Wednesday 22 August 2018

Theatre Review: Me and My Girl

Every year when Chichester Festival Theatre announces its season, the name of their musical is pretty much the only thing I want to know. I’ve seen - and hopefully will see - some great plays at Chichester, but it’s their annual blockbuster musical that I will not miss. Regardless of what it actually is.

Case in point: this year’s, Me and My Girl. Before Chichester announced it, I had no desire to see this show. From what I knew and the music I’d heard from it, it just never appealed. But it’s the 2018 Chichester musical so I bought my (£10) ticket more or less immediately.



In terms of the show itself, my scepticism was confirmed. I like my musicals with at least a bit of depth, plot and character development - things which are notably absent in Me and My Girl. This is one of those musicals where the plot, such as it is, exists only as a vehicle for the songs and the characters are just a necessary construction to sing them. If you spend any time thinking about the ‘working class couple made good by the promise of money and the efforts of their upper class relatives’ plot, it’s actually fairly snobby and unpleasant.

But really who is thinking about the plot, or lack thereof, in any detail when the songs are so fun? The book too, famously revised by Stephen Fry. There are some great jokes, the skit about My Fair Lady in the second half was my favourite, and generally everything bounces along with such a smile that it’s hard for even professional cynics like me to be too grouchy. Me and My Girl as a show is pure fluff, no substance, but actually that’s sort of fine because the fluff is so fun.

Unusually for me, I don’t want to spend huge amounts of time talking about the cast. For my money, the main appeal of this production lays elsewhere but briefly: I wouldn’t have cast Matt Lucas in the lead role (he’s good comic value but there’s too much of him just being Matt Lucas, it’s really difficult to ever lose yourself to the idea that he is his part), Clive Rowe is reliably great as ever, though criminally underused, Caroline Quentin is joyfully ferocious and Jennie Dale more or less steals the whole show with her mad tap skills. In terms of performances, the real star is actually the ensemble (a trait not uncommon to Chichester musicals and one of the reasons why I adore them so much). Their sheer collective energy carries so much of the show and the production numbers are a faultless joy. I could watch them boss The Lambeth Walk until I die.

The actual star of this production is the production itself which is so accomplished, glitzy and happy that it’s impossible not to be utterly captivated. Chichester Artistic Director Daniel Evans helms this one and he knows exactly what his production is: pure entertainment and spectacle. It never wavers from this idea and, measured in this way, it’s so hard to fault it. My individual stars of the production are Gareth Valentine, for his clever and playful reimagining, and indeed leading the performance, of the music (the Latin flavoured The Sun Has Got His Hat On and all the little musical jokes and references - Zadok the Priest, I hear you - are my particular favourites) and Alistair David for his sublime choreography which is frankly eye-popping at times. I’ve mentioned The Lambeth Walk already but fuck me that sequence is pure gold, utterly nuts and probably my favourite segment in any Chichester production ever, which is really saying something. There are also tap dancing suits of armour, because of course there are. Lez Brotherstone’s clever design is fab too. I love his fun, comic book-y English country house set a lot. 

Me and My Girl isn’t my favourite Chichester musical, purely because I’m not really a fan of the actual musical, but it’s really very hard to fault the energetic and supremely accomplished production. Come for the spectacle, come prepared to smile a lot, and you’re guaranteed a superb night out. 

Me and My Girl is in the Festival Theatre at Chichester until 25th August. There are still a few tickets available, but skates on.

I paid for my ticket for this one, which was an absolute steal at £10 for front row stalls (A10). Admittedly off to one side, and swamped by dry ice at one point, it’s nonetheless one of my theatrical bargains of the year. 

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