David Adjmi's sublime drama is the most Tony-nominated play of all time, said Sarah Crompton on WhatsOnStage. Its ten-year trek from experimental theatre to the toast of Broadway is "already the stuff of legend" – as is the story it tells. Set in a California recording studio in 1976/77, "Stereophonic" is about the artistic trials and personal tribulations of a mixed-sex, British-American rock band working on a follow-up to their breakthrough album. "Any resemblance to Fleetwood Mac is entirely coincidental" (though it's notable that the producers settled a lawsuit brought by Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"-era sound engineer, who felt that parts of it drew too closely on his memoir).
The play – with soaring rock songs by Will Butler of Arcade Fire – is "almost existential in its concerns, yet its overlapping, quickfire dialogue" is "funny, pungent" and naturalistic. I reckon it's a masterpiece – and this London production, directed by David Aukin, is a triumph.
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