Friends! The Musical Parody – New Theatre, Cardiff and National Tour

On the evening of the 22nd of September 1994, a pilot of a show about a group of ‘Friends’ living in New York was aired, and the rest as they say is history. It became iconic, lasted for ten years, and everyone around the world knew who Monica, Chandler, Joey, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross were and the actors who played them became international stars. They felt familiar and so relatable and we all felt they were our friends and each episode became essential viewing with certain scenes, and dialogue, becoming part of the vernacular, and viral long before that was a thing.

Friends! The Musical Parody feeds directly into that familiarity, and if you were a big fan of the show, it gives you all the familiar scenes and set ups – Central Perk, Monica’s Apartment and Joey’s lounge chair. It also plays like a greatest hits of memorable moments – Ross and Rachel’s will they won’t they storyline, Phoebe’s songs, Monica and Chandler getting together, Joey’s Days of Their Lives journey – it’s all there to enjoy.

What lifts the show further is the clever use of songs which add to the action, and as it says on the tin, parody is the name of the game, and there are quite a few musicals that are paid homage to like Chicago and Rent to name a few. The songs written by Assaf Gleizner and Bob and Tobly McSmith are really well written and provide the right amount of humour which really plays up the really well-known traits of each character, and they even include a number for the Duck and the Chick.

The small cast of ten work hard to recreate the nostalgia, with some portrayals of the iconic characters more successful than others. Alicia Belgarde perfectly recreates Monica’s obsessive compulsive and high energy neuroticism, whilst Eva Hope makes you believe you are watching Jennifer Aniston in the flesh, she has her down to a tee! Daniel Parkinson is brilliant as Chandler with the perfect mannerisms and vocal inflections, and he also gets to bring the character of Janice to life uttering that iconic phrase ‘Oh My God’ which delights the audience. Much praise must also be given to Edward Leigh the busiest member of the cast playing multiple roles including the Warm Up Guy and Gunther, delivering a brilliantly funny spoof of Part of Your World expressing Gunther’s longing to be part of the gang.

If you’re not familiar with the show or the characters it might be a bit of a struggle, but if you are a fan of Friends and are looking for an evening of 90’s nostalgia this is the perfect night out for you. So, if you need a hit of 90’s humour and a night spent in the company of some very well-loved characters, you couldn’t be any luckier, because this entertaining trip down memory lane will be there for you.

****      Four Stars