Oh dear.
I was usually really partial to a bit of Tony Sher, but all I wrote in my log for this one was:
Dire.
I’m also partial to a bit of Mahler, so the subject matter should have pleased me. I suspect that Janie and I were like minded on this, as I tend to record a difference of opinion.
I must declare that we saw a preview, but I find it hard to believe that “dire” was rescued between preview and press night.
Let’s see what the experts thought.
Here’s the Guardian’s review of reviews. Not great, as I believe the system for this is out of 10:
Mahler Review of Reviews Guardian 13 Oct 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
A rare two stars only from our friend Michael Billington:
Mahler Billington Guardian 3 Oct 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Charles Spencer also didn’t like it:
4 Oct 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard gave it the dreaded blob.
3 Oct 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
My preview assessment – “dire” – seems to have summed it up in few but effective word(s).