The Boy Friend
May 1996
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The Show
It’s 1926, and life is full of promise and expectation for the "Perfect
Young Ladies", at Madame Dubonnet’s finishing school near Nice,
who are on the look out for that certain thing called "The Boy Friend".
Dulcie, Fay and Nancy have their hearts set on local beau’s Marcel,
Pierre and Alphonse, whilst Maisie has her sights set on rich, good-looking
American, Bobby van Heusen.
No such joy for poor Polly, though, whose millionaire father, Sir Percival
Browne, practically forbids her to have a boyfriend, because he fears they
will only be interested in her for his fortune. So, she pretends to have
a boyfriend, and writes herself fake love letters to fool the other girls,
until the intuitive Mme Dubonnet discovers her secret.
When Sir Percival drops into the school to visit his daughter, Madame vows to have a word with him on Polly’s behalf, and ends up revealing that they we’re once old flames on Armistice night in Paris.
Meanwhile, Polly meets and falls for English delivery boy Tony. Believing him to be poor, she pretends to be a secretary at the school, so that she can be sure he’s not interested in her wealth.
"Sur La Plage" the lecherous Lord Brockhurst is enjoying the change of scenery. However, his wife is less impressed, and still distraught over the disgrace caused by their son’s recent abscondment from Oxford University.
Before long The Brockhursts spot Tony and Polly together by the beach, but when they call out after him, Tony runs off. As the gendarmes are enlisted to pursue him, Polly is heartbroken, fearing him to be just a common thief.
Were Polly and Tony to find true happiness? Could Mme Dubonnet & Sir Percival rekindle their old romance? Did Lord and Lady Brockurst find their missing son? Was it all so much "Nicer In Nice"? That’d be telling. Suffice to say, that this musical, was a charming, effervescent, and amusing tale of new love, true love found, past loves remembered and old love rekindled. The 1920s score breezed along with heel-kicking, toe-tapping tunes from the classic "Won’t You Charleston with Me?", to the delightful "I Could Be Happy With You", the romping "The Riviera", and the cheery title song
