Sherlock Holmes: The Musical - Critical Response

Critical Response

Critical response to the show's original production was largely negative. Jeremy Kingston, a reviewer from the Times of London, describes writer Leslie Bricusse as, "a man with a stream of melodies behind him but currently swirled, on the evidence of this show, into a melodic backwater." Continuing, he writes that, "The show's tone wobbles foolishly between the earnest and the jokey, with the cast clearly preferring the latter. I would rather have the whole Holmes business either sent up rotten or played for stark, staring melodrama." Describing Derek Waring as having an, "unvaried Colonel Chinstrap mode" as Watson and Ron Moody a "tart though too emotional Sherlock", his reaction seemed to match that of much of London, as it closed later that year.

The revival at the Old Vic in 1993 did not fare much better. Benedict Nightingale, who reviewed the show for the Times, wrote that, "it is pretty clear that economic, not artistic, necessity explains the show's presence. Moreover Sherlock Holmes the Musical is about as likely a notion as Einstein the Clogdance."He goes on to say that, "there is something preposterous about so cerebral a hero bursting into lyrics like (of his symbiotic relationship with Moriarty) "without him there'd be no me... without evil there'd be no good of great degree."" Although Nightingale finds some redeeming qualities, saying that "Bricusse's queiter melodies have a more sophisticated lilt, and there are one or two other pluses in Bob Tomson's always energetic production, notably Mick Bearwish's vaulty, Thames-side set and Powell himself."