A NOT SO SWELL PARTY
The musical, High Society, currently at London's Shaftsbury Theatre, started life as a straight play entitled "The Philadelphia Story". This was made into a film with the same title in 1940 and starred Cary Grant, James Stewart and Katherine Hepburn. It tells the story of socialite Tracy Samantha Lord, who is engaged to marry solid, dependable George Kitteredge, until the plans are disrupted by the arrival of her ex-husband, C K Dexter Haven and two reporters from the tabloid press. They have come to try to unearth details of scandalous stories concerning Tracy's father and an 'exotic dancer'. It unravels in a hilarious way and the movie was a great success.
Equally successful was the 1956 musical 're-make', “High Society”, which added music and lyrics by Cole Porter and starred Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly. The casting, as with the original, turned out to be inspirational and it remains, to this day, many people's favourite film. I suppose it was a logical thought to take the journey full-circle and present “High Society” as a stage production again. However, as The Guardian theatre critic, Lyn Gardner, pointed out: "The stage may be awash with champagne, but somebody forgot to put the bubbles in." Katherine Kingsley is cast in the Grace Kelly role but, for Ms Gardner, although she warms up a little in the second half, she is "more ice cube than luxury ice cream."
Although this stage version contains such Cole Porter hits from the original as, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, True Love and You're Sensational, it revives former Porter classics as, Let's Do It, So in Love and strangely, as the setting is Long Island, New Jersey, I Love Paris. Most critics were not over-impressed with the performance of Graham Bickley as Dexter, some pointing out that his main asset is that he looks and sings rather like Bing Crosby, rather than his acting ability. Paul Robinson's performance, in the Sinatra role of reporter Mike Connor, is described as "wimpish" and "as hard-boiled as a three-minute egg."
 This brings us to Jerry Hall, brought in - presumably - as 'box office'. Her previous West End role was as Mrs Robinson in "The Graduate", which didn't win her many admirers. Here, she is cast as Tracy's mother - the smallest role in the production - and, once again, fails to gain much critical acclaim. Michael Coveney, writing in The Independent, compares her with Julia McKenzie, who revived the same role in the Old Vic production of "The Philadelphia Story", but concludes there was no comparison saying "she looks as if she is on stage to enjoy being there, not to give a performance."
Now we have come full circle, or will have done when this production closes on 25th March 2006, and I, for one, will be more than happy to be left with the memory of two outstanding films.
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