High Society Looks Sumptuous but Could Work Harder at the Barbican Theatre

High Society | Barbican Theatre until 11th July 2026

A Nice Musical Comedy That Washes Pleasantly Over You on a Summer Evening

They handed me the programme for High Society at the Barbican and I immediately noticed two things. First, it is very sophisticated-looking. Second, it is the tallest theatre programme I think I have ever been handed. And in some ways, that tells you everything you need to know about this production: it is polished, glamorous, and impeccably turned out.

For those coming fresh to it, High Society has had quite a journey to the Barbican stage. It began life as Philip Barry’s 1939 play The Philadelphia Story, which became a classic Hollywood film in 1940. MGM then turned it into a musical film in 1956, starring Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, with songs by Cole Porter. What we’re seeing now is a stage musical adaptation of that film, so it’s an adaptation of an adaptation of an adaptation. The bones of the story are the same throughout: Tracy Lord is engaged to the wrong person, her ex-husband turns up, and (you’ll never guess) things become complicated.

This is the third Cole Porter musical the Barbican has staged in this golden-age revival strand, following Anything Goes and Kiss Me, Kate, and the creative team has assembled a stellar cast. Helen George, best known from Call the Midwife, is great, she can sing and dance up a storm. Julian Ovenden has a fabulous voice. Felicity Kendal, as ever, can time a line to get a laugh out of dialogue that normally wouldn’t raise one; the production unwisely allows her to sing, but we’ll draw a veil over that, and she is otherwise in fine fettle. Freddie Fox, making his musical theatre debut, completes a genuinely impressive ensemble.

The score is one of the great joys of the evening. Alongside the songs from the 1956 film, they’ve added numbers from across Cole Porter’s back catalogue. There’s Be a Clown, which has almost the identical melody to Make ‘Em Laugh from Singin’ in the Rain (though I did check, and Be a Clown came first). And Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was in there too; I resisted with every fibre of my body the urge to shout “I do!” The dances by Anthony Van Laast are excellent, and the whole thing is beautifully sung.

Towards the middle of act two, things take on a slightly A Midsummer Night’s Dream quality, with the wrong people running around chasing the right people. It’s slight. And here’s the difficulty: you don’t really connect with, or care about, any of these people. In the law of diminishing returns (and I say this having loved Anything Goes and thoroughly enjoyed Kiss Me, Kate) High Society is okay. If you want a nice musical comedy that washes pleasantly over you on a summer evening, it’s perfectly fine. I just wish they’d found a way to make it work a little harder.

The good news is that after the Barbican closes on 11 July, it tours. The Churchill Theatre in Bromley has it from 20 to 24 October, the Marlowe in Canterbury from 3 to 7 November, and the Congress Theatre in Eastbourne from 17 to 21 November. I’ll remind you nearer the time. It’s a big show doing the rounds. I just wish it had done a little more.

EyeOnLondon will be covering more of this summer’s biggest London revivals

[Image Credits | Pamela Raith]

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