Having had previous summer hits with revivals of “Anything Goes” and “Kiss Me, Kate”, the Barbican has returned with another “Cole Porter crowdpleaser”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph.
“High Society” – based on the 1956 musical film, but with a reworked script and extra musical numbers – doesn’t have quite the “giddy abandon” of “Anything Goes”, which provided a wonderful post-pandemic balm in 2021. But Rachel Kavanaugh’s production – which will soon be touring – is, even so, an “eminently welcome, frothy antidote to fretful times”, stuffed as it is with star turns, fabulous costumes, stylish choreography and “witty, imperishable songs” – including “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, “I Love Paris”, “Let’s Misbehave” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”.
It’s “dazzling”, said Clive Davis in The Times. Audiences who enjoyed the last revivals will not be disappointed. “High Society” (which was adapted from “The Philadelphia Story”) is a “portrait of the moneyed set misbehaving” at the wedding of heiress Tracy Lord, and it amounts here to a “gorgeously glamorous” piece of escapism. This is surely the “show of the summer”.
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It is blessed by some fine performances, from Helen George, Freddie Fox, Felicity Kendal and others, said Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times. But I wish the evening had a bit more bite. “The sarcasm could be sharper; the desire more intense; the atmosphere more febrile.” We get “fabulous frocks” and “tasty treats – but the fizz is a bit flat”.
“Call the Midwife” star George brings “pert, barefoot verve and a powerful set of pipes” to the lead role of Tracy, said Nick Curtis in The Standard. Some of the show’s male stars, however, are a bit colourless; and the performances overall are somewhat “arch”.
No one expects much plot or profundity from a Cole Porter musical, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. But the lacklustre chemistry between the central trio “and a lack of full-bodied characters as a whole” make the evening feel like a “mechanical carousel of set pieces”. The staging is fabulous, musically and visually – but it “forgets the importance of story, character, emotion”. For true theatrical bliss, we need that too.
Barbican, London EC2, until 11 July; touring until 14 November; highsocietymusical.com
