Movin' Out Gets Its Big Shot With West End Critics

After a three-year run on Broadway, Twyla Tharp's narrative ballet Movin' Out set to the songs of Billy Joel finally crossed the Atlantic, opening at the Apollo Victoria on April 10, with a cast that included three principals from the US tour that subsequently took over on Broadway–Ron Todorowski, Holly Cruikshank and David Gomez–plus an international cast of dancers from the UK, Brazil, Canada, Norway, Australia, France and Japan, accompanied by a live band led by James Fox on piano and vocals. Were critics moved by Movin' Out?

Here's a sampling of what they had to say:

Mark Shenton in his Theatre.com Review: “Tharp's inspired and frequently thrilling dance explodes like a burst of adrenalin pumped onto the stage, but the particular joy of Movin' Out lies, too, in the illuminating way it reinvents not just the dansical but also the freshness that it brings to the increasingly stale jukebox musical that crafts a new story out of an existing pop repertoire… Movin' Out succeeds because it adds an extra interpretative layer to the storytelling that's already contained in the songs. It does this by threading a story told in a purely visual language of movement through them that tell not just of an era amongst a group of friends and their intersecting lives but also of the emotions and the exhilarations and losses of love that they suffer along the way.”

Debra Craine of The London Times: "Tharp's agenda is dance, and the hook is her visceral high-octane choreography. War may be hell, she's telling us, but her dance can't resist the feel-good impulse. For two hours, with barely a pause for breath, she whips up a storm of movement fuelled by demon energy, dazzling athleticism and raw sex. When it comes to putting classy and raunchy into the same body there is no one to touch her. It's the best show dancing in town. The cast, predominantly American, dance as if their lives depend on it.”

Judith Mackrell of The Guardian: “As plots go this is hardly novel, but Tharp not only tells it with model clarity but with ensembles that range from fluent classical ballet to savagely, visceral evocations of war. Her choreography is light years beyond the Broadway average. The dancing too is spectacular, especially from Rod Todorowski who dances Eddie with such self-flagellating virtuosity you barely notice that no dialogue has been spoken. Yet enjoyable as individual moments are, this show remains an unsatisfactory hybrid. For all the vaunted bittersweet lyricism of Joel's songs, the music is too monochrome to force Tharp into any profound exploration of her material. So unsatisfactorily do the two elements mesh that for purist Joel fans, the evening only starts to rock when Fox plays A 'New York/London State of Mind' as an independent encore. And for those who care about Tharp, it's impossible to ignore that it doesn't take her choreography to any place we haven't seen.”

Charles Spencer of The Daily Telegraph: “Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Who's Tommy–you can count the truly great rock musicals on the fingers of one hand. And to that exclusive list must now be added Movin' Out…. This is a show that really packs a punch. For as well as being a great rock musical, this is also a superb dance spectacular, and one that tells a story rather than just offering a succession of big choreographic routines…. Sensitive ballet fans will doubtless find Movin' Out appallingly loud and vulgar, but anyone with a passion for popular culture at its electrifying best will have an absolute blast.”

Zoe Anderson of The Independent: “No one in Movin' Out, the Twyla Tharp musical, based on Billy Joel songs, relaxes for a second. Smiles are fixed, staying plastered on faces until the time comes for a bit of soulful torment. The dancing is athletic, hard-driven and relentlessly slick. They don't hold anything back but it's hard to believe a second of it…. Santo Loquasto's designs do most of the characterisation: Tharp's dancers can't act. That wouldn't matter if her choreography told the story for them. But her dances here are music-theatre cliches, plus the odd ballet convention. In duet after duet, women are bent back by their partners, kicking their legs or being thrown in the air. Tharp has worked this vein before, but she's forgotten how to make it juicy, prodding the dancers into harsh, give-'em-all-you've-got phrasing. Dancing almost never looks fun in this show. It does look spectacular. The three leads, all from the Broadway production, are tirelessly gymnastic.”

Sarah Frater of The Evening Standard: “Billy, Billy, what are you doing? You wrote some of the best songs ever sung, the anthems and laments of the American Dream, and anyone who's heard you belt out 'Innocent Man' or 'Goodnight Saigon' at Madison Square Garden or Wembley Arena won't ever forget it. So why, how, did you let 'Uptown Girl' and 'Big Shot' and all those other monster hits get mixed up with a slim, sentimental plot that's best watched with your eyes closed?.... You see flashes of brilliance amid great swathes of old-fashioned pump and grind that only cheesily connects movement to lyrics."

Ruth Leon of The Daily Express: “If you only see one musical this spring, make it Movin' Out…. The dancing from a multi-national cast is spectacular, whether it's a simple line of soldiers walking slowly at a friend's funeral or a stageful of boogeying bodies at the local diner, throwing themselves into a teenage mating dance. Tharp has ensured that every turn of the head, every expression, every jump, tells a story…. Movin' Out is a show for everybody. I defy you not to have a wonderful evening.”