Summary
Relocating the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story to the coast of Cornwall, this musical begins on the eve of World War I. The story follows the life of Benjamin Button, who is born as an old man and ages backward, as he navigates love, loss, and the passage of time in his small fishing village throughout the 20th century.
Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at 1:30 PM Sep 23, 2025, 1:30 PM
Understudy for Roger Button
“I’m not made for anybody,” opines our hero. It doesn’t really matter if he’s right. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a high concept, magical realist epic wrapped up in a stomp-clap-hey folk musical, is about what happens when you believe too fervently in your own tragedy.
Benjamin, if you haven’t heard, was born an old man and is aging in reverse. This has some pretty profound physical effects on his lived experience, but also on his psyche vis-à-vis the way other people treat him. It’s hard to overcome the circumstances of your birth without a little scarring in the process. You can write a salient analogy for any of a variety of atypical or otherwise disadvantageous human experiences: disability, queerness, perhaps even race or poverty if you like. There’s an outlandish poetry to Benjamin’s particular condition—which could sharpen or defang your comparison of choice—in that he has the potential to have a full lifetime of experiences, if out of order.
We see story beats that ring familiar to these kinds of stories: violent rejection by the birth family, self-isolation, attempting to “pass” for normal, and eventually finding family. But it’s not quite that tidy of a story, and it really finds its legs when it gives Benjamin some agency. The latter half is marked by the consequences of his not being able to accept reality and the home that he found. In the end, the great tragedy is that the trauma got to him, and he denied himself his fullest life after working so hard to get it within his reach. It’s heartbreaking.
44-year old John Dagleish plays Benjamin at all ages, which has pros and cons. There’s a strong empathetic throughline developed by the use of a single actor, but it’s significantly harder to age downwards than upwards with makeup, and body language can only go so far beyond that. Some story beats, especially at the back end involving the youngest Benjamin, are functionally unstageable and rely on the narrator ensemble telling you what happens, which takes some of the punch out of the ending. This doesn’t reflect badly on Dagleish one bit, though; it’s super impressive to see his physicality morph over the character’s lifespan.
Lots of other things to like here. Clare Foster is also quite charming as the love interest, Elowen. The set is this interesting wood construction, versatile for its abstractness—it stands in effectively as a house, a pub, and a boat at various points. I thought the score was pleasant and really suited the setting on the coast of Cornwall, but I will say, as I write this a week later, I’m having trouble identifying a standout track even when I spin through the cast album.
Using the ensemble as musicians is a cool vibe, but it also has some drawbacks; when somebody is out, it’s exponentially harder (literally, I think, if I understand the math!) to cover all the roles. As versatile as swings are, they can’t be expected to perform 13 different instruments at a professional level. We had one cover at this performance, and I think it was for a performer whose instrument he couldn’t play, so they stuck him in the back with his hands in his pockets! And that makes me wonder if the orchestra was an instrument shy of its full complement? (Perhaps they have someone play it off-stage?)
All in all, I thought this was very good, but I don’t love every creative choice they made. Hoping for a transfer so I can see it again!