorious history of musicals not quite running as long as the producers hoped. Tim Rice's musical FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is ending its run early on March 29th. But that still gives you plenty of time to catch it.
It's not without merit. Particularly the choreography of Javier De Frutos who manages to get some less than macho chorus guys to make very convincing hetero marines. The stylish choreography turns military drill into sweaty barrack room horse-play as the guys express their horniness by play-humping the furniture and each other.
If the musical never quite matches the smoldering intensity of the vintage Hollywood film starring Deborah Kerr as an officer's wife having a steamy affair with Burt Lancaster, rolling around in the crashing surf... well those Hollywood gods are a tough act to follow even if you are as tall, dark and handsome as the musical's leading man, Darius Campbell (remember him from his repeated attempts to win Pop Idol?)
Everyone involved in bringing the hit Chichester revival of PAJAMA GAME in to replace FROM HERE TO ETERNITY must be hoping for a luckier stay. No one more so than Peter Polycarpou because he nightly has to perform a knife throwing act that he won't want jinxed.
He plays a jealous trade union official in a 1950's pajama factory who, on a works outing, demonstrates his potentially lethal hobby. I bumped into Peter who's just had some exciting casting news I'll be revealing in the next few weeks but for now he's looking forward to returning to this classic Broadway show and full of praise for his leading ladies.
And as for that knife act he gleefully tells me it's so realistic that audiences think he's throwing them for real. Well, I certainly did!