Not a masterful floral centrepiece, but a decent bouquet that most people would still be alright with
Flowers for Mrs Harris is a new(ish) British musical based on the novel by Paul Gallico which was published in 1958. The musical book is written by Rachel Wagstaff with the music and lyrics by Richard Taylor. This musical started life at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield back in 2016 and this production is the show’s first time in London.
Jenna Russell plays the titular Mrs Harris and gives a strong performance that brings you into the life of this woman and makes you care about her very quickly. My favourite performers of the night however were Anna Wensak as Violet and Kelly Price as Lady Dant/Madame Colbert. Wensak was the comedic heart of the show and her cheeky portrayal of Violet was really fun to watch, and Price had brilliant stage presence and energy which made me always more excited when she was on stage. All round none of the performances were particularly weak, and except for a few dodgy accents at times, all of the rest of the performances were solid, if potentially unremarkable.
One of my biggest disappointments however for this show, was the music. I love musicals and was greatly looking forward to hearing new songs that I could add into my musical’s playlists, however all of the songs in this show were unfortunately pretty forgettable. Even as I was leaving the show, I could not remember a single song or musical moment that really stood out to me. Most of the songs seemed very samey with minimal to differentiate them and nothing really memorable or awe inspiring. All of the singing was solid, but the material did not seem to give the performers much opportunity to show off their talents.
The pacing of this show also felt off to me. It felt incredibly slow and languid, with little sense of urgency or even energy driving the plot forward. We spend a lot of time on certain aspects which ultimately did not seem to go anywhere, and then when we get towards the end, it feels incredibly rushed and unfinished. Every character gets a happy ending of sorts, but some of them had so little build up that it did not feel satisfying, and one character in particular seems to not get any comeuppance as they deserved, but rather a tacked-on line that gives them a happy ending too. I think some aspects and storyline could have been expanded upon more, and others cut entirely, and this would have helped to give the show more impetus.
I do have to give a shout-out to the costume designer Sara Perks, who was tasked with designing and creating 6 Dior-esque dresses, presumably without the budget to create them that Christian Dior had. This is an unenviable task, but it is achieved and the first time that we see “the dress” is a genuinely breath-taking moment and was very believably a dress that Mrs Harris would fall in love with.
The performances, lighting, set, costuming, and staging are all solid in this production, I just do feel that the material itself is not strong enough to make this a truly captivating show. There may be some out there who get entranced by the allure of this charming show, but it did not have me under its spell and I was left wanting for more.
Flowers for Mrs Harris is playing at the Riverside Studios until the 25th November.