High Society review: “It fizzes like the finest champagne”
Starring Helen George and Felicity Kendal, the new production of the Cole Porter classic at the Barbican is a sensational show.
Pamela Raith
Starring Helen George and Felicity Kendal, the new production of the Cole Porter classic at the Barbican is a sensational show.
To echo the words of Cole Porter himself, the new production of High Society is a ‘swellegant, elegant party’. The previous one, at the Old Vic in 2005, was minimalistic and in-the-round, but this latest revival – which enjoys an early summer season at the Barbican before hoofing its way around the country – delivers maximum musical comedy pizazz.
Based on the 1956 film starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra (which in turn was a musicalisation of the 1940 film The Philadelphia Story), it revolves around Long Island socialite bride-to-be Tracy Lord – whose plans to walk down the aisle with her safe but dull fiancée George are thrown into doubt when her former flame Dexter sails into town.
Further comical chaos ensues with the arrival of undercover reporters Mike and Liz, who pretend to be wedding guests but are really just after some dirt on Tracy’s misbehaving father.
Porter’s classic songs come thick and fast, as do hilarious one-liners that fly through the air like tennis balls on the mansion’s private court – suggested by sound effects, just as the family swimming pool in which a drunken Tracy and Mike make mischief is represented by some clever lighting.
The rest is full-scale scenery, though, evoking the moneyed surroundings of what Mike calls “the shallow wealthy elite” in 1950s Oyster Bay, including a stage-spanning table covered in what Tracy’s family would call bric-a-brac but which would fetch a fortune on Antiques Roadshow. In an era of stripped-back productions and one-person shows, such opulence is a real treat.
At the heart of it is Helen George as a whirligig Tracy. Letting loose after the clipped Englishness of her Anna in The King and I, she’s a delight, either when she’s flouncing around pretending to be French or showcasing her Strictly Come Dancing-honed hoofing skills during Let’s Misbehave.
Everyone around her seems to be having an equally good time, from Felicity Kendal’s somewhat bemused matriarch to Carly Mercedes Dyer who hits every comic beat as a sassy Liz. Neither of them will be doing the tour dates, sadly, but Julian Ovenden as Dexter is in it for the long haul and his singing of songs like Samantha is sublime.
The real revelation is Freddie Fox, who is making his musical theatre debut as the sneakily charming Mike and he’s totally at ease – light on his feet and possessed of a wonderful voice, as revealed when he croons You’re Sensational.
Fox is a sensation in a sensational show. The plot is thinner than a chiffon scarf but it fizzes with the effervescence of the finest champagne, making this a swell party indeed.
High Society is at the Barbican Theatre, London, until 11 July and tours the UK from 16 July until 14 November.
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