Touring nationwide until 21st November
What’s the happiest evening you’ve ever spent in the theatre? In 50 years of theatregoing, I can think of remarkably few contenders. I’m often exhilarated and occasionally moved to tears, but pure, unadulterated happiness? Hardly ever – which is why this frivolous, harmless musical is such a rare, delicious treat. High Society was a relatively undistinguished coda in the prolific career of Cole Porter, the greatest songwriter of his age. It started life in 1939 as The Philadelphia Story, a Broadway play by Philip Barry, which became a brilliant film with Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart. In 1956, MGM turned that wisecracking movie into a musical and hired Porter to write the score. Porter’s songs were sublime but that singing, dancing remake was a pale imitation of the 1940 original, with Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra all second best in the roles immortalised by Hepburn, Grant...
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