Bringing together some familiar voices from the world of musical theatre, Following Jimmy Valentine is an ensemble-driven production that places vocal performance at the heart of its storytelling. Hadley Fraser, Kerry Ellis and Celinde Schoenmaker lead a cast that also includes David Hunter, George Blagden and jazz vocalist Jacqui Dankworth, navigating a narrative filled with shifting identities, complicated relationships and the possibility of redemption. Written and composed by Jeff Flaster, this eighteen-track album combines the intimacy of an audio drama with the expressive range of a musical theatre score.
Inspired by O. Henry’s short story “A Retrieved Reformation”, the musical follows Jimmy Valentine, a notorious jewel thief who promises to turn over a new leaf but finds himself repeatedly drawn back to his old ways. His path crosses with Jen Price, a determined New Orleans detective intent on bringing him to justice, before he finds himself in a small town, falling for Annabel Adams and contemplating the possibility of a different life. It is a familiar story of love, identity and redemption, but Flaster approaches it with an interest in the emotional complexity behind the characters’ decisions.
The score is one of the album’s most distinctive features. Flaster draws on classical compositional principles while incorporating elements of jazz, pop and classic rock, creating a sound that is both melodic and theatrical. His approach brings to mind his own question of what it might sound like if Beethoven wrote a country song: an interesting starting point for a score that moves between sweeping melodies, intimate vocal exchanges and more rhythmically driven passages.
“The Line” is a particularly intriguing moment. Built around a rhythmic piano introduction, this duet has a slightly mischievous character, with its lyrics moving between ideas of order, identity and uncertainty. The line “I hear static when everything’s right, but nothing is fine” hints at a tension beneath its playful surface. As the song develops, the arrangement introduces a melodic vocal line accompanied by a percussive “oh” motif from the other vocalist, while a male voice adds a subtle drone underneath. These details give the track an unexpected rhythmic and theatrical dimension.
“Heal My Soul” takes a considerably darker and more introspective direction. The duet explores the emotional aftermath of conflict through the image of a soldier returning home to discover that home no longer feels familiar. Its recurring refrain, “The war is over, but the battles still rage,” captures the lingering weight of past experiences and the difficulty of finding peace. It is one of the album’s more emotionally searching moments, carried by a sense of vulnerability and a longing for recovery.
The album also makes room for lighter, more playful moments. “Stolen Moments” offers a welcome change of pace, with a happy, jumpy energy that contrasts sharply with the introspection of the preceding track. Meanwhile, “No One Knows Who You Are” embraces a more flamboyant theatrical spirit. Its invitation to “come and play with us” introduces a world of anonymity and possibility, where characters can step outside their familiar identities and become whoever they choose. Together, these tracks demonstrate the score’s ability to move between different emotional registers.
Beyond the songs themselves, the production plays an important role in bringing the story to life. The sound design incorporates details such as footsteps, knocks, trains, planes and surrounding crowds, helping establish a sense of place and giving the album an immersive, almost vintage radio-theatre quality. The combination of live instrumentation and programmed orchestral elements further supports the theatrical atmosphere, while the cast’s performances provide the narrative with its emotional centre.
Following Jimmy Valentine showcases Jeff Flaster’s interest in bringing together musical traditions and narrative storytelling in an unconventional format. With an accomplished cast and a score spanning jazz, pop, classical and rock, the album offers a distinctive theatrical experience built around a timeless question: can we truly change who we are? Its answer is perhaps best captured in Flaster’s own message that we are not necessarily stuck in the patterns we have come to know. Reinvention, after all, remains a possibility!
