Glossy and exuberant evocation of an era of style and sophistication

THE small but vibrant stage of the Mill at Sonning is once more home to a delightful musical after previous Christmas seasons of Top Hat and a run of Gypsy last summer, which won the 2023 UK Theatre Award for best musical production.

Gypsy director Joseph Pitcher now turns to Cole Porter’s High Society.

While some of the audience are probably familiar with the 1956 film version, almost everyone will recognise — and warm to — the classic numbers dotting the action which unfolds at the opulent Lord family estate in Oyster Bay, Long Island.

Simply to list the songs is to evoke an era of style and sophistication, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, I Love Paris, True Love, Just One of Those Things, Let’s Do It. But there’s also a real story here. Society daughter Tracy Lord is about to marry uptight and humourless George Kittredge. She has been married before, briefly, to the charming Dexter Haven.

That marriage seems to have foundered over Dexter’s fondness for the bottle and Tracy’s rather unforgiving nature.

Dexter is a reformed character now and still in love.

The question is whether Tracy will go through with the wedding, scheduled for the second act, or go back to Dexter or even turn to the third man in the triangle, Mike Connor, a reporter who’s inveigled his way into the celebrations with his sidekick Liz Imbrie.

Other relationships are threaded through the action, each under strain or scrutiny.

An estrangement exists between Tracy’s parents who may or may not be reconciled by the end.

Liz has been carrying a torch for reporter Mike for years.

There’s an attractive spark between Victoria Serra (Tracy) and Matt Blaker (Dexter) while Will Richardson displays priggish propriety in the role of George.

As Tracy’s parents, Russell Wilcox and Heather Jackson keep the flame of romance burning into middle age and beyond.

Katlo gives a spirited turn as Tracy’s younger sister Dinah, Kurt Kansley is the roguish Uncle Willie, while Matthew Jeans and Laura Tyrer as Mike and Liz provide a welcome, almost proletarian, take on the goings-on among the upper crust.

The set design (Jason Denvir) is a panoramic backdrop of Oyster Bay which, as dusk descends, is romantically illuminated by a full moon and the riding lights of wealthy yachts.

Costumes (Natalie Titchener), choreography (Jaye Elster) and the music under the direction of Jerome van den Berghe are up to the Mill’s usual high standard.

Teamwork from the exuberant and organised cast makes maximum use of the stage and brings gloss to what, in the words of one of the most famous numbers in High Society, is certainly a “swellegant, elegant party”.

Philip Gooden