IT’S BEEN a mixed series of shows so far in Chichester Festival Theatre’s summer season but a reliable musical was expected to draw the crowds, especially with Matt Lucas and Caroline Quentin leading the cast of Me and My Girl.
Director Daniel Evans, who is also artistic director of the theatre, seemed to have the right recipe for the season centrepiece then disaster struck on the opening night when a capacity audience was told Lucas’s understudy, Ryan Pidgen, would be taking the part of the Cockney barrow boy Bill Snibson because Lucas had developed a throat problem.
But, this being show business, the understudy rose magnificently to the occasion, supported by two dozen hugely talented actors, singers and dancers who created a joyful and funny revival of the 1937 musical which has been on stage regularly somewhere ever since its premiere.
It’s impossible to say whether the presence of Lucas would have altered the balance of the action but Caroline Quentin’s long and varied theatre and television skill and experience shone through with her holding the stage whenever she appeared. Clive Rowe, who was last at Chichester in Kiss Me Kate, also made a big impression as Sir John but it was the romantic leads, Pidgen and Alex Young, as Sally Smith, who put heart and soul into their characterisations, making them idiosyncratic and believable.
From the opening bars of the overture - led from a novel, mainly hidden, orchestra pit by Gareth Valentine - the Britishness of Noel Gay’s music, with jazz influences blending with jaunty tunes typical of the music hall, built into an infectious and cheery thread, culminating in The Lambeth Walk, which felt like a finale number as it closed the first half.
Although the second half had The Sun Has Got His Hat On (with suitably correct change of words) and Leaning On A Lamppost, it had less verve than the opening period which fizzed and sparkled.
Fully using the entire thrust stage, there was hoofing galore, fabulous costumes, articulate singing and a real ensemble feel from every member of the energetic cast in this cheery production.
Alicia Denny