“Unlock’d,” a new musical with a book and lyrics by Sam Carner and music by Derek Gregory is a truly charming production that is the adaptation of Alexander Pope’s humorous poem, “The Rape of the Lock.” The result is a clever and funny musical that is full of wit and gorgeous melodies as well as being acted by a company that is as talented and attractive as Alexander Pope himself could have possibly chosen should he have ever foreseen his poem being turned into a stage musical. Set in the 1700’s in Hampton Court, this story follows the same storyline as Pope’s poem, telling the tale of the romantically frustrated Clarissa, played by Jackie Burns in this production, who finds it horribly unfair that her beautiful and air-headed half-sister Belinda, played in this production by Sarah Jane Everman, is able to charm every man who sees her while Clarissa herself does not have this same effect. The culprit is that these men are all drawn to Belinda’s gorgeous hair.
It is the one particular lock of hair, which Belinda names Beatrice and of which Belinda sings songs of praise, that Clarissa snatches with a pair of scissors that brings this tale to a head as complications grow between the two sisters and the jealous one feels towards the other. With music spanning the chasm between Bach-ish pop to traditional show tunes, you can be sure that everyone will find something to love about this production. So go ahead, treat yourself to a great night out by seeing “Unlock’d”!