★★

“the prophesy of doom should be more inherent in the performances rather than the dressing”

There is no denying that “White Rose: The Musical” comes to the stage with a pertinency that it may not have held when it first premiered Off-Broadway a year ago. Its powerful premise is built around a group of young activists defying an authoritarian regime – one in which rights are stolen, one by one, under a state system presided over by criminals. The setting is, however, Munich in 1943 and the musical focuses on a group of students who stood up to Hitler. They put their lives on the line as they formed the White Rose resistance movement to challenge oppression and propaganda, distributing leaflets at immense risk to themselves. There are echoes of Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel ‘Every Man Dies Alone’ (adapted into the 2016 feature film ‘Alone in Berlin’), and the complexity of the real-life narrative offers a goldmine of raw material. Brian Belding’s book chips away at the surface without really getting its hands dirty; the result being a show that lacks depth, peopled by similarly shallow characters.

At its heart are siblings Hans (Tobias Turley) and Sophie (Collette Guitart) Scholl. Hans is the overprotective brother, ashamed of his former allegiance to the Hitler Youth. Sophie spends much time resisting her brother’s safeguarding nature – until she eventually persuades him to accept and join in with her cause. The dialogue treats the whole affair like a high school romp, and we never get a sense of danger, despite shadowed, moody SS officers occasionally watching over them. A side plots involves Lila (Charley Robbie) who runs a print shop and helps with the printing of the leaflets. A young Nazi officer, Frederick Fischer (Ollie Wray) spends a lot of time with the oppositionists. Being an old schoolmate of Hans and ex-lover of Sophie’s, he also spends much time in a state of confusion, repeatedly removing and replacing his swastika armband. Such meandering motives are indicative of Belding’s book and lyrics and Natalie Brice’s music. The score belongs to another show entirely. Led by an even mix of guitar chugging, mid-tempo pop and searing ballads, it is jarringly detached from the setting and from the themes of the story. Following each number there is a palpable dip in energy, during which the dialogue never matches the passion of the singing.

Director Will Nunziata fares as well as he can with the stuttering structure of the narrative but suffers from a lack of variation in character. There is little build up to the symbolic and climactic gesture of hurling leaflets out into the audience: an act of defiance that mirrors the real life-threatening events (Hans and Sophie flung them from the balcony onto their fellow students). The horrific events the show presents are ill-served by simplistic exposition that dampens the emotional clout. The performances are solid but miss the trick of reaction. Often – particularly during the solo musical numbers – the onstage cast seem to be assessing an audition piece at the end of a long day.

Despite an overall lack of presence, we are occasionally drawn into the characters’ plight. But the hook is not strong enough for us to make the plunge. There are moments when the depth and the gravity is glimpsed, and Justin Williams’ evocative design sets the tone, depicting a ravaged Munich, along with Alex Musgrave’s suggestive lighting. But the prophesy of doom should be more inherent in the performances rather than the dressing. This story should definitely be told – it is not just a poignant reminder of the past, but an urgent alarm call that the past has a habit of repeating itself. Unlike its protagonists – the show seems unsure whether to deliver its message. Or whether to be entertainment. The two can (and do) easily co-exist, but “White Rose: The Musical” doesn’t find that harmony.

CABLE STREET at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“a good effort to remind the audience of the power of the people against malevolent political forces”

It’s not often that you get a musical written about your old street. As a previous resident of one of the roads leading off Cable Street, I’ve passed by the large mural commemorating the 1936 Battle of Cable Street numerous times without looking deeply into this symbol of mass resistance to fascism.

Now, in the model of Hamilton or Operation Mincemeat, writers Alex Kanefsky (book) and Tim Gilvin (music and lyrics) have pulled together a reflective show that uses song and dance to surface this lesser-known historic event. As in Hamilton, the music reflects a variety of cultures, with hip hop references layered on top of Jewish and Irish musical references. As in Operation Mincemeat, the fascists get arguably the best song.

