Natural harmony: The sound of Lee Alexander McQueen review – MOR tribute to the maverick of fashion | Section

TThe small print tells us that the show is not related to McQueen’s fashion, nor does it show anything Alexander McQueenof design. You might think I’m just trying to find classical music seats, but it was created by McQueen’s musical director, John Gosling, together with Robert Ames, director of the London Contemporary Orchestra. The LCO plays the music that inspired the creator, all running together as a mix of DJs and stage lighting with multi-talented guest performers.

Far from being “unusual”, most of the sounds here are as consistent as Classic FM, especially film music (The Hours, The Piano, several of John Williams’) and tearjerkers (Dido’s Liro, Barber’s Adagio for Strings). The argument, however, is mixed. For example: two dancers walking in nude stockings – one has hooves instead of hands and tights on his face – and then behind him, a cello section wearing white tie and tails. Hearing Handel shredding with the Rolling Stones in a jaunty arrangement, or Nirvana blasting, is like your GCSE music teacher trying to be nice, even as the siren of Armand Van Helden’s Witch Doktor goes haywire.

The cabaret singer Le Gateau Chocolat always has great costumes – one here matches the green of the Quality Street-wrapper – but like the rest of the show it seems unrehearsed. Two dancers, choreographed by Holly Blakeythey appear in extravagant ensembles that exaggerate the confusing world of choreography and it’s hard to tell if it’s serious or mocking as the dancers bob their heads comically in time with the piano trill.

There is a contradiction of this kind; Do these artworks really communicate or are they deliberately provocative? But there are moments of real light in the film made by Michael Clark, McQueen’s friend, both men rooted in old art and the spirit of punk. We see dancer Jules Cunningham a lot Isabella Blow hatand Simon Williams dancing to Barber’s Adagio, one of the most loved / hackneyed songs. And yet the incredible pride of Clark’s abandoned angles cuts through the familiar to make this song a laser. It’s a show full of contradictions, a struggle between the good and the bad, but it ends up in the middle of the road.