Stereophonic: an 'extraordinary, electrifying odyssey'

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.

The play is almost Chekhovian in the way that it builds up to "something much greater than the sum of its parts", said Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times. Dramas about backstage bust-ups and troubled artists are nothing new, but Adjmi brings "something deeper, steeping us in the granular detail of the creative process: the craft and the graft, the exhausted wrangling and the sudden soaring ecstasy of the perfect take". And several of Butler's songs could grace a hit album, including "Masquerade" and the "hauntingly lovely" "Bright". The cast, all of whom play instruments or sing, are exceptional. And David Zinn's set, with its stunningly rendered 1970s studio, is a work of art in itself, said Emma John in The Guardian. It's an "extraordinary, electrifying odyssey".

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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."