Theatre
Mrs Henderson Presents
Noel Coward Theatre, London
William Russell
three stars
ON the face of it this musical by Terry Jones with music by George Fenton and Simon Chamberlain based on the 2005 film starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins ought to have been a sure thing, an enchanting look back at more innocent times.
It is about the wealthy lady who bought the Windmill Theatre in the 1930s and after it failed as a variety house decided to have revues with naked show girls in tableaux - the Lord Chamberlain who licensed theatres insisted they could not move. It proved a huge success and ran all through the war with the slogan - We Never Closed.
But it turns out to be pretty thin fare. The music is unmemorable, mostly pastiche of songs of the period, and the book clumsy. The first tableau ought to climax Act One but instead we get lots about the war effort which leaves next to nothing for Act Two but more songs, a stage hand going to war and being killed leaving a pregnant show girl behind, and Mrs Henderson and Vivian Van Damm, her manager, squabbling while fire watching.
However the cast, led by the splendid Tracie Bennett as Mrs Henderson and Ian Bartholomew as Van Damm, give it their considerable all and somehow or other the ramshackle show coasts along quite merrily. It could be the worst British musical of the decade, but equally audiences may fall in love with it as this is the sort of risqué but nice fare the British love as a night out for all the family. The nudes are very chaste. Nothing to upset Aunt Edna or Grandma is on show.
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