One of the hitherto undiscovered joys of no longer working on a Saturday is that I can now do matinees so I rectified that yesterday by seeing the world premiere production of TAKE FLIGHT at the Menier Chocolate Factory with Angela. A pattern is emerging with The Menier, my trips there seem to go good (SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE) disappointing (THE LAST 5 YEARS) good (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS) disappointing (TOTAL ECLIPSE) and TAKE FLIGHT definitely fitted in the good slot but with qualifications.

It certainly has a pedigree as the score is by David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr (BABY, STARTING HERE STARTING NOW, CLOSER THAN EVER) and book by John Weidman (PACIFIC OVERTURES, ASSASSINS, CONTACT, BOUNCE).

TAKE FLIGHT tells three real life stories concurrently, the Wright Brother's attempts at flight between 1900-3, Charles Lindbergh's famous solo flight across the Atlantic in 1923 and Amelia Earhart's career as an Aviatrix from 1928-1937. It sounds a bit confusing but it all kinda comes together pointing out their joint obsessions in pushing uncharted territories and in the cases of the pilots there is the strange unresolved feeling of landing.

The Wright Brothers provide the humour of the piece with their worries of whether they are ever going to get the damn plane to fly, Lindbergh is a strange character to dramatise being an obsessive loner but his interaction is played out with people from his life appearing in his mind during the flight and Earhart provides the emotional input with her tentative relationship and marriage with the book publisher George Putnam.

Oddly enough for an established song-writing team here they have almost subsumed their voice to a score that could be called Sondheimesque. The opening number "Flies" sung by the Wrights on their first visit to Kitty Hawk beach is frighteningly close to the opening number for SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and more noticeably in the number "The Prize" - where members of the company play failed European pilots - which feels like a re-tread of the European Ambassadors in "Please Hello" from PACIFIC OVERTURES. Even the title number with some admittedly fine choral work from the cast sounds like an echo of "Sunday" and there were occasional under-scored phrases which reminded me of SWEENEY TODD. The obvious conclusion would be that this has happened as they are working with Weidman - a frequent Sondheim collaborator - but actually it appears that Weidman only became involved after the score had been workshopped a few times. Malby's lyrics also overwork the whole flight imagery a bit so after the nth time time someone "needs wings to fly", "going alone" etc. it gets a bit samey.

After the wonderful design for SUNDAY... which involved computer and digital effects it's odd that the same designer David Farley has gone for the use of a stepladder for a plane! Not even a bit of video projection for sky. After utilising the space so well for SUNDAY... this seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity for a piece which so needs to differentiate between the earth and the sky. Also at 2 hours 20 minutes the show seemed to be taking it's time.

"But apart from that Mrs. Lincoln what did you think of the play?"
Actually I did like it mostly due to the cast. They certainly help to keep one's interest in the potentially difficult lead characters although Michael Jibson - looking like a young Dudley Sutton - through no fault of his own can't quite make Lindbergh interesting. This is due to the fact that his story arc ends with his landing in Paris so all his post-flight controversy is never mentioned which might have helped flesh out his persona on stage.

Sam Kenyon as geeky Wilbur and Elliot Levey as perplexed Orville Wright work well together and in the second act are finally given a duet worthy of their talents, the gently funny "The Funniest Thing" with Kenyon strumming on a banjo as they mull over their many flying machine failures.

Sally Ann Triplett - who I still have difficulty with as a leading lady - certainly nailed her numbers as Amelia Earhart although her vocal power was a bit too top-heavy at times. Ian Bartholomew, who I first saw in the 1st replacement cast of GUYS AND DOLLS at the Olivier, gave the performance of the evening as the publisher George Putnam who falls for Earhart as he is marketing her as 'Lady Lindy' only to realize that even after marriage he will never be able to clip her wings. Their duet "Earthbound" was certainly one of the musical highlights.

Clive Carter serves as a sort-of narrator playing German glider pilot Otto Lillienthal who was killed in 1896. Always a competent performer his character doesn't particularly work well here. His big number "Pffft!" describing the fatal attempts by early aviators seemed an odd subject for a light-hearted number. Out of a hard-working supporting cast I must single out Ian Conningham as among others, Lindbergh's first aerial employer Ray Page who stole every scene he was in. The musicians under Caroline Humphris sounded wonderful making the score genuinely thrilling.

So with reservations I recommend it to anyone who relishes musical theatre that does not depend on the creator's iPod shuffle, reality tv imports or screen-to-stage unoriginality.