Stereophonic: an 'extraordinary, electrifying odyssey'

David Adjmi's Broadway hit about a 1970s rock band struggling to record their second album comes to the West End

Andrew R. Butler as Charlie and Eli Gelb as Grover in Stereophonic
An exceptional cast: Eli Gelb as Grover and Andrew R. Butler as Charlie
(Image credit: Marc Brenner)

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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In the second half, the band squabble about how to cut the album's running time, said Clive Davis in The Times. It's ironic, then, that "Stereophonic", is itself a good half-hour too long. What's missing from it, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph, is context – detail about the characters' lives. It's a rewarding evening with plenty of "gilded moments"; but a modern classic? "Not so sure, man."