Dorian the Musical: this rock adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic missteps at every turn

By Gill Foster, London South Bank University

In the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Oscar Wilde wrote: “There is no such thing as a moral or immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.”

The same might apply to contemporary musical adaptations of well-known literary classics where the book and the score are key to the success of the creative endeavour. Sadly, in Dorian the Musical, the book and the score are just too badly written to engage the audience.

The show is the latest offering from theatre company Ruby in the Dust. Written and directed by Linnie Reedman, with music and lyrics by Joe Evans, the company reframe Wilde’s deeply philosophical take on the relationship between art, life and morality, as a rock musical. In their take, Dorian becomes a young rock star struggling with the pressures of fame and social media.

As a concept this was always going to be a challenge to pull off.

There is some talent in the cast – notably strong singing from Megan Hill and Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson. The latter also delivers moments of nuance and depth in the beefed-up role of the disillusioned wife of self-proclaimed hedonist Lord Henry Wootton, here renamed Harry. But the production is ultimately doomed by a muddled script and mediocre music.

The decision to shift Dorian into the role of artist rather than artist’s muse does nothing to bring the character’s internal conflict into focus. Rendering Dorian as a more dynamic character weakens the fatal narcissism of the protaganist which ultimately leads to his downfall.

In the original novel, the stakes are high. Despite its dark gothic humour, there is a tragic momentum at the heart of the work which compels the action forward to its inevitable conclusion. This contemporary reset repositions Dorian’s struggle to reconcile his individual desires with society’s moral expectations as little more than a quest for social media popularity.

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