Tonight:
8°c
London faces a wave of bus and Tube strikes that could cause chaos for millions of passengers as unions walkout over pay and conditions
More...
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Nick Curtis's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Terry Johnson.
Cast: Josh Hartnett, Adam Godley, Mary Stockley, Colin Stinton, Charles Daish, Tilly Blackwood
Description: A stage adaptation of the 1980s film about the relationship between car dealer Charlie and his autistic savant brother Raymond. Starring Josh Hartnett and Adam Godley.
Trains: Tube: Piccadilly Circus 
Phone: 0870890 1101
Website: www.nimaxtheatres.com
Original version: Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman starred in the Rain Man film
Another day, another American star on the West End stage, in another adaptation of a Hollywood movie. This time it's Josh Hartnett, whose bruised adolescent features graced Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down, in a theatrical version of Rain Man, the 1988 film that starred Dustin Hoffman as hospitalised autistic savant Raymond Babbit and Tom Cruise as Charlie, the nasty younger brother who first sets out to exploit his sibling's mathematical genius, then learns to love him.
A typical concoction of celebrity, reflected cinematic glory, schmaltz and showy "disability acting", then? Maybe, maybe not.
For one thing, adaptation for the stage has necessitated the excision of a big Hollywood-y chunk of the script, namely the car-based scenes in the road trip Charlie and Raymond take to Las Vegas. The story has been updated to the present day and the character of failed cardealer Charlie aged from midtwenties to early thirties, which should make his disillusioned cynicism more credible.
Hartnett may be pretty and he may not have acted on stage since college but he has concentrated on smaller and more interesting film roles since his blockbuster heyday (including, weirdly, the role of reallife Asperger's sufferer Donald Morton - who diagnosed himself with the syndrome after seeing Rain Man - in 2005's Mozart and the Whale). Here he takes the unsympathetic role of Charlie, leaving the potentially grandstanding role of Raymond to British actor Adam Godley.
A physically and emotionally eloquent actor, Godley gave a supremely sensitive performance of an institutionalised character riven by mental anguish in The Pillowman at the National Theatre in 2003.
Others members of the Rain Man production team have impressive form, too. Adapter Dan Gordon is not only a playwright with screenplay credits including The Hurricane-and Wyatt Earp but also he previously translated Terms of Endearment from the screen to the stage. And director Terry Johnson not only directed Christian Slater in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the West End but also arguably kicked off the lucrative and popular film-to-play craze when he got Kathleen Turner to disrobe at the Gielgud Theatre in his 2000 adaptation of The Graduate.
But, as Raymond Babbit himself might ask, will all this diverse talent add up? We'll see.
Rain Man previews at the Apollo Theatre from tonight (0844 412 4658, www. rainmanonstage.com).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
[ 1 ] [ 2 ]
I want to correct the first comment on this site. Nick Curtis wrote that Josh Hartnett played a real-life "aspergers sufferer" named Donald Morton.
The truth is that Donald Morton was based on me. If you doubt me, ask anyone connected with "Mozart and The Whale." Also, I have never told anyone that I "suffer" from asperger syndrome. It is a bizarre combination of ups and downs but after a little over sixty years, I have learned to live with it and even enjoy it! I hope to see Mr. Hartnett in his new role later this fall.
Jerry Newport aka The Whale, inspiration for Donal Morton
- Gerald Newport, Flagstaff, AZ USA
I went and saw Rain Man last night 17/9 and can't believe i saw the same show as the previous reviewer.
I found the show entertaining, not in the least did they seem to play for laughs cheap or otherwise , any humour there was, was believable and tinged with sadness.
All the performers gave their all, there were no half hearted performances for me.
Yes i went to see this because of Josh Hartnett, and i wasn't the least bit disappointed , neither was i disappointed with Adam Godley , who absolutely did not play the role of Raymond as if he was stupid, but instead played him with depth and feeling .Theatres meant to entertain and i was entertained , what more can you ask for
- Julie Thorne, London
This was a major disappointment. The adaptation was itself ill-judged and poorly conceived, with the fundamental lesson from the original story being missed completely. The staging was unimaginative at best, and there was a baffling amount of swearing in it that added nothing to the production at all. The performances were highly average, save for Godley, who is the only one to emerge with (a little) credit from this production. This play went for cheap laughs instead of emotional depth, and was at times descending into farce, a sad development for one of the most poignant films of its generation.
Hartnett lacks depth, and whilst his mistakes can be forgiven as first night nerves, the stiltedness of his interactions cannot be explained away so easily. Godley is convincing, although the director seemed intent on portraying him as merely stupid, as opposed to autistic. Any indication of his genius was glossed over in favour of his speaking slowly and comically, as opposed to a man genuinely detached from reality.
This production smacked of a lack of effort, a lack of thought, and for fans of the film, or even fans of good theatre, I think you will be massively let down.
- Fayyaz Muneer, London
