Six years ago, a West End avalanche of stage versions of Hollywood movies climaxed with a moderately successful first airing of Marcy Kahan’s script, which neatly updates Nora Ephron’s Oscar-nominated screenplay.
But with this new touring revival, the question remains, why fork out for an evening in the theatre when one can watch Rob Reiner’s 1989 screen hit on DVD?
The answer is simple. Two young British actors with good television and stage credentials, Rupert Hill as the sex-obsessed Harry and Sarah Jayne Dunn as the romantic Sally, deliver Ephron’s sharply witty dialogue with attractive aplomb, making every gag in the book pay off.
Indeed, supported with winning style by Luke Rutherford and Kosha Engler, it plays like a double episode of Friends, while revealing that there is more banter than beef, more situation than substance to its smart-talking interplay, stretched across a narrative span of 13 years.
Director Michael Gyngell has retained the jazz-oriented backing track by Ben and Jamie Cullum - a low-key substitute for Harry Connick’s movie music - but reduced the screened interviews with long-wed couples to booming, fuzzy voice-overs that cover the set and costume changes.
That notorious faked orgasm in a Manhattan eaterie works better here than in the West End, the punchline perfectly delivered by Annabelle Brown as a fellow diner. But on the second night at Windsor, after a brief week in Wakefield, the timing and impact of the closing scenes, including a Friends-style tableau, still needed resolving - hopefully before the show hits the road on a four-month tour.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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