Review: White Rose The Musical (Marylebone Theatre)

White Rose: The Musical follows young siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl (played by Tobias Turley and Collette Guitart), and a group of other non-violent activists in war torn Munich, who wrote and distributed leaflets criticising the Nazi regime.

I booked tickets for this as soon as they went on sale, and so I found myself at a preview of the show at Marylebone Theatre in the middle of row BB at the front of the stalls, normally I would think this was a bit close to the front but I wanted to try and get some photos, and it turned out for this show being near the action on stage was a good place to be.

The set is minimal and the curved nature of it focusses your eye on the performers front of stage, but the raised area at the back of the stage was used to great effect, often dimly lit, to give the sense that watchful eyes are never very far away.

As the music started I could tell I was going to enjoy the soundtrack immediately but the scene that took the emotional connection up a notch for me was when Willi Graf (Owen Arkrow) narrated a harrowing experience at the front line. As his retelling developed into a panic attack, his buried feelings and the realities of war became more apparent. Owen Arkrow's acting here was incredible.

This was the first of a number of reveals by each character of their own experiences in these dark times, from Christoph (Danny Whelan) talking about his young family, to Hans narrating his experience of the Hitler Youth.  This was a powerful thing to see in the current political climate.

For the performance we saw, Millie Robins played Lila and her rendition of The Stars made me feel very emotional. I did not realise until after the show that Millie is understudy for this role, she was fantastic.

Pivotal to the story are brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, and Tobias Turley and Collette Guitart were perfect for these roles. The brother/sister dynamic and Han's valiant attempts to protect his sister were portrayed well.  The other characters seem equally important to the narrative; I enjoyed the fact that each character had their moment to describe their own situation. This brought a greater depth to the characters and a deeper understanding of how war can impact people in different ways.

The second half began with yet more powerful music, I noticed some exquisite harmonies, especially with some of the 2 and 5 part songs. Ollie Wray brought Frederick Fischer into the spotlight during his solo, the character struggling with emotions after feeling let down by his professor as well as wishing he could run off with Sophie to Switzerland. Mark Wilshire shone as Professor Huber, a man who has been on his own emotional rollercoaster since the war began.

Every single member of this cast stood out in their own way. The vocals were exceptional throughout and the music (by Natalie Brice) and lyrics (by Brian Belding) have had me listening to the soundtrack over and over since the weekend.  (Please let there be a London cast soundtrack as for now I’m playing the off Broadway one, but would love to be able to listen to the London cast!)

The use of a fairly simple set and minimal props worked well in this show, depicting the stark reality of a city at war.

If I have any constructive criticism to offer it is possibly there were sound issues at times – I am sure these will be ironed out now the show has opened properly.  I also felt the impact of the leaflets being thrown into the audience was lost when it happened a second time – maybe once would have been better.

I happened to go to this preview with a historian and their opinion of the show was, “A couple of bits of dialogue needed an edit but I thought they got the complicated moral questions done subtly and did the difficult things really well”.

I enjoyed seeing a preview of this show, and I have booked to see it again already. I can’t help but think this 6 week run will not be the last we see of White Rose.

⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

White Rose: The Musical is currently showing at Marylebone Theatre until 13th April.

• Access info: A free companion ticket is available if you have an access card with the +1 symbol on it. Call the box office directly to discuss access requirements. 02077237984 Mon – Fri 11am-4pm.

  
  

• There is a café inside of the foyer of the theatre, which sells drinks and snacks, but if you need something a bit more substantial we went to Ttin wa zeytoon on the corner of Taunton Place where they offer good quality baguettes, wraps, toasties and hot food.