Mention The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and most will think of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in David Fincher’s 2008 film. Others may recall its original form: a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This haunting narrative of a man who ages in reverse, reaching infancy at 70, has moved into another medium as well. Jethro Compton and Darren Clark have reimagined the existential fable as a folk musical, imbuing it with the atmosphere of an old wives’ tale. Shifting the setting from Fitzgerald’s antebellum Baltimore to a small Cornish fishing village, the creators bring their story to life with a 13-person cast accompanied by cornets, fiddles, ukuleles, and accordions. “It’s a freak show that humanises the freak,” the critic John Lewis wrote in The Guardian for the musical’s 2019 premiere. The production now makes its West End debut. —Jeanne Malle