West End Wednesday: THE BOY FRIEND

The Boy Friend is a 1954 West End musical with a book, music and lyrics by writer Sandy Wilson. The musical is based in the 1920s French Riviera and is an homage and comic pastiche of that era’s musical such as ones by Rodgers and Hart. At the time, The Boy Friend became one of the most successful and longest running musicals in West End history, alongside Oklahoma!. 

The musical opened at Players’ Theatre Club (now The Charing Cross Theatre) on 14 April 1954. The musical was successful but felt it needed work so on 13 October, the production reopened in a more expanded format. The production then ran at The Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage (now owned by The Central School of Speech and Drama) before transferring to London’s West End and opening at The Wyndham’s.

The production was directed by Vida Hope, with choreography by John Heawood. Dianna Maddox was originally cast as lead Polly Browne but fell ill on the final rehearsal. Anne Rogers, who was playing a featured role, had learned the part on the side and volunteered to step in, and in true musical theatre fashion, this made her a star overnight, staying with all iterations of the show through to its hugely successful opening night in the West End. The Boy Friend was a hit, running for more than half a decade, and was even a favourite of The Queen herself. 

The Broadway production opened at the Royale (Now Bernard B. Jacobs) Theatre on 30 September 1954. This production starred future musical theatre phenomenon Julie Andrews in her Broadway debut in the role of Polly. Ann Wakefield who was in the cast, had played in the initial production at The Players’ Theatre in London. The producers of My Fair Lady saw Andrews in this production and it urged them to cast her in the leading role. 

The musical has been revived on Broadway in 1977 at the Ambassador Theatre for a short run, as well as a 30th anniversary revival in 1984 at the Albery Theatre (now Noel Coward). 

The musical was last revived in an acclaimed production at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2019 with a cast that included Amara Okereke, Janie Dee, Tiffany Graves and Adrian Edmondson. The musical was choreographed by Bill Deamer and directed by Matthew White. The production had planned a Toronto engagement after closing in London, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic these plans have been put on hold. 

In 1971, MGM adapted the musical into a film starring Twiggy, but with an alternative more complicated plot. Twiggy ended up winning two Golden Globes for her role in the film. 

Besties, if you haven’t listened to this classic slice of British musical theatre then please do so, although cast recordings may be tricky to come by!

Also, fun fact! Divorce Me, Darling! is the musical sequel to The Boy Friend, also created by Sandy Wilson. 

FACTS:

Music: Sandy Wilson 

Lyrics: Sandy Wilson
Book: Sandy Wilson
Theatre: The Wyndham’s
Run: 20,082 performances