THE BOY FRIEND. To 31 July.

Aldeburgh

THE BOY FRIEND
by Sandy Wilson

Jubilee Hall To 31 July 2004
Mon-Fri 8pm Sat 5pm & 8.15pm
Runs 2hr 10min Two intervals

TICKETS: 01728 453007 (Mon-Fri 11am-4pm; Sat 11am-2.30pm)
01728 454022 (Mon-Fri 5-8.30pm; Sat 4-8.30pm)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 21 July

You could be happy with this Once premiering Benjamin Britten's operas, the small stage at Aldeburgh's Jubilee Hall is put to equally improbable use for a 14-strong revival of Sandy Wilson's merry musical much romance, little plot, and pleasant, sometimes memorable, tunes.

Maurice Rubens, regular designer for Jill Freud and Company's Suffolk summer seasons (this Boyfriend's already had a date up the coast at Southwold), provides plentiful Mediterranean sunniness and a remarkable number of entrances, which Anthony Falkingham's production wittily aware production uses well. It's hardly their fault if the need to shoehorn 10 people on or off makes mass arrivals or departures seem more like a railway station at rush-hour than happy young, or sparky old, things milling round a Finishing School for English gals (which becomes, accordingly, a honeypot for blandly good-egg males).

Alongside general charm, it's the songs that matter. Deftly presented (that Room in Bloomsbury's clearly a bedroom, its blinds strategically lowered on the final chords) and backed by the indefatiguable Derek Scott, they are well-delivered by young actors who show they can throw off 50 years of kitchen sinks and waste-disposal units to recreate an affectionate 1950s idea of the innocent twenties.

The young can be bright, as with Richard Emerson's cheekily cherubic Yankee and, in dancing honours at least, Matthew Storey (who hoofs like an angel, sings well and acts like a musical comedy matinee idol), if sometimes lacklustre among supporting roles. The older generations, though, go heaven-for-leather throughout, with Michael Chance excellent as a perfectly-presented Englishman discomposedly having his emotional feathers ruffled by an old flame in La Belle France.

Gerry Hinks' Victorian-born aristo, instant twinkles in his eyes at the sight of any pretty young thing in female flesh, is a splendidly ripe comic performance matched by Sidi Scott's Lady Brocklehurst, Completing a pair who could be straight out of P.G. Wodehouse, she holds a short leash and cracks a strong whip until tickled into a provocative tango - showing why Scott's also the show's choreographer.

Eventually, wealth and class happily intermarry. So many people on such a small stage; it ought not to work. But it does.

Lord Brockhurst: Gerry Hinks
Lady Brockhurst: Sidi Scott
Percival Browne: Michael Chance
Bobby: Richard Emerson
Tony: Matthew Storey
Pierre: Oliver Naylor
Marcel: Christopher Doyle
Madame Dubonnet: Carol Carey
Polly Browne: Jenny Gayner
Maisie: Kitty Lucas
Hortense: Daisy Moon
Dulcie: Amy Price
Fay: Louise Milford
Gendarme/Waiter: John Rolph

Director: Anthony Falkingham
Designer: Maurice Rubens
Lighting: Jim Laws
Music arrangements: Derek Scott
Choreographer: Sidi Scott
Dance captain: Louise Milford
Costume: Richard Handscombe

2004-07-23 13:20:51