REVIEW: Barnum The Circus Musical at the Lyceum, Sheffield

Barnum The Circus Musical has pitched its big top at the Lyceum in Sheffield – in a whirl of spectacle, hoopla and ambition.

The play tells the story of greatest showman PT Barnum (though, disappointingly, on opening night, lead showman and star attraction Lee Mead was unavoidably absent, ill with flu).

Step forward understudy Tom Sterling who – a few staging stumbles and tightrope tumbles aside – proved himself worthy of wearing Barnum’s famous top hat.

Guiding the audience through the impresario’s dazzling world with flair, Sterling rose to the challenge of capturing the larger-than-life ringmaster, ably supported by Monique Young in the part of stoic wife Charity.

Visually, there is so much to take in. A giant animated articulated elephant is a genuine showstopper, the scenery an evocative confection of old time on-with-the-show theatricality, and some vignettes are breathtakingly beautiful.

The aerial balletics that accompany Penny Ashmore’s soaring solo as ‘Swedish Nightingale’ Jenny Lind create a magical effect.

Acrobats, fiddlers, aerialists and quadruple-playing pianists fill the stage with near-constant motion, as the years rattle by and Barnum’s greatest showman mythology grows.

From handstands and contortion to somersaults, tumbles, juggling and the splits, the stage is a playground of tricks and treats, with juggling, giant hoops, fire eating, magic tricks and handstands.

At times, clunky transitions threaten to disrupt the flow of a show first produced almost 50 years ago, with Michael Crawford in the lead for its debut West End run.

The story – covering a period from 1835 to 1880, when Barnum grew from sideshow music hall to the politics of City Hall, while never quite abandoning the con – is sometimes a little plodding in its chronology.

And the songs, pleasant enough, don’t live long in the memory.

But it is the multi-talented ensemble cast who are the stars.

Not content with acting, singing, dancing and circus skills, the 20-strong cast play more than 150 musical instruments live on stage between them.

From double bass, clarinet, kazoo and fiddle to guitar, banjo, cymbals and harp – together they create a musical kaleidoscope that bring colour to the world of a dreamer, hustler and master ‘humbugger’, practised in ‘polishing the facts until they gleam’.

• Barnum is at the Lyceum in Sheffield until Saturday, May 2.