For those who were not paying attention to their interwar British history, the Battle of Cable Street is so named after the road on which a patchwork army of Jewish, Irish, Socialist and Trade Union groups held back thousands of Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists set on marching through what was then a predominantly Jewish area of East London. The musical interpretation uses the story of three families to explore just some of the hundreds of thousands in the motley coalition. The Battle of Cable Street has since become known as the day that fascism in Britain was defeated, and prevented it ever gaining a political hold on the country.

The show is framed by a modern day East End walking tour recounting this history, with an overbearing tourist from New York asking questions about her mother, once a local. This walking tour pops up in several scenes, either interrupting the events playing out in 1936, or contrasting with rival (and rather tasteless) Jack the Ripper tours that stomp the same cobbled streets.

If the stories of three families and two warring walking tours sounds like a few too many strands, you might be correct. At times the compact performance space of the Southwark Playhouse felt a little cramped; this worked well when presenting about the claustrophobic housing, and less so when trying to follow contrasting narratives. Actors playing instruments on stage to accompany the semi-concealed band also contributed to the cluttering of the space. Aoife Mac Namara’s fiddle made sense in the numbers with a gaelic undertone, but the electric guitar felt out of place.

The central playing space is surrounded on three sides by seating, with the back wall covered with haphazard wired and wooden fencing. On stage is a large bureau, two desks and chairs pushed against the back. These are regularly repositioned to create the different scenes, with the simplicity working well. On the whole, the set (Yoav Segal) and props were used effectively, except a very obviously homemade horse head used to represent a police cavalry came across as more Blue Peter than War Horse.

Of the 1936 events, Sha Dessi as Mairead Kenny, daughter of an Irish immigrant, drives the show forward with strong vocals and resolute determination. Dessi’s character has to balance fervent revolutionary zeal with a laundry list of responsibilities. She meets and falls for Sammy Scheinberg (Joshua Ginsberg), the rapping son of Jewish family living close who is struggling to find work. Similarly, Ron Williams (Danny Colligan) is a northerner from Lancashire who is also failing to find any work, but unlike Sammy who gets influenced by Mairead into coming along to communist meetings, Ron falls into the fascist embrace.

The ensemble cast was stuffed with talent, with supporting actors contending with multiple character changes. Debbie Chazen as the visiting New Yorker, Mairead’s Irish mother, and also a bumbling police officer was a standout, as was Jade Johnson whose solo Stranger / Sister was performed with sensitivity and power. Sophia Ragavelas who leads one of the strongest songs in the show – a rousing No Pasaran in the model of Les Miserables barricade scene – was also a highlight.

There are many things that work well with Cable Street, though ultimately it neither gets the high tension and deep emotion of Hamilton, or the tongue in cheek hilarity of Mincemeat. The ending is unsatisfactory – with a rush of events that threaten to derail the entire show and saved by the unveiling of a man who we already know isn’t dead. As a small point, the modern day East End is not well represented – there’s only one mention of the Bangladeshi community in passing (a 1978 murder) who have contributed so much to the area in the past 50 years.

Given the current political environment and rise of antisemitism across the UK, this is a good effort to remind the audience of the power of the people against malevolent political forces, featuring a strong selection of upbeat musical numbers. However, a little more restraint from director Adam Lenson, or a pruning of the dense narratives might have helped tell this important story a little better.

WHITE ROSE

Marylebone Theatre

★★

“the prophesy of doom should be more inherent in the performances rather than the dressing”

WHITE ROSE

Marylebone Theatre

Reviewed on 4th March 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marc Brenner

Previously reviewed at this venue:

WHITE ROSE

WHITE ROSE

WHITE ROSE

CABLE STREET at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“a good effort to remind the audience of the power of the people against malevolent political forces”

CABLE STREET at Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 26th February 2024

by Rosie Thomas

Photography by Jane Hobson

Previously reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

CABLE STREET

CABLE STREET