City of Angels (Nov 2000)

Aberdeen Arts Centre

Not to be confused with the Cage/Ryan movie of the same name, this show is funny, biting and full of wit with a marvellous jazz-infected score by Cy Coleman. City of Angels won the 1989 Tony Award for Best Musical and is based on the private eye movies of the 1940s, with a very unusual twist which will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final note of the playout music!

The story centres around the character of Stine, a fiction writer, who is trying to adapt one of his detective novels into a screenplay. The scenes move from the 'real life' Hollywood cast, in glorious technicolour, to the 'on-screen' characters created by Stine. In the style of a film noir, the suspense in the detective mystery builds and, at the same times, the problems in Stine's personal life escalate, bringing the show to an astonishing finale.

The plot and its fantastic characters are intriguingly intertwined and the music, in the style of 1940s big-band swing, is infectious. City of Angels in the intimacy of the Arts Centre Theatre and with Phoenix Theatre's quality of production adds up to a fantastic evening's entertainment.