The Boy Friend

Sandy Wilson’s The Boyfriend is a classic British musical from 1954 which is a comic pastiche of 1920’s style shows and has been a staple of amateur dramatics companies ever since. In celebrating their 70th anniversary EBOS have returned to the show they did in 1993 and the director has sought a conceit to frame the rather dated and old-fashioned story. It is a neat idea to stage it as a theatrical company producing the musical on the promenade in Brighton and allows the whole cast to play the story with their tongues firmly in their cheeks. Each part is played as a parody of their original characters which also allows some age blind casting to add to the fun. The result is a show in which you can see the cast are having a laugh, does justice to the enjoyable score and brings the classic show to a new audience and those who have great memories of early versions.

The simple staging with an attractive seaside band stand to hold the orchestra and five small trucks of arches to provide variation to settings, and bright colour washes of the stage with the waves sound effect successfully creates the sense of a seafront promenade on which the show is staged. The choreography reflects the twenties setting and the big Ensemble numbers of “The Boyfriend”, “It’s nicer in Nice” and “The Riviera” are delivered with a delightfully comical touch to the choreography that easily brings a smile to the audiences faces .

The two characters at the centre of the Villa Caprice school for young ladies Hortense, the maid and Madame Dubonnet are played in full “‘Allo,’Allo” accents while the young ladies speak in full “Queens English” and point their feet in unison as they seek a Boyfriend. While the upper-class English prance and pose in over-the-top dramatic fashion. It is all rather frivolous and light-hearted and does not at any point take itself seriously in a good quality production to create a pleasant and enjoyable evening.

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