Jane Eyre: A Musical Boasts Gorgeous Voices but a Book That Can’t Keep Pace

Jane Eyre: A Musical | Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 24 October 2026

Phenomenal performances anchor this gothic Southwark Playhouse premiere.

Jane Eyre: A Musical has finally arrived in the UK, two decades after its Broadway debut in 2000. Originally running at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, it garnered five Tony nominations, including Best Musical, though it ultimately didn’t win any. Paul Gordon’s score and John Caird’s book and direction are foundational to this new UK premiere at Southwark Playhouse Elephant. Caird returns to co-direct, this time alongside Broadway veteran Megan McGinnis.

The musical is an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel, centring on Jane Eyre and Rochester. It delivers all the hallmarks of a gothic romance: mystery, forbidden wings of the house, swirling mist, an unpleasant childhood, cruel governesses, death, disfigurement, and fire. For those who appreciate these elements, every box is ticked.

How faithful is it to the source material? Expect a CliffsNotes version, a rapid journey through the plot. Having not studied the novel myself, I was initially hazy on some details and had to consult a friend. One particular scene, where a character disguises themselves as a fortune teller, struck me as utterly bonkers. However, my friend confirmed this bizarre incident is indeed in the book, intended to scare off a suitor.

Caird’s influence is palpable, both in the staging and the use of the company to narrate Jane’s story. He famously co-directed the original Les Misérables with Trevor Nunn at the RSC, and also co-directed the massively successful Nicholas Nickleby with Nunn. The technique of the entire company occasionally speaking as Jane, which was used to tremendous effect in Nicholas Nickleby to tell a story collectively, is employed here with similar impact.

Jane Eyre was a semi-success on Broadway, earning its five Tony nominations and subsequently developing a cult following. It embodies the operatic musical style prevalent in the ’80s and ’90s, a style that has somewhat fallen out of favour. Nevertheless, it features beautiful, soaring melodies, exquisite singing, and a wonderful orchestra, with tunes that are thoroughly redolent of that era. If you appreciate this type of musical, this is an excellent example. I can only surmise that its failure to win awards and its subsequent obscurity led to this lengthy delay in reaching the UK, now arriving in a small fringe theatre rather than a full West End house.

While the singing is exceptional, I found the book, the script, to be a slight impediment, robbing the production of some emotional impact. A significant portion of time is dedicated to Jane’s childhood, which makes the remainder of the story feel rushed, preventing deeper emotional engagement.

The staging is simple yet effective, utilising rear projections and a monochrome palette, with some costume changes performed in full view of the audience. There’s a strong sense of ensemble storytelling. My main wish was for the production to dial back some of the excesses in the acting and find a way to engage us more deeply and emotionally in Jane’s journey.

The small company works hard, multi-rolling and singing with gusto. However, their shortcomings as actors are sharply revealed in an intimate setting. It seemed as though their performances were either trying to compensate for the very small house when I attended, or they were calibrated for a much larger venue, as everything felt set to “11.”! Southwark Playhouse Elephant’s studio space has a way of exposing exactly this kind of mismatch between scale and material.

Despite this, the principal performances are phenomenal. Charlie Burn as Jane Eyre and Ashley Gilmour as Rochester both possess gorgeous voices and deliver powerful singing. An honourable mention must go to Poppy Jason, who played young Jane and Adele at the performance I attended; she is a star in the making.

Under the music direction of Ben Kubiak, the orchestra sounds sublime, providing a lusher and fuller sound than one would typically expect in a small studio setting.

Ultimately, there’s lots in it for people to enjoy, especially if you enjoy the lush musicals in the style of Les Misérables.

Fringe-scale but far from small in ambition, this is worth catching for the singing alone. EyeOnLondon would go for Charlie Burn and Ashley Gilmour’s voices and forgive the rest.

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