For me, the parts that really stood out were those that closest reflected the original movie music score. Those moments were largely between Kim and Edward (their duets were truly poignant) and were truly moving - there was a wonderful duet at the end of Act I, a marvellous set piece as Ed constructed an 'Ice Angel' replica of Kim, a wonderful highlight. The rest, that is the jazzy/rocky score of 40's-70's style stuff to illustrate the American Suburbia that Edward moved into, was less successul I thought, being a bit samey and bland.

The whole cast though, danced the whole thing wth applomb, and gusto, and thouroughly deserved the huge applause come curtain call time. A lovely touch, was 'Edward' taking the curtain call (in character), with snow being dropped over the audience in the stalls. Magical!

{Edit: to add company name to Title/subject. BM}

However, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it overall and that the audience in general were very receptive.It doesn't set out in any way to be a ballet and is described in one interview
as a 'movical dansical' , which sums it up perfectly !

I'll not be buying the CD - or DVD.

I love musicals on the whole, its where my interest in dance started (Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers etc). So its not that I'm coming at it from a pure ballet fan's approach; its just i found the parts with the suburban families 'dances' not quite my cuppa (I didn't connect with the music much in those bits, perhaps that was it). Saying that, the 'Edwardio' hair-dresser section was brilliant (and the other parts I mentioned).
Just thought I'd clarify myself a bit! (and clear my name!)

Edward Scissorhands - Sam Archer and Kim Boggs - Kerry Biggin

Matthew Bourne - Edward Scissorhands - Sadler's Wells - Nov 2005
Ballet.co Gallery Area
all images © John Ross

Sum up
All the good ingredients of a Matthew Bourne show but sadly not as strong or entertaining as his best work. A visual feast full of human observation but his Nutcracker is a far superior Christmas tonic.

Background
Based on a string of hits, starting with his unique take on Swan Lake, Matthew Bourne is undoubtedly the public's most trusted dance/dansical creator - trusted to the degree that Sadler's Wells can programme a brand new piece of his work from November all the way through to February 2006. Serious trust and respect indeed.

Story
Bourne's Scissorhands is said to be based closely on the 1990 film story - a fairytale of a young man, unfinished in his (Frankenstein-like) creation, and left with only scissors for hands. A loner, initially he becomes adopted by a community taken with his strangness and novelty, and finds love, only for it all to fall apart and he disappears to be the loner again. Some people can't fit in and will always be apart.

Music
Based on the original film music with additions and rearrangement by Terry Davies, a previous Bourne collaborator, if unexceptional it does well enough and punctuates the action. I didn't come away humming any tunes and it's also very loud at the start so turn your hearing aids down.

Sets and Design
Long-term Adventures collaborator, Lez Brotherston, is in wonderfully inventive form conjuring a distorted cartoon community full of American 1950s stereotype families - think 'The Fonz' on steroids. My only quibble - serious I suppose given the title - is that the scissor hands don't really work as I'd hope. You want them to be as expressive as hands and fingers often are - the wonderful shapes and eloquence they can have. Instead the scissors often seem just a jumble of ham-fisted blades, though at the very end, in a silhouette effect, you actually get the scissors vision you want. This is probably as much down to the operator as the scissors themselves and overall Brotherston, yet again, is hugely to be congratulated for delivering a quality job.

Choreography/Production
Sadly I didn't find myself caring about Scissorhands or drawn into the plot at all. Neither was I entertained by endless spectacle - dance or otherwise - though there are undoubtedly some spectacular and memorable moments.

The story comes over as rather slight, as Bourne's inventiveness often concentrates on the community and caricature families. There are many good giggles to be had but they seem to rob the story of any punch it has. There are two reasonable choreographic spectacles, one in a garden filled with topiary dancers - Scissorhands is big on inventive hedge trimming - and the final duet between Scissorhands and his love, Kim. While these are welcome special moments a huge hoofing number for the entire company seems curiously lack lustre and drags terribly as chord change after chord change builds up without taking us with it. Dance though is not centre-stage of course.

Dancers
The show includes many of Bourne's long-term collaborators and they bring the families to quirky life. They act their socks off but the effect is one of patchy gags rather than sustained story telling or great dancing.

Does it Work?
We've come to expect that Bourne's umbilical connection with the British public will deliver wonderful productions that please punters and on the first night there was a standing ovation at the end. This greatly perplexed me and I'd like to see a sharpened version with stronger dance numbers and which makes me care.

The opening differs from the film, though the result is the same. There is no Avon lady visiting the spindly gothic mansion on the hill. Instead, we find the inventor, mourning his dead son, and stitching together a benign Frankenstein in his place. ‘Trick or Treaters’ climb into his lonely abode, and literally scare him to death. Edward, the immaculate conception, stumbles out into modern suburbia.

Bourne cleverly introduces the families of Hope Springs with a ‘suburban ballet’. The moms, dads and mostly well groomed offspring enter and leave their multifarious cookie-cutter houses, peck their wives on the cheek, and drive their cars, leading 1950’s apple pie lives in Hope Springs eternal sunshine.

Peg Boggs takes pity on the itinerant Edward, scavenging in a dustbin, and brings him home to stay chez Boggs. Edward is comically dressed in pyjamas (modest strains of ‘Play Without Words’), and lies down to rest - no slashed water beds like the film. He sees the posters of Kim Boggs, the cheerleader daughter, on her bedroom wall, and imagines her in the flesh.

The parochial desperate housewives view Edward with suspicion, and tongues wag. But an invitation to the Boggs barbecue and a some free topiary turns the tide. We are treated to the first of 2 lively jive sequences in the show, as Edward is feted by the neighbours. Bourne is a bona fide jive-bunny, but lovely, leggy Michaela Meazza, playing the lustful Joyce Monroe, is queen of the hutch. At every opportunity she ignores her wimpy spouse (the amusing Steve Kirkham), and pursues anything in trousers. But the man with the dangerous hands arouses her passions the most.

Having rearranged the local bushes, Edwardo the moustached barber tries a little cranial topiary. Joyce invites him home for a private trim, while Mr Monroe takes his flaccid spray can to the aphids in the garden. Edward shuns her attempts at a horizontal pas de deux, and dashes out the house, leaving her to vibrate on the washing machine. His heart belongs to Kim, though her all American boyfriend is a slight obstacle in the way.

The dance highlight of the evening is the surreal dream sequence of Edward No-scissor hands dancing with Kim, accompanied by green latex bushes.

The annual Christmas Ball is a jive of activity, with ladies in dirndl skirts and men sporting improbable DA’s. Kim’s jock boyfriend gets Edward drunk, a fight ensues, and the suburban dream is over. Edward the outsider is hounded out of town, and snowflakes fall in sympathy.

There are many pluses to this show. Lez Brotherston clever sets are a delight, with lots of amusing features. The dreamy original musical score by Danny Elfman is complimented by Terry Davies lively contributions. A great piece of theatre and surely one of the best shows currently in London.

Anthony