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REVIEW | For The Lack of Laura, The Shaw Theatre - London
- Harry Brogan
- Jul 25
- 2 min read
AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review
Enchanted by the orchestra but not the musical unfortunately
I really wanted to enjoy For the Lack of Laura. The concept is genuinely promising. Laura, a young Irish woman, makes a bargain with a sorceress to gain immortality and time-travel through different eras to find her soulmate. It’s an idea with scope for romance, magic, and adventure.
Created by American composer Kurt Rosenberg, who spent 25 years developing it, and brought to the UK stage with Galway-based Morgan Brothers. Luke Morgan directing, with Jake Morgan orchestrating and Conducting. it’s a big, ambitious production. The show boasts 26 original songs a 16-piece orchestra and a cast of twelve. On paper, it should have been captivating.
But sadly, it felt more like a half-baked amateur production than a polished show.
There were a couple of bright spots: Jane Patterson, who played Laura, has an exceptional voice, rich, warm, and technically brilliant. And the Russian dancer injected some much-needed humour.
The flow of the show struggled. Despite all the music, I couldn’t remember a single song by the end. The lyrics and melodies just didn’t land, they felt generic, and most numbers blended into one another without emotional weight.
The astral projections, meant to enhance the time-travel magic, clashed completely with the story’s Irish folklore theme. They looked more like cheap sci-fi effects than anything magical, and the overall staging felt low-budget with the single set, underwhelming lighting, and a total lack of atmosphere.
The majority of the choreography was basic with little variety despite Laura travelling across different cultures. With such a large cast, I was expecting some spectacle, but the dancing felt hesitant and repetitive.
The emotional heart of the story, Laura's search for true love, was never properly explored. Each suitor (bullfighter, painter, writer, dancer, priest) appeared so briefly and had so little depth there was no time to care about any of the relationships, and even Laura’s own emotional journey felt surface-level.
By the second half, the pacing dragged badly. There were long silences between scenes, awkward transitions, and despite the scale of the production, it just didn’t connect.
To its credit, the cast was clearly working hard, and the orchestra delivered some nicely textured arrangements. But the show lacked heart, cohesion, and clarity. With a running time well over two hours, it felt long, not in a grand, epic way, but in a “how much longer?” way.
If the creators of The Lack of Laura are open to reworking it, there’s something to be salvaged here. But in its current form, this production isn’t ready. It’s visually basic, emotionally flat, and musically forgettable, saved only by the talented orchestra, a standout lead vocal and a brief moment of comic relief.
★★
The Lack of Laura is playing at the Shaw Theatre until 2nd August
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