Ploy, Friend

Sandy Wilson, whose musical The Boy Friend (1954) was one of the few exceptions to the rule that a British musical is at best a sort of muted crumpet, has updated the old Boy by ten years. The sequel, now playing the West End, is called Divorce Me, Darling and spoofs the very same characters. In this one, however, the time is the 1930s rather than the '20s, and all the pretty young flappers have become sophisticated, cheating wives. The songs and routines are primarily parodies--of Cole and Noel, Fred and Ginger--and occasionally they are bang-on. But too often the emeritus flappers' old boop-boop-a-doop has gone poop; Wilson would do well to retire them before they are ready for The Old Man Friend.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.