LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST

PATRICK DOYLE

Rating:

Original Review: Sometimes, a film comes up with a premise so audacious you cannot help but wonder whether it is genius or madness at work. But Kenneth Branagh, who I will always maintain is the only director who can "do" Shakespeare on film today, has attempted something no-one has ever attempted before - and that is to mix the Bard with Broadway. Taking Shakespeare's notoriously florid language and setting it to the music of Berlin, Gershwin and Porter, Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost is a musical for the modern age, and his own personal attempt to recapture the glory of the MGM spectacular by dishing up a load of star names and hit tunes with a bit of Busby Berkeley and Esther Williams thrown in for good measure.

Love's Labour's Lost is one of Shakespeare's least known works which, according to Branagh, went unperformed for 200 years after the great playwright's death. I too must admit that I am wholly unfamiliar with the story, except for that which I gleaned from Doyle himself when I recently interviewed him for Soundtrack magazine. Apparently, Love's Labour's Lost is another one of Shakespeare's high-concept romantic farces, in which four young women venture forth to a beautiful kingdom on a diplomatic mission. Upon arrival, they are barred from entering the palace by the King himself, who has decreed that the menfolk should devote themselves purely to scholarly pursuits. However, when three of the king's hot-blooded subjects clap eyes on their visitors, it isn't long before their minds are turned to things other than their books.

Doyle describes his score for Love's Labour's Lost as "very English, and very noble", but fails to mention one key issue: that it is also very beautiful. It's a quintessential Doyle score, and stylistically is reminiscent of the softer parts of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Gently beguiling strings, playful woodwinds and magical chimes dominate much of the proceedings, resulting in a score which, while relatively brief, contains as much charm and grace as any you might care to mention. There's a powerhouse, almost Korngold-esque opening of brass fanfares and rolling timpanis in 'Love's Labour's Lost', which then segues into the first performance of the gorgeous, sweeping main theme. 'Arrival of the Princess' is a lilting, unashamedly romantic string ballad that gradually gives way to a haughty brass fanfare that underscores Aquatine's formal introduction to the King.

These three styles form the core elements of the majority of the rest of the score, with the most of the subsequent cues ('Beauty of a Woman's Face', 'Trim Gallants', 'You That Way, We This Way') falling broadly under the same descriptive headings. 'With That Face' is worth a special mention, mainly due to the delicate classical guitar and castanet orchestrations that seem to have been carried over from the preceding 'I Get a Kick Out of You'. 'Twelve Months and a Day' allows Doyle to develop his melodies in a more gradual manner, intertwining layers of strings, gorgeous flute and oboe solos, and snippets of all the main melodies over the course of nine spellbinding minutes, while 'Victory' sees Doyle back in pomp and circumstance mode, concluding the score with a resounding flourish. The only oddity is the intentionally amusing 'Cinetone News', which Doyle admits was modelled on the old Pathe newsreel music, and which sees the Scotsman indulging in some vastly overblown brass and snare marches and Sousa-style patriotism.

And then, of course, there are the songs. Any film score fan who has seen Anything Goes, Top Hat, Shall We Dance, Annie Get Your Gun, or any Fred Astaire retrospective will have great fun singing along to the legendary lyrics of Gershwin, Berlin and Dorothy Field, and although some of them were date back as far as 1935, the new arrangements make them sound as fresh and vital as if they had been written yesterday. It is especially worth mentioning Brian Gasgoigne's extra-special reworking of 'Let's Face the Music and Dance', with its intoxicating muted trombones and zoot-suit drumbeat, Nathan Lane's rapturous rendition of the Ethel Merman showstopper 'There's No Business Like Showbusiness', and the spine-tingling finale 'They Can't Take That Away From Me', which features all the cast singing in glorious unison.

If there is one drawback, it's that very few of the cast can actually sing. Branagh is passable, Alessandro Nivola is actually quite good as the King, and Alicia Silverstone acquits herself well as the Princess of Aquatine, but the Geraldine McEwen/Richard Briers duet 'The Way You Look Tonight' is unfortunately awful, as is Timothy Spall's faux-Spanish rendition of Cole Porter's 'I Get a Kick Out of You'. The major plus point is that, despite their vocal shortcomings, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves immensely, and the fact that the songs are so familiar one cannot help but be swept along on all the cheerful nostalgia. It also helps that, at the beginning of each song, Doyle is allowed the opportunity to write an extended orchestral introduction, most of which are based on the underscore proper, and which then give way to the familiar melodies after around 30 seconds.

In summary, this is a great score, and easily one of my favourite Doyle works to date. The only drawback I can see in the project as a whole is in the unashamed eccentricity of Branagh's approach to the subject matter at hand, and whether the public will go for it. Advance word on Love's Labour's Lost has not been overwhelmingly positive, and if the film fails I can see Doyle's music being tarred with the same brush and not receiving the recognition it surely deserves. Fans of any of Doyle's music will certainly "get a kick" out of this score, as will anyone with an affinity for the golden oldies.

Track Listing: Running Time: 58 minutes 13 seconds

Sony Classical SK-89004 (2000)

Voice cast: Kenneth Branagh, Alessandro Nivola, Matthew Lillard, Adrian Lester, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Emily Mortimer, Carmen Ejogo, Timothy Spall, Geraldine McEwen, Richard Briers, Nathan Lane, Stefania Rocca and Jimmy Yuill.

Music composed by Patrick Doyle. Score conducted by James Shearman. Score orchestrations by Lawrence Ashmore, James Shearman and Rick Wentworth. Songs conducted by John Bell, Brian Gascoigne and James Shearman. Song orchestrations by Lawrence Ashmore, John Bell, Brian Gascoigne, Carl Johnson and James Shearman. Recorded and mixed by Nick Wollage. Edited by Gerard McCann. Album produced by Patrick Doyle and Maggie Rodford.

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