Barbican's 'High Society' Wows Vocally, Lacks Drama
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- The Barbican stages 'High Society,' a Cole Porter musical based on Philip Barry's 1939 play 'The Philadelphia Story' and the 1956 Grace Kelly film, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh with choreography by Anthony Van Laast and set design by Tom Rogers.
- Helen George plays socialite Tracy Lord opposite Julian Ovenden (ex-husband Dexter), David Seadon-Young (fiancé George) and Freddie Fox (undercover journalist Mike), with Felicity Kendal as Mother Lord and Nigel Lindsay as Uncle Willie in supporting roles.
- Songs including 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?', 'True Love,' 'Now You Have Jazz' and an extended 'Let's Misbehave' earn praise for their vocal performances, while the Arthur Kopit book is described as 'wooden' and the production 'too tame, nostalgic and well behaved.'
- The reviewer argues the revival lacks the 'gorgeous languorousness and emotional centre' of its source material, with too little romantic spark between the central parties and insufficient conflict to give the love story stakes.
- Mike's 'Bolshevism' and declaration that 'money rots the soul' is read as underdeveloped satire compared to Frank Sinatra's chippy reporter in the film, though Carly Mercedes Dyer's photographer Liz is singled out for keeping 'her eyebrows subtly raised at these ridiculous rich people.'
- This is the Barbican's third Cole Porter musical in five years, following a 'sublime revival of Anything Goes' and 'Kiss Me, Kate,' completing a Porter triptych the reviewer sees as the least emotionally successful of the three.
Why it matters: The Barbican's Porter triptych closes with a production that excels sonically but stumbles dramatically — the reviewer finds Kopit's book and the director's dazzle-first approach leave the love triangle without stakes, making it a 'mechanical carousel of set pieces' rather than the 'joyful giddiness' the source material demands.
