As a fan of the 2017 movie musical The Greatest Showman, I was an obvious candidate to see the new Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular at the Empress Museum in London. I have to say that I was greatly disappointed, as many elements of it failed to reach my expectations.

The stage show had a completely different story from the film. The film tells the life story of PT Barnum (played by Hugh Jackman), the 19th-century American entertainer who created one of the greatest stage performances in history – what we now know as the circus. I didn’t expect the show to be exactly the same as the original film, but I wanted it to be similar in some ways.

The London show has a plot of a young woman, the girlfriend of a trapeze artist. From what I understood (it’s a rather thin and incoherent story), the circus ringmaster wanted to encourage her to become the second ringmaster, but her boyfriend was firmly against the idea of her being in the spotlight – not a good example for the younger members of the audience, surely? It is generally, in contemporary world a very outdated and archaic idea, for a woman to ask her partner for permission.

There was one section in particular that failed for me, because it was so different from the original movie. In the film, the song ‘From Now On’ is about hope and new beginnings while everything else is failing, with an amazing choreography performed by Barnum and his circus performers.

But in the stage show, the song is performed by clowns who want to leave the circus. The ringmaster convinces them to stay (at least that’s how I understood it, based on the choreography and expressions on the dancers’ faces). I should mention that this doesn’t influence the plot in any way.

This wasn’t the only careless use of a particular song.

On the more positive side, I enjoyed the acrobatic choreographies, which were most definitely a fun point for the audience. Most of them were breathtaking. The costumes and scenography really created a vibrant mood. The dancers and actors wore sparkling, colourful outfits, which created a special atmosphere for the show.

If you haven’t seen the movie and aren’t really into musicals, this show would be a lot of fun. But those who, like me, love the movie, will probably be disappointed.