When the greatest showman on earth spends the first 90 minutes of his performance sporting a lacklustre brown suit and something resembling a trilby cum bowler hat, you wonder whether this is the man to follow in the footsteps of Michael Crawford!

And, when the cover of your Barnum The Circus Musical resembles the promo poster for the Hugh Jackman film The Greatest Showman, only the stage musical doesn’t feature most (if any) of the movie’s iconic songs, then you know there’s more than a smattering of humbug in the air!

And so it was last night when Lee Mead stepped onto the stage in the title role of the Cy Coleman, Michael Stewart, Mark Bramble musical, first premiered in the UK in 1981, when the Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em star let the world know that he was more than just Frank Spencer.

But this time it was less about Crawford and more about Jackman, as younger voices around me echoed the same comment: “….they didn’t play ‘This Is Me’”, the famous number from the film…….because the stage show pre-dates the film by nigh on 40 years!

In truth, it is a hard cat to skin. In the movie Cabaret, immortalised by Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey as the Emcee, the film delivered an additional song, Kander and Ebb’s ‘Money’, which went on to become one of the most famous ever written, however, never originally penned for the original 1966 stage version, it required special permissions to get it into the 1987 Broadway revival.

The point being, people at last night’s show probably fully expected not only Hugh Jackman to bolt onto the stage but, hopefully, with the showstopper song from the film in which he starred: sorry to disappoint!

As an entire piece it was an entertaining production, however, it felt like Mead was experiencing tour tiredness, as he batted his way through the part without any real nuance or connection with his excellent stage wife, Monique Young as Charity Barnum.

Celebs often lose sight of the fact that the only ‘star’ of any musical is the character, not the persona of the celebrity: Neil Morrissey thought it cool to indirectly reference Bob the Builder when he played Fagin in Oliver! and Rowan Atkinson was said to have pulled out a Mr Bean teddy in the same part.

Mead didn’t do anything like that, however, he didn’t come over as Barnum, the greatest showman on earth, but just Lee Mead playing Barnum. His personality needed to cross the footlights and take the audience by the throat; it didn’t.

Joice Heth (Dominique Planter) was way too sprightly for 160 years old – one for the choreographer, not the player – and Jenny Lind (Penny Ashmore), needed to be more operatic and less of a ‘show’ singer: they are two different techniques.

But, credit where it’s due. Patter songs, lyrics that are complex and delivered at speed, are notoriously difficult: witness Danny Kaye’s famous Pestle song from Hollywood’s 1955 film The Court Jester. Last night it was The Museum Song and The Prince of Humbug, both delivered to perfection by Mead.

I enjoyed the entire show for its colour, vibrancy, musicianship and, as I said earlier, as a 360-degree piece of theatre, but overall, it was a 7.5 out of 10 and a show that was crying out for more detailed direction, less ego and more light and shade within its characterisations.

Still, a good night out.

Barnum The Circus Musical
Alhambra Theatre Bradford
Until Saturday 4th April 2026