Ben Platt's sky-gliding voice finds a perfect home in Mark Sonnenblick's out-of-time love story, Midnight at the Never Get, a honey-hearted cabaret-musical about two gay musicians trying to make it in 1960s New York. The Tony, Emmy and Grammy award-winning actor, known for Dear Evan Hansen and The Last Five Years, is beautifully cast as Trevor Copeland, a crooning bar-singer reliving his years with songwriter Arthur Brightman, played with plate-spinning brilliance by Gregor Milne.
A Love Story Told Through Song
At the Menier Chocolate Factory, the stage is set as a lamplit cabaret (design by Scott Pask). Platt's Trevor narrates his past, with stories shaped around American Songbook-style music, ranging from jaunty knee-bouncing numbers to big-band ballads. While Platt is the star, Milne is the anchor, believable as the troubled genius delivering new songs like cups of tea and serving as the steady hand behind the piano. The flawless live band provides the story's pulse.
Politics and Personal Choices
The two men sing each other love songs publicly, their clearly queer lyrics losing some audiences and gaining others. When politics knocks on their underground gay club's doors, they face a fundamental choice: to protest or assimilate. This dilemma gives grit to their otherwise jazz-smooth lives, central to their differences and downfall.
According to the review, director David Cromer retains the show's intimacy with simple staging, including a minor magic trick that wraps up loose threads. The gut-punch would hit even harder with a trim, but the show sees music as both heartbreak and cure. Midnight at the Never Get runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London, until 12 September.
