Review: FRIENDS! The Musical Parody at Buxton Opera House

“A great night out and a must-see show for fans…”

FRIENDS! The Musical Parody by Bob and Tobly McSmith, Buxton Opera House

By Phil Scown

Friends! The Musical Parody begins by breaking the fourth wall.  We, the audience, are a studio audience for the filming of an episode.  There is a warm-up man, Kip (Edward Leigh), who engages with us and gets us cheering.  Then the show really begins.

There are only five friends on stage.  There are the three men: Ross Geller (Enzo Benvenuti), Joey Tribbiani (Ronnie Burden) and Chandler Bing (played on the night by Jared Thompson, not Daniel Parkinson).  The two women, from the three in Friends, are Monica Geller (Alicia Belgarde) and Phoebe Buffay (Amelia Atherton).  They are soon joined by Rachel Green (Eva Hope) in her wedding dress.  The likenesses of Monica, Phoebe, and Rachel are uncanny!  It may be that the passage of time dims the memory, but no, looking at an episode of the TV show confirms the likenesses.  Excellent work has been done to achieve this.  Thanks must go to casting (Marc Frankum), costume (Nicole Rosalind), wigs and makeup (Craig Forrest-Thomas), and to the actors themselves.  All six of the friends, and Gunther (Edward Leigh) are convincing with their voices and mannerisms, which is probably down to a combination of the actors’ exposure to the TV series and the work of the characterisation coach (Jessica Martin).

Ross has height over Chandler and Joey, and has a lot of the mannerisms of the TV Ross, though Benvenuti is also able to channel the plastic features of Jim Carrey, which adds more.  Phoebe is suitably kooky, with a repertoire of truly awful songs, but she can sing the good stuff too.  All the cast can sing and dance.  The singing is precise, and the dancing sharp and well choreographed (Myles Brown).  This must be a challenge on smaller stages, such as at Buxton.

Apart from the six friends, there are appearances from other characters. Gunther makes several appearances, as he should.  There are also appearances by Tom Selleck, Paolo, and Marcel, all played by Edward Leigh.  Some great comic moments here, especially Marcel.  Janice (Jared Thompson) has a terrible laugh.  During the interval, I was told by a fan that they didn’t think Janice was accurately portrayed.  I have to disagree; to my ears, Janice’s laugh is perfectly irritating.

The story of Friends! the Musical Parody is the story of all ten series of Friends the TV show.  If you haven’t watched the TV show, then the musical will make much less sense to you than it did to this audience of fans.  Kip confirmed fan status at the start of Act Two.  The ‘warm up’ included a quiz and some singing.  The audience scored full marks at both.  A few solitary members of the audience giving wrong answers added to the comic tone of the evening.  A big surprise for me is how well Buxton can sing.

Friends! The Musical Parody is a very fast-paced show, with eleven numbers listed for each act.  The sound is mostly good.  There were a couple of songs where I lost the lyrics, which may have been a combination of the sound system and the fast pace of those songs.  Billed as a parody, this musical pays tribute to the TV original whilst also making fun of it too – just how big was the friends’ bill at Central Perk?

I was smiling all the way through, with some laugh-out-loud moments too.  A very enjoyable evening, in a lovely theatre, staffed by very friendly people.  A great night out and a must-see show for fans of Friends.

Friends! The Musical Parody at Buxton Opera House until Saturday 14 February. Tickets are available here.

Phil Scown has been a regular theatre-goer since his student days many years ago. Mysteries, thrillers, ghost stories, comedies and musicals are all part of his theatre diet. Phil writes short stories in a variety of genres, some of which have become screenplays. He likes to tour England, Scotland and France, nowadays by car rather than motorcycle. At other times Phil likes to cook and to drive his Caterham, though generally not at the same time.