ajhlovestheatre

FLOWERS FOR MRS HARRIS

Book by Rachel Wagstaff

Music and lyrics by Richard Taylor

Based on the novel by Paul Gallico

Directed by Bronagh Lagan

Riverside Studios, London – until 25 November 2023

https://riversidestudios.co.uk/flowers-for-mrs-harris/

Jenna Russell is a bona fide theatrical treasure. She’s incapable of giving a bad performance; furthermore, she never strikes a false note musically or dramatically, a brilliant technician with heart, nuance, warmth and truth, whether it’s Sondheim, Ayckbourn, Hare, Jason Robert Brown or more avant garde fare. She’s once again delivering perfection, this time as Mrs Ada Harris, a post-war widow who works as a cleaning lady in big London houses and whose eyes are opened to the potential richness of life when she discovers a stunning Dior gown in a wealthy employer’s closet. Russell conveys Ada’s essential straightforwardness and kindness without ever patronising or commenting on her, finding in this lovely woman a sharp humour and wistful longing that never cloys, augmented by sensitively powerful vocals.

She’s exquisite. So is the show’s central message about the importance of art and beauty, and it’s gentle but firm insistence on not writing people off just because they’re packaged a little differently from what you’re used to. There’s a kindness and humanity at the core of Paul Gallico’s original novel, it’s subsequent screen adaptations and now this likeable musical (first seen in Sheffield in 2016 then in Chichester, but only just receiving its London debut) that is deeply unfashionable but undeniably tugs at the heartstrings. Bronagh Lagan’s production is very nice to look at and listen to, and, like the material itself, feels like a throwback to a simpler time. What it lacks in dynamism, it makes up for in charm, although theatregoers who look for a little more oomph and drama in their musicals may find themselves perplexed, despite the consummate craft on display.

Certainly, there’s no faulting the cast. As well as the glorious Jenna, there’s Annie Wensak delivering feisty, funny work as Ada’s best friend and Hal Fowler is a winning mixture of humorous common sense and warm steadfastness, with a voice like sweet molasses, as the late Mr Harris. Kelly Price is utter comic perfection as the self-obsessed aristocrat whose posh frock starts Ada on her journey, then finds remarkable colours and layers in the elegant Parisian guardian of Dior who unexpectedly thaws out when faced with our heroine’s innate goodness. Nathanael Campbell makes much of lovelorn accountant André, and quicksilver-voiced Charlotte Kennedy is affecting and brings more complexity than is present in the script, to the flaky but entrancing model he adores. If Kennedy is less convincing as the West End soubrette who employs Ada in London and proves a liability in more ways than one, that’s down to the intractability of the writing.

Rachel Wagstaff’s book does an excellent job of establishing Ada’s relationships with her deceased husband and her very much alive best friend, but skirts with too much haste over significant plot developments and changes in characters attitudes. I found myself less moved than I’d hoped and more bewildered by the whiplash changes in direction. Taylor’s attractive but samey score, constantly easy on the ear but never throwing up anything exciting or truly memorable and saddled with a couple of howl-worthy rhymes in the lyrics, doesn’t help. I like that it breaks the trad musical theatre rules (there are few standalone songs…no number to open the show, just a note of music and we’re straight into the first scene…no big finale) but was frustrated by the lack of anything innovative to replace them.

Mrs ‘Arris Goes To Paris, the 1958 novel that is the source material, is written by an American and there is a sense of working class Brits being romanticised through rosey transatlantic specs that pervades into this stage version. It feels like a fairy tale for middle aged people, and Nik Corrall’s gorgeous multi-doored set and Sara Perks’s costumes further add to that impression. The whole thing is ravishingly lit by Adam King. I can’t help feeling the show would play better in a chocolate box-y intimate theatre than in the rather charmless wide open space of the Riverside Studio’s larger auditorium.

Ultimately, this is a pleasant bit of escapism, elevated to something distinguished by the sheer brilliance of the central performance and by a fine supporting cast. Definitely worth a trip out to Hammersmith.