What occurs when a highly emotional man meets a highly … Like a latter-day Hamlet, Jean-René is in thrall to the ghost of his dead father (Philip Cox) who believes staunchly in tradition and – perhaps like the Globe board – refuses to countenance change or risk-taking, even when the chocolate factory faces disaster. This new musical, based on the 2010 Franco-Belgian film Les Romantics Anonymous, theatre review: Romantic whimsy makes for a sugary sweet affair | London Evening Standard ES_Masthead Music: Michael Kooman. (And, believe me, when it comes to that damn “Loveland” sequence, I’m still trying to....) A little further down the Southbank there’s now a lovely, intimate, humanly-scaled alternative. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. But I was disappointed by this production of Romantics Anonymous, streamed from Bristol Old Vic in a virtual form to support theatres around the country, many of which it planned to visit live. Rice proved in the giddy Brief Encounter (2008), where the lovers really did swing from the chandeliers, that nobody presents sexual desire and the transformative joy of love on stage quite as well or with such febrile intensity. It would be easy to dismiss this small-scale, quirky and original evening as nothing more than a delicious sweetmeat. It’s the kind of show that spreads through recommendation, one person falling in love and telling another. One sits entirely tucked into her clothing: knees in her jumper, hands up her sleeves. Romantics Anonymous review. a multifaceted gem, chock-full of love, generosity and joy, and it fits the space like a glove. It’s bitterness, says Angélique, that elevates chocolate above other sweets and fancies. Opened, reviewed, Sept. 27, 2017. Another, a crisscross of knitwear with plastered-up specs, taps away on his laptop avoiding eye contact. It’s an evening valiantly served not just by its leads but the entire top-notch, cross-dressing, shape-shifting ensemble and a small but perfectly formed live band. Intimidating French waiters are sent up mercilessly, too. Posted September 11, 2020 13:25 by Rachel Wise. Romantics Anonymous is a multifaceted gem, chock-full of love, generosity and joy, and it fits the space like a glove. Romantics Anonymous is an unusual and tender love story in which the obstacles to happiness are not the usual external barriers, but those sneaky little ones we know all too intimately: the ones within. The scenes at the Alcoholics Anonymous-style meetings where everyone begins by announcing “Je suis emotif” are funny and heartbreakingly sad. The performances are lovely, the production by Emma Rice's Wise Children is characteristically imaginative, but the show itself is anodyne. Romantics Anonymous was the final show that Emma Rice as Artistic Director of London’s Globe Theatre staged at that venue before both parted company. Film, Theatre & Music Musings. Angelique’s too shy to take credit for her talent, while Jean-René’s anxious inactivity is ruining his business. So when these lovers risk taking their feet off the ground and tumble through the air, it is utterly irresistible. Song steps in when speech falls short. In “Brief Encounter,” the station staff remained earthbound and unmoved, while “Tristan and Yseult” were watched by a chorus of The Unloved, a flock of bespectacled, anorak-wearing oddballs – trainspotters of the heart. You might call them The Overwhelmed or The Insecure, all cowed by the world. With Benoît Poelvoorde, Isabelle Carré, Lorella Cravotta, Lise Lamétrie. Emma Rice bows out at Shakespeare's Globe with a heart-tugger of a new musical about timid lovers. 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