REVIEW: FALLEN ANGEL at Drayton Arms 25 – 29 March 2025
‘Willoughby and McAllister give flawless performances as they sing and play a pair of guitars, showing real chemistry in the process.’ ★★★
It’s a setup straight out of a romcom; Zach (Peter Willoughby) is crashing out of his failing music career, fighting a thirst for alcohol as much as flight delays in a Los Angeles airport when he bumps into Angel (Emma McAllister), a woman who seems guided by fate to stop him boarding his plane.
Romance blooms between the two as the show progresses and dark secrets are revealed, but there are a few bumps in the road of this feel-good journey. The show comes off a little overly-absorbed in Zach’s struggles to the exclusion of other areas of obvious interest, such as the background of McAllister’s character or even the world surrounding them both. This latter aspect certainly needs fleshing out, as although there are isolated examples of clever tech and set design the show is notably lacking in these areas.
The overwhelming focus on Zach does the show a disservice primarily due to the fact that his character fails to charm; we are more often directly told that Zach is brilliant and wonderful than ever really shown it and his ‘struggles’ come across as whiny rather than compelling. A good example is near the end as his father tries to make amends for past wrongs, only for Zach to jump into a song decrying the older man’s past crimes, including laughing as he tried to learn to ride a bike as a child. It’s more a bruised ego than dark past.
Thankfully the show has saving graces beyond these flaws. Opposite Willoughby, McAllister gives a star performance, delivering the best bits of the night with excellent comedic timing and heartfelt dramatic delivery. Though the script was apparently written well before her involvement, McAllister’s performance gives a good case for her character having a larger role in the play.
Most importantly, the music of this musical has more hits than misses - both Willoughby and McAllister give flawless performances as they sing and play a pair of guitars, showing real chemistry in the process. The show’s tunes are are typically high-quality but do have a tendency to be quite similar within themselves and could have done with some additional variation in the mix – not surprising given the show’s overall feeling of two steps forward and one step back.
All together then, it is a pleasant show that falls short of special – a little further refinement may well close that gap.
Fallen Angels runs at The Drayton Arms Theatre from 25th March – 29th March 2025
Book, Music & Lyrics by Sara Eker and Giles Fernando
Directed by Penny Gkritzapi
Box office: https://www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk/fallen-angel
Produced by Paradigm Productions
Reviewed by Harry Conway
