ajhlovestheatre

FANNY

by Calum Finlay

directed by Katie-Ann McDonough

Kings Head Theatre, London – until 15 November 2025

running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including interval 

https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/fanny-qft1

It’s funny…you wait your whole life for a show about prodigious musically talented sisters of classical composers being overlooked in favour of their less gifted, but now more famous, younger brothers due to historical sexism, and two come along within the same year. Sarcasm aside, it’s curious how 2025 has already given us Saving Mozart, the glossily produced but DOA tuner about Wolfgang Amadeus’ neglected sibling Nannerl this summer at the Other Palace, and now a London transfer for the Watermill’s smash hit Fanny, a merry, music-infused comedy commemorating Mendelssohn’s older sister whose composition ‘Italien’ was a favourite of Queen Victoria’s. Of course that long running monarch believed it was the work of Fanny’s prodigal brother Felix. 

Calum Finlay’s script is often laugh-out-loud hilarious – the drollness and invention of Mischief, one of the founding members of which, Charlie Russell, plays the eponymous heroine here, only with more heart – but also meticulously researched. In between the gags (some inspired and others groan-worthy), the wordplay, and the frenzied comic business, Finlay provides a lot of biographical meat and detail. There are also some trenchant observations on early nineteenth century womanhood and the impossibility of a woman in the Romantic era having an independent career in the arts  (“we can only play exactly what we’re handed” ruefully comments Fanny’s mother Lea, herself a talented musician).

There’s even a superbly orchestrated (pun intended) bit of audience participation where the onlookers joyfully become the musicians inside Fanny’s imagination. It’s an inspired moment in an evening brimming with them. Russell marshals the crowd brilliantly and elsewhere delivers a funny, rebellious, resourceful heroine with a touching sadness behind the eyes. It’s a glorious performance, more nuanced and layered than any of her Mischief appearances to date, blending high precision comedy playing with a genuine depth, and a wondrous physicality (watching her “conduct” is mesmerising).

Director Katie-Ann McDonough and writer Finlay have surrounded her with quality. West End regular Kim Ismay is sheer camp joy as the Mendelssohn’s snobbish mama, pitched half way between Mrs Malaprop and a Teutonic version of Jane Austen’s Mrs Bennet, also doubling as Queen Victoria and a deeply disapproving innkeeper. Equally glorious is Danielle Phillips as the perpetually furious, boxing-obsessed other daughter, determined to get Fanny married off so that she can then in turn be free. Daniel Abbott as the better known Felix captures exactly the right combination of warmth and ruthlessness while Jeremy Lloyd raises gormless to an art form as bewildered older brother Paul, the one with a good heart but little musical ability. Although saddled with some tiresome humorous schtick as the pun-loving Wilhelm Hensel, the painter Fanny ends up marrying, Riad Richie is dynamic and tremendously likeable, rather more than just a typical love interest. 

McDonough’s staging, attractively designed with period trappings by Sophia Pardon, moves at a hell of a pace and mines Finlay’s text for all its wit and maniacal fun, but also gives the serious stuff and an authentic appreciation of, and love for, classical music, room to breathe. It’s not perfect: an act two sequence with a character who speaks exclusively in rhyme doesn’t fully land. Similarly, an Allo Allo-adjacent section where the German Mendelssohns arrive in London and an English coachman converses with them “in German”, i.e. with a strong Teutonic accent and lots of mangled, bawdy mispronunciations, really outstays its welcome. The drastic changes in heart for Felix and mother Lea with regards to Fanny happen with a whiplash-inducing speed that defies logic in the second half.

These are comparatively minor quibbles though in a rollicking, crowd-pleasing romp that is likely to appeal equally to connoisseurs of comedy and classical music buffs. I roared with laughter, and I actually learnt something, but perhaps most surprisingly, given how much fun it all is, the integrity and transformative power of great music is honoured. Fanny is fabulous.