A life-long ambition to play the brooding master of Wuthering Heights resulted in a musical adaptation that kept pretty close to Emily Bronte's original. It also created a whole musical sequence that captured how Heathcliff spent several years making his wealth in order to win back Cathy. This sequence had some very exciting ethnic damce routines as well as great tunes. Still a very sad ending, but the whole spectacle ran the gamut of highs and lows. The music and lyrics were at times playful and then again mournful. The voices of Sir Cliff Richard and Helen Hobson blended wonderfully (Olivia Newton-John also interpreted Cathy in single releases and for a Royal Variety performance). In fact, the musicians (including guitarist Gordon Giltrap), backing vocalists (including John Perry), ensemble singers and dancers were superb (some of them had also been in Dave Clark's production of TIME, where Cliff was the rock star lead). The other actors were brilliant and believable. I think most people were surprised to see how mean (Heath)Cliff could get as a wife beater, child abuser, bar room brawler, opium smoking pirate and more. On the other hand his troubled relationship with Cathy spun some different kinds of love songs. Helen's portrayal of Cathy was strong as was her beautiful voice. Through Cliff you felt the decades of pain of this orphan's struggle to be reunited with the only love he ever knew, still a fickle teenage girl at the time of her death in childbirth. The overall video is held at a pretty good pace and there's plenty of action if you just hang in there. A bit too handsome a lead, a beautiful leading lady, Tim Rice and John Farrar doing the music...worth a viewing. And the sad ending, well you remember...the next generation gets it right.
Review of Heathcliff
