Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Last Saturday, my parents and I saw the latest musical production of ‘High Society’ at the New Theatre in Cardiff. The show was on in Cardiff from the 21st to the 25th July, as part of its UK and Ireland tour. I’m very pleased my parents and I saw it on the last night in Cardiff. 🙂

I must admit, I’m not very familiar with ‘High Society’ as a story. I know it’s based on an American comic play by Phillip Barry called ‘The Philadelphia Story’, which was released in 1939. 🙂 Since then, it went on to be famous as a 1959 musical film called ‘High Society’.

The 1959 musical film ‘High Society’ starred Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinarta. I’ve not really seen that film properly. I’ve seen the beginning of it, and I know some of the songs performed in the film, thanks to my Dad playing some ‘High Society’ music CDs. 🙂

From checking out the latest stage production of ‘High Society’, I suspect it doesn’t exactly follow what’s in the 1959 film. This also includes some musical numbers that I recognise from other musical films like ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and such whilst hearing them.

So, I’m going to judge this stage musical production based on what I’ve seen of it on its own as well as how well the performances of the cast fare overall. One thing that’s very noticeable from the 1959 film to the theatre production is that Louis Armstrong isn’t in it. 😀

The story of ‘High Society’ is about a wealthy woman named Tracy Lord – also called ‘Sam’ or ‘Samantha’ – who is preparing to marry a stuff businessman. But her former husband C.K. Dexter Haven and the press come to disrupt the weekend with comedic proportions.

Apparently, the story is set in Newport on Rhode Island. I was confused by that because in Wales, there’s a Newport close to Cardiff where I live. Thankfully, my Dad clarified for me that there’s a Newport in the actual ‘High Society’ story according to the film version.

Tracy Lord is played by Helen George (well-known for playing Trixie in ‘Call the Midwife’). It was nice to see Helen George in something different other than ‘Call the Midwife’ and ‘Nativity Rocks’. 😀 Helen George is playing the Grace Kelly role in the ‘High Society’ story.

Dexter Haven, Tracy’s ex-husband is played by Julian Ovenden. Julian is playing the Bing Crosby role in the ‘High Society’ story. Apparently, Julian Ovenden has been in Series 4 and 5 of ‘Downton Abbey’ as well as the 2013 Christmas Special ‘The London Season’.

One of the press that comes to disrupt the wedding weekend is a visiting tabloid reporter named Macaulay ‘Mike’ Connor, played by Freddie Fox, who’s playing the Frank Sinatra role. Freddie Fox was in the ‘Doctor Who’ story ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’ in 2025.

The theatre cast also includes Carly Mercedes Dyer as Liz Imbrie, who is like Mike Connor’s partner in the press and was originally played by Celeste Holme in the 1959 film. There’s also Nigel Lindsay as Uncle Willie, originally played by Louis Calhern in the movie.

There’s Josefina Gabrielle as Mother Lord, who I think was Margaret Lord in the 1959 film originally played by Margalo Gillmore. I wish Felicity Kendal from the original West End production was in the Cardiff production I saw. I enjoyed her as Barbara in ‘The Good Life’.

Malcolm Sinclair plays Seth Lord, Mother Lord’s ex-husband and Tracy/Sam’s father, who was originally played by Sidney Blackmer in the 1959 film. It was interesting to see how Mother Lord and Seth Lord seem to patch things up romantically throughout the musical.

There’s also Dinah Lord, the youngest of the Lord family, played by Naomi Pacquette, who was originally Caroline Lord played by Lydia Reed in the 1959 film, I believe. I do recall that there was a young girl that Bing Crosby’s character interacted with in the 1959 movie.

George Kittredge, who is Tracy/Sam’s fiancé in the ‘High Society’ story is played by David Seadon-Young in the musical theatre production, originally played by John Lund in the 1959 film. There’s also Chester, who I believe is the Lords’ butler, played by James Hume.

Richard Garrick played the Lords’ butler in the 1959 film. The performances of the ensemble are exceptionally good. It’s amazing when you see how well the choreography is put on stage in these musical productions, as you naturally accept while watching it. 🙂

In terms of the musical numbers that I recognised from the 1959 film being in the stage musical I saw in Cardiff, there’s ‘High Society Calypso’, ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’, ‘True Love’, ‘You’re Sensational’ and ‘Well, Did You Evah!’ I’m so glad those were included.

There are also musical numbers I’m sure weren’t in the 1959 film, including ‘Be a Clown’, which I’m sure is a take of the song ‘Make Them Laugh’ from the ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ 1952 film. Or…is it the other way around here? Was ‘Make Them Laugh’ based on ‘Be a Clown’?

There’s also ‘Just One of Those Things’, ‘You Do Something to Me’ and ‘Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love’ (which has another version called ‘Let’s Misbehave’) in the theatre production. I believe those songs are in the 1960 film called ‘Can-Can’ with Frank Sinarta.

Apparently, the first act of ‘High Society’ was 65 minutes whilst the second act was 61 minutes. There was a point where I wondered whether the first act was ever going to stop, as it seemed to keep going. Fortunately, I had my chocolate ice cream for the second act. 😀

So, the ‘High Society’ musical production I saw at the New Theatre in Cardiff was quite a treat to watch recently. It was nice to see Helen George in something different other than ‘Call the Midwife’ and ‘Nativity Rocks’ and I also enjoyed Julian Ovenden and Freddie Fox.

I don’t know if I’m going to be seeing the 1959 film ‘High Society’ any time soon for a review on my blog. I’m sure I will. There’s going to be a musical production of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ coming to the New Theatre in Cardiff from August to September 2026. Will I see that one?

If you’d like to see the latest ‘High Society’ musical with Helen George, please check out the tour dates in the link here.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