REVIEW | It Is Well With My Soul, The Other Palace
Written by Eleanor
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.
It Is Well With My Soul, like a few other shows running in London at the moment, follows the life of a historical figure. Philip Bliss (Adam Stone) is a hymn writer living in post-Civil War America. After being discharged from the army, he moves to Chicago with his wife Lucy (Katrina Markham) and begins to gain prominence for his music - so much so that he must choose between staying with his supportive producer George Root (Matt Sunners), travelling the world with preacher DL Moody (Richard Mellion), or moving to San Francisco for a less religious career. But as tragedy strikes, Philip must grapple with his own success and how this affects his religious beliefs and idea of morality.
This new musical played for a single night at The Other Palace, and I was very pleased to see that the performance was BSL interpreted and a section of the theatre seating was allocated for BSL users. It is so important to make a theatre as accessible as possible and I would love to see more BSL-interpreted performances taking place.
Unfortunately, this material did not connect with me at all. There were real issues with pacing and much of the dialogue was too long and too slow. The songs, although upbeat in some cases, were incredibly repetitive and didn’t help communicate the emotions of the characters, who were very one dimensional. I can understand why Philip Bliss is an interesting figure, particularly in the ways that he is split between his family life and his religious calling, but there was nothing of interest to me here.
A large portion of It is Well With My Soul is made up of conversational scenes which I found quite monotonous and unnecessarily long. The dialogue is not adept in exploring the different characters, helping the audience empathise with them, and sometimes felt as simply a way to move from one song to another. I did think that the monologues delivered by Root gave insight into his character, and I would’ve liked to see more of these dotted through the show or even given by other characters. Scenes would also stop and start with only a verbal cue, rather than with lighting and/or sound. Although this performance was for one night only, so there was only limited time for technical inclusions, this did lead to scene changes being rather jarring.
Overall I do think the script needs some serious reworking to help the pacing issues. It was only at the end of the first act that a major plot point occurred, with a large fire engulfing Chicago. For the sake of the story, it may have been better if this occurred earlier and more time was spent exploring how this disaster affected Bliss and his associates, rather than so much of the musical being given to the mundane comings and goings of his life. The show's end then comes about in a way I found quite baffling. As I had not formed any emotional ties to the characters, I do not think I had the kind of reaction that be creatives would have hoped for. I also came away feeling that the overall plot arc of the story was unsatisfying.
Unfortunately, many of the same weaknesses within the script were also evident in the music. I often found that the tone of the songs didn’t match that of the show as these upstanding 19th-century gentlemen would break into pop-inspired songs, which felt very out of place. This was less of an issue in second half in which there were a greater inclusion of ballads and hymns. There was one moment I particularly enjoyed, in terms of both the song and staging, where letters between Bliss and Moody were being transported overseas. Scenes such as this helped to split up the strings of dialogue and felt more logical for the setting of the show. But for a musical where the main character’s claim to fame is in the strength of their songwriting, arguably all of the songs in It is Well with my Soul were very repetitive. The lack of more interesting lyrics was not only unengaging as an audience member but, like the script, told me very little about the characters and gave me no reason to warm to them.
It is clear after seeing It is Well With My Soul that I was not necessarily their intended audience, and I would not recommend that others book a ticket to see this show without first finding out more about the content and creatives. But even though I did not connect with this show’s message, and it certainly may do well in certain circles, I still think that both the script and the music need to be strengthened.
☆
