The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at The Ambassadors Theatre Review
The eagerly anticipated production has arrived in the West End - find out why it completely lives up to the hype
At precisely 7:30pm (7pm on Mondays to Wednesdays with matinees on Tuesdays and Saturdays), an audience will be sat in The Ambassadors Theatre to witness an extraordinary story on stage - but a rather curious chain of events will lead to the opening of a new musical, taking the West End by storm for 2 hours and 32 minutes, or 152 minutes, or 9120 seconds to be exact. The story begins with one question…
What if one could age in reverse?
This is the premise for F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 short story entitled The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which inspired various adaptations including Jethro Compton and Darren Clark's recent stage musical of the same name, having freshly opened in the West End following acclaimed premiere runs at Southwark Playhouse.
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As with many adaptations, the writers enjoy the liberty to set the story's heartbeat to reflect their intentions and for this particular vision, a seaside fishing village in Cornwall at the end of the First World War, setting the scene for a quest of love through time in all forms. The show follows the unconventional life of the eponymous Benjamin Button, who was born as an elderly man and gets younger by day. A well-kept secret to only his equally confused parents, Benjamin soon becomes a regular visitor to The Pickled Crab, their local pub as an old man, unbeknownst to those outside of the Button household - including barmaid Elowen Keene, the only woman he will ever love whom he slowly falls for.
But what makes this interpretation truly special to any fantasy musicals of its kind, is the presence of multifaceted actor-musicians as a major storytelling device instead of a pit band, who also doubles as the ensemble, driving the story forward as narrators. Mark Aspinall's orchestrations interacts with Darren Clark’s (also orchestrator) harmonious score, with frequent melodic refrains fusing the sounds of traditional Western instruments with Celtic, Folk and musical theatre influences. The score vibrantly integrates as one with Chi-San Howard's foot-stomping choreography, often causing the space to vibrate with infectious energy.
Want to find out how the story ends?
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Words on the page alone cannot describe fully this epic journey one can only experience live - as it is so far, dare I say, one of the best musicals of the decade.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is booking at The Ambassadors Theatre until 15 February 2025. For more information and to book tickets, including £29.50 rush tickets released on each performance day via the TodayTix App, visit the show website.
Tickets and Accessibility
🎟️ Tickets were kindly gifted by the press representatives for the show. All views are my own, without any input or opinion from the venue or producers. Standard tickets in the main run are priced from £35, with £29.50 Rush tickets released on each performance day at 10am via the TodayTix App.
♾️ The show can be moderately loud depending on proximity to the speakers around the auditorium. All music is played live but instruments are amplified, with the cajon producing a bass-heavy sound when played. At 15 mins into Act 1 cymbals crash for the first time, and at 54 mins after the line ‘The Salty Maid’ there is a sound effect of an explosion and 5 seconds of flashing lights.