| Product: |
High Society UK Tour |
| Date: |
26/02/07 (348 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Fun, light - hearted show, some catchy tunes
Disadvantages: Not a well known story
That's not some mean instruction I give to my trampolining students (watch TV in splits, sure, but sleep in splits? That's just crazy talk.) No, sleep in splits is what you get if you go to see the current touring production of "High Society". WAYNE Sleep, that is.
The show is currently doing the rounds on a UK tour, and was in Manchester last week. At £10 per best-available-ticket on a special work offer, I went to see this even though I knew nothing about it.
"High Society" is not the show of a book. It's the show of a film of a show. Based originally on The Philadelphia Story (starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant), High Society took the story and added some singing, dancing, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra. That was in the 50s and since then this Cole Porter musical has moved from screen to stage and been all over the place while never really ending up one of the "big names" in musicals. That doesn't mean, though, that it's not worth seeing.
The story centres round the lives of the top tier, the highest of society, and follows the Lord family as they prepare for their daughter Tracy's wedding. Throw in an absent father, a kooky uncle, a mischievous sister and an ex-husband and you have the makings of a wedding that's more loony than lavish.
Just like "Mamma Mia", this is a show without too much scenery or scene setting: most of the action takes place either in the dining room of the Lord's house, or in their grounds. There's reference to other areas of their land - the swimming pool, and bedrooms, for example, but you don't actually get to see them. What you do get, however, is a much smoother running show as there's more time for speaking and singing since less is taken up with shifting props around.
Unlike Les Mis, Miss Saigon or Phantom, this is a musical that has quite a few jokes and funny scenes in it, again, like Mamma Mia. In fact, when you factor in the background to that show (also the run up to a wedding) the similarities start to get starting. Two things they don't share, however, are the geography and the period - Mamma Mia's set in present day Greece whilst High Society takes place in Newport (Rhode Island) around the 1950s.
There are lots of songs in High Society that you might be familiar with without knowing this was where they came from: ""Who wants to be a millionaire?", "I Love Paris", "Let's misbehave" and of course the title number, "High Society". The program suggests that Cole Porter's lyrics are "discretely filthy", and while I do quite like that turn of phrase (and may be using it to describe myself from now on) I don't recall much subtle innuendo in the songs to be honest.
I think it's fitting that the cast split into two halves in the way their characters do: the named parts are all family members or their guests, while the ensemble are left with the parts of the servants and household staff. And in a way, of course, the ensemble in any show are there to support and serve the key players. Aside from Mr Sleep I wasn't familiar with any of the cast members although the program assures me that most of them have extensive experience ranging from the usual stage and radio appearances to the highly impressive "recently appeared in commercials for DFS".
Sitting in front of us at the show were a group of women in their 20s and 30s. One was talking about the show at the interval and said loudly how it was her first time at a theatre. Ever. Considering it wasn't even my first time this year, this shocked me a bit, not just because I love the theatre, but because it seemed a jolly odd place to start. This is not an especially well known show. It does not boast an outstanding cast, fantastic songs or brilliant staging. It's very watchable, sure, but since we're not at the stage yet of this being the last show on Earth, I wouldn't think it warranted breaking 30 years of non-theatre-going for. Anyway, I enjoyed it, my friend enjoyed it, and theatre-virgin in front of us seemed to enjoy it, so I suppose that's recommendation enough.
Summary: One for theatre fanatics, perhaps less so for theatre-virgins
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