The Boy Friend

The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history. The Boy Friend also marked Julie Andrews' American stage debut.

Set in the roaring twenties in Madame Dubonnet’s finishing school on the French Riviera,  The Boy Friend is a comic pastiche of 1920s shows (in particular early Rodgers and Hart musicals such as The Girl Friend). The plot revolves around Polly Browne a millionaire’s daughter a pupil at the school who falls in love with a delivery boy called Tony. Polly tells Tony she is a secretary hoping he will fall in love with her for herself and not for her money. However Tony is also not what he seems as he is the son of Lord and Lady Brockhurst. The action revolves around the confusion and misunderstandings which ensues. There are also sub plots revolving around Polly’s friends and their romances and also her father Percival Browne’s romance with his old flame Madame Dubonnet the principle of the school.

The musical opens in Madame Dubonnet’s finishing school on the outskirts of Nice. As the curtains open the set appeared to fit the period, and had an air of opulence, with colours and lighting that created a feeling of sunnier climates. Here we meet Hortense the maid played entertainingly by Claudia Molyneux. Her character was very ditsy but secretly perceptive and her French accent was very good. We then meet the young ladies including four friends of Polly Browne. There was Maisie played superbly by Alexandra Holmes whose boyfriend was the American Bobby Van Husen well played with a respectable American accent by Lee Ashall. The other friends include Dulcie, (Sarah Culshaw) Fay (Natalie Metcalfe) and Nancy, (Suzanne Morris) who all gave lovely characterisations of differing personalities. They were ably supported by their beau’s played by Graham Heap as Alphonse, Dan McWaters as Pierre and Alex Mckillop as Marcel. After meeting the young ladies of Madame Dubnnet’s school we meet their friend Polly Browne daughter of a millionaire played by Hannah Gomersall who gave us a tender and sometime shy interpretation of her character anxious to be loved for herself. Matthew Casson was suitably dashing as Tony and gave a very good performance of an English aristocrat trying to find his place in the world. Marie Orr as Madame Dubonnet had a very sultry voice which sounded very French and warm; she was determined to capture the old magic with her old flame Percival Browne played very well by Les Gomersall. One of the outstanding performances came from Tony Adamson as Lord Hubert Brockhurst whose facial expressions when around the girls were really comical reminding me of Leslie Phillips. The number with Dulcie Sarah Culshaw ‘It’s Never too Late to Fall in Love’ was sung and executed very well by both performers and it was also choreographed well. Gaynor Hale as the stiff upper lip Lady Brockhurst was a very good foil to Lord Brockhurst and was suitably haughty in her characterisation. The principle cast were well supported by the chorus who gave us some nice characterisations.

There are three acts in this show even though overall the show is not long. I enjoyed the entertainment between act one and two especially the Punch and Judy show which I have not seen for a number of years.

 In a musical there should be seamless movement between dialog and songs but on a few occasions in this production there was a pause before the song started. I am not sure if this was due to the way the show is written. However it did not appear to detract from the enjoyment of the audience. The dialog generally was very good and clear and the audience did not appear to have trouble following the action from comments heard at the end of the show.

Choreography by Betty Hall was appropriate for the period and one of the highlights of the show was when the lady in the bath chair got up and gave us a short tap dance. It really made my night as you are never too old to have a go. There was an accomplished Carnival Tango from Pepe (Eric Fletcher) and Lolita (Sophie Grant) which I am sure would have got a seven or more on Strictly Come Dancing. The orchestra lead by Musical Director Andrew Standeven, accompanied the cast very ably and were not too loud which meant the audience could hear the songs properly, this was a lovely bonus. The costumes were very colourful and looked authentic for the era, although I did hear a comment that the the men’s shoes were wrong during part of the show. Sometimes I think we forget that these things do get noticed by the audience. Well done to the stage crew, properties, sound and lighting who were very unobtrusive and did their job well.

Well done to Director Hannah Hall for a very enjoyable production and thank you for inviting me and making me welcome I really enjoyed the evening

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