Review Round-Ups

High Society splits critics at Old Vic

For most Maria Friedman production is a swellegant party, but others have reservations

Editorial Staff

London London's West End

15 May 2015

Ellie Bamber and Jamie Parker in High Society — Ellie Bamber and Jamie Parker in *High Society*
© Johan Persson

Michael Coveney, WhatsOnStage

★★

"there's so much wrong with Maria Friedman's energetic, high-spirited production of this pick 'n mix Cole Porter hybrid musical"

"Style and finesse don't figure on the agenda, from the minute the show shuffles haphazardly into gear."

"If you're going just to hear the songs, you may not feel short-changed"

Holly Williams, Independent

★★★★

"What a treat this show is… this staging achieves the arguably rare feat of surpassing its filmic predecessor"

"The real name to shout about is Kate Fleetwood… she gives a gut-busting, shimmeringly varied performance"

"If you're going to stage such utter escapism, you better do it with panache – and this in-the-round production does."

Michael Billington, Guardian

★★★

"I can't imagine this Cole Porter musical, based on the 1956 movie and Philip Barry's The Philadelphia Story, being much better done than it is here"

"I don’t object to the fact that the show is set amongst the idle rich… What sticks in my craw is the patronising attitude to anyone who doesn't instinctively fit into that milieu."

"It all makes a festive climax to Spacey's tenure of the Old Vic"

Serena Davies, Daily Telegraph

★★★★

"Maria Friedman… has set the action in 1958, a bit too close to the film's date for comfort, and no one in the enthusiastic cast has charisma to come close to Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra."

"I won't give away the coup of Tom Pye's clever stage design, but suffice it to say we also get some exemplary tap dancing on top of a grand piano."

"It transpires, unsurprisingly, that Friedman knows a thing or two about delivering barn-storming song-and-dance after all."

Mark Shenton, The Stage

★★★★

"Cole Porter provided his own review for High Society in the lyrics to one of its many hit numbers: 'What a swellegant, elegant party this is'."

"Its convoluted plot takes a bit of time to set up and catch fire. But when it does, it soars"

"All of this takes flight especially at the top of the second act when Joe Stilgoe and musical director Theo Jamieson engage in an exhilarating piano duel."