Treasure Island at Bristol Old Vic will ‘shiver your timbers’

Colin Leggo in costume as Long John Silver in Treasure Island at Bristol Old Vic — Colin Leggo’s Long John Silver is ‘part villain, part wary mentor’

(Image credit: Johan Persson / Bristol Old Vic)

This new musical adaptation of “Treasure Island” is “the perfect show” for the holidays, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. Indeed, Paul Foster’s production at the Bristol Old Vic – which brings Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale to life amid a modern-day pub storytelling competition – “is so finely wrought it warrants a much longer life”.

Jake Brunger (book and lyrics) and Pippa Cleary (music and lyrics) were responsible for “The Great British Bake Off Musical” (2022). That was a “sweet but lightweight” concoction; this is “saltier and more satisfying”. Lustily performed by eight actor-musicians, and infused with a love of Bristol and its maritime heritage, it “combines comic touches and modern flourishes” with traditional “swashbuckling derring-do”. If I have a gripe, it’s that there are too many mood-setting numbers. Otherwise, this looks like a very hearty hit that is certain to “shiver your timbers”.

What sets this enchanting show apart is the “confidence of its makers”, said Kris Hallett on What’sOnStage. “The songs are genuine earworms, lyrics crisp and playful, the score darting from Spanish pop and calypso to hints of Sondheim.” And there is a real charm to Tom Rogers’ design, with its vast map of Bristol that peels away to reveal ship and island – a flourish that has both “grandeur and theatrical simplicity”.