Stereophonic – the most Tony-Award nominated Play Ever – fails to live up to the Broadway hype. 

Stereophonic – the most Tony Award-nominated play ever (13 nominations) and the most Tony Award-winning show of 2024 (5 wins) is now playing in London’s West End at the Duke of York’s Theatre and with an accolade that big, I simply had to go and see what all the fuss was about.

So, I strapped myself in for 3 hours and 15 minutes of what should have been the best thing I had ever seen on stage. Sadly, I was bored.

The premise of Stereophonic is very interesting.

Set entirely in a Los Angeles recording studio, a 1970’s rock band are working on following up their first album which sky rocketed them to fame. But success affects people differently and it can be difficult to manage. Drink and drugs are readily available and relationships are tested.

Sounds like a pretty good idea for a story to tell on stage.

But with so much opportunity to drill down in to the mind of artistic genius and the songwriting/recording process, unfortunately Stereophonic doesn’t do much. I didn’t feel the characters had any back story to them and failed to give me anything to like, loathe or even just care about them and what happened to the band.

The cast of actor-musicians play instruments and sing live on stage which is great and shows they are multi-talented performers, but this isn’t anything new or innovative in the world of theatre.

Portraying an ambitious rock band struggling to record their new album are Zachary Hart as Reg the bass player, Lucy Karczewski as Diana the charismatic lead singer, Jack Riddiford as Peter the guitarist and Nia Towle as Holly, the keys player.

They join cast members reprising their roles from the acclaimed Broadway production – Andrew R. Butler and Eli Gelb as sound engineers Charlie and Grover, and Chris Stack as Simon the drummer. The performances can’t be faulted but sadly the writing and direction can.

Long, drawn out, silences add nothing to portray emotion and at times feel like the cast have forgotten lines before walking off stage. There were so many opportunities to do something great with the story but even the most pivotal moment of the show takes place off-stage and out of view – a lazy choice and a wasted opportunity to perhaps create some grit and tension.

Of the five Tony awards the show won, it probably did deserve Best Scenic Design of a Play for David Zinn because it was beautiful to watch. The most beautiful and glamorous 1970’s recording studio I have ever seen, with floor to ceiling windows allowing the sound desk and musicians to clearly see each other. Most of the studios I have ever been in are just cupboards, covered in noise protecting foam but this was the creme de la creme of recording studios.

With sensational recent British Plays like The Pillowman (Martin McDonagh), People, Places and Things (Duncan Macmillan) and Giant (Mark Rosenblatt), Stereophonic fails to live up to the hype caused by Broadway.

★★★

Reviewed by West End Wilma
Photo by Marc Brenner

Find out more about Stereophonic at the Duke of York’s Theatre