BLOC Productions have brought Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent’s acclaimed revival version of Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose’s Me and My Girl back to the Hippodrome stage.
Fry’s sharp and fast-paced script, combined with toe-tapping and uplifting music by Noel Gay (including the famous Lambeth Walk, The Sun Has Got His Hat On and Leaning On A Lamp Post), make this a sublime and sunny treat for all fans of musical comedy.
Bill Snibson, a Lambeth market stall trader, is revealed to be the new Earl of Hareford and his newly-discovered aristocratic relations are horrified. Bringing him to Hareford Hall, they attempt to educate Bill into the ways of the gentry and to separate him from his cockney girlfriend Sally.
With a host of hilarious characters, catchy tunes, witty one-liners and spectacular choreography, the production tells the rags-to-riches story of Bill, a Lambeth market trader who is revealed to be the new Earl of Hereford, and his comical attempts to settle into aristocratic life.
The contrast between Bill and his girlfriend Sally interacting with the posh family is portrayed humorously, enhanced by catchy tunes and witty one-liners. Will he be seduced away from the girl he loves back home, or win over the Hampshire toffs?
It’s daft and it’s delicious. It’s a tribute to music hall. That dealt in stereotypes, and didn’t worry too much if one act went a bit slack because there was always another coming up.
As there is in David Baxter’s production. It is almost impossible to understand how the Bristol Hippodrome audience restrained themselves from joining in The Lambeth Walk as the pearlies jagged away with elbows and knees.
Michael Griffiths really put in a great shift as Bill, rippling from geezer to hooray with silken and boisterous ease.
He had good support: Faye Banks, hearty-limbed and sweet-voiced as the dowager Duchess of Dene, who decides she must make Bill into a viable duke; is all tweed, sensible shoes and absolute refusal to countenance failure.
Whenever Bill or her longstanding friend Sir John try to remonstrate with her, she is frankly terrifying. “Oh, do be quiet, you futile man,” she snaps. And yet, she has a kindly streak, an adventurous spirit which all her formidable gargoyle reputation cannot quite disguise.
Tom Carron as surely the only ever funny singing solicitor Parchester, tap dances his way through moments of sensational hilarity; with Jessica Bell as the upper-class seducer Lady Jacqueline Carstone; Jaryd Evans as her long-suffering boyfriend Gerald, and Chris Parslow as Sir John Tremayne – another bumbling toff.
Opposite Griffiths, Sophie Thorne was a convincing and vocally charming Sally Smith. Interestingly, for a leading lady, the show does not give Sally too many singing highlights – but in her one stunning solo of the night, Once You Lose Your Heart, Thorne tugged at the heart strings.
The plot of Me And My Girl is a far-fetched hokum and the narrative plays out as Snibson learns to mingle with the aristocracy, while at the same time holding on to his London heritage. It is not a sophisticated musical: its fish-out-of-water plot is entirely predictable, with shades of My Fair Lady in the story.
Snibson’s journey is all about old-fashioned class and sexual prejudice and while the love between him and Sally is unquestionably deep and sincere, she is reduced to little more than a woman who has to change her role in life to win her man.
The host of whole-cast dance numbers were remarkably professional, not to mention full of joy; under the musical direction of Conal Bembridge and Brendan Casey, and the choreography of Jacquie Bell and Adele Stitch’s which is slick, imaginative and impressive.
Griffiths moved the audience with a lovely performance of ‘Leaning on a Lamp-post’ at the show’s climax.
Me And My Girl’s politics may be of the dark ages – but its ability to put grins on faces and set toes tapping is the mark of a modern show that knows how to please its audience.
Bristol Hippodrome untilSaturday (Oct 5),2hrs 50mins incl. interval