I think they'd gone the road of having the rest of the band being actual musicians, rather than actors, to make the playing more authentic. Which did make the band scenes better, I suppose, but it would have been nice if somebody other than Louis and the two singers had had some dialogue! I'm sure they could have found some musicians who act as well. Or maybe it was a conscious decision to keep the number of performers down, which is a shame.

Poliakoff does have a very distinct style, and I can understand it not being your thing. He favours the slow and ponderous, and he does tend to set his productions amongst a certain elite, or class. He likes people in expensive clothing, and in expensive, sumptuous surroundings. I've enjoyed his stuff a lot in days gone by, but his recent productions just don't seem as good.