★ ★ .5

Reviewer - Mia

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review

There are many sayings about love - good and bad - but perhaps we can all agree that Love really does change everything.

In Aspects of Love, a musical based on the novel by David Garnett, we experience a story of passion, life and love across three generations of one family.

Although set in the 1940s, many of the themes are still relevant, and the idea of the good life is appealing. Sadly, the musical itself has not aged well. Age gap romance might be a popular trope, but when a man in his thirties is kissing a 15 year-old girl, it feels a little wrong… especially as there is a possibility that he’s her father!

Act I is slow and a little cringeworthy in places; the music is lovely, but there is only one stand out song, and the others fade into the background, old fashioned and more reminisce of Gilbert and Sullivan than Lloyd-Webber. Although the acting itself is strong - and Danielle de Niese is phenomenal - there is no real chemistry between Rose (Laura Pitt Pulford) and Alex (Jamie Bogyo), which makes the story less credible. Michael Ball (George) provides an exceptional performance of Love Changes Everything, but that’s the only highlight.

Act II starts off well, with a bit more pace and action… until we are exposed to a circus scene that is so awkward it reduces members of the audience to hysterics and feels like an amateur pantomime. Costumes had been quite impressive up to this point, but this scene was the stuff of nightmares.

The use of projections to support scene changing works quite well, although it provides an odd contrast with the traditional set, making it seem tired. There are so many scenes that it makes the production quite clunky and the story doesn’t flow as well as it could.

Those who enjoyed Aspects previously may find that the nostalgia is enough to see them through, but unfortunately it feels like this is one musical that perhaps should not be revived without a few more changes.