Mrs Henderson Presents review: ‘A ploddingly dull affair without a single memorable tune’

The hoard of coach-party old dears, shuffling in late and chuckling all the way through, would definitely disagree with me – as indeed would many national critics. But to my mind the stage version of Mrs Henderson Presents is a ploddingly dull affair.

There’s full-frontal female nudity, which still feels risqué nearly 80 years after eccentric rich widow Laura Henderson first staged her tableaux vivants (that’s real models striking static poses in layman’s terms) at the Windmill Theatre. There’s also, briefly, male nudity and some very game performances – notably the wonderful Tracie Bennett in the lead role and, fresh from her scene-stealing turn in Xanadu, star-in-the-making Lizzy Connolly as a cheeky Northerner.

So why isn’t Mrs Henderson Presents a great, or even good, show? Well, the songs don’t help. Between them lyricist Don Black and composers George Fenton (best known for film and TV scores) and Simon Chamberlain (a session musician whose most impressive credit seems to be playing the piano for the Into The Woods movie) haven’t come up with a single memorable tune. Not one.

Then there’s the script by Terry Johnson, who wrote a play about the Carry On cast for the National Theatre so he knows his way around a double-entendre or two. The saucy jokes are mainly delivered by Jamie Foreman as a music hall comedian who takes to the stage while the scenery is being shifted, but they’re real groaners. The jokes, like the show, should be bawdier and the pace should be quicker, the script wittier, the historical context more clearly sketched beyond a bumbling Lord Chamberlain singing about scandalous nudity and gagging at the very thought of exposed lady gardens (which I guess many gays can relate to, but it feels out of kilter with the show’s end-of-the-pier tone).

Bennett is as good as ever in the lead, a slighter figure than Dame Judi Dench was in the film but just as ballsy, and she ages up well. It’s just a shame that her belter of a voice is underserved by the undercooked score. Ditto Emma Williams, who plays tea girl-turned-performer Maureen with buckets of charisma. Samuel Holmes, stepping into the Will Young role, gives good comedy gay. Ian Bartholomew doesn’t have Bob Hoskins’ ragamuffin charm but his Vivian Van Damm, Mrs Henderson’s frequently exasperated collaborator, is a likeable figure.

These are talented performers who deserve a better showcase. Maybe I’m wrong and those old dears were right, but what Mrs Henderson presents is nothing special and, unlike what the batty old broad gave London in its heyday, certainly not groundbreaking.

RATING: 2/5

Mrs Henderson Presents is at the Noel Coward Theatre, London, until June 18. For more information and tickets visit mrshenderson.co.uk

Words: Simon Button
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