Roman Holiday, Theatre Royal, Bath

Aptly Roman Holiday was being performed in that city of Romans — Bath Spa. I didn’t know anything really about this musical before I booked beyond Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, a Princess AWOL in Rome and 1950s la dolce vita…

Pleasingly I was upgraded from cheap seats to a much better view for free, so this may have impacted my experiences. Not as excellent as Crazy For You or 42nd Street, it was more like having a favourite box of chocolates turned into a musical — enjoyable and charming and good overall. But it did have its moments (many of them!) and the leads and ensemble had a lot of energy.

I think my issue was the staging itself — a backdrop of houses with shutters was used to suggest locations and cast members passed by and snapped the street light into action at points. (Not sure about the cat fixed to the window still staring straight ahead — feel like it needs a sign saying ‘I aen’t dead!’) At other times, in the street scenes, the dance ensemble looked squashed; but they managed the transitions between scenes really well — dancing their way in and out of numbers and keeping the story going, never out of character. In street scenes without dancing, there was always, always a lot going on — even kissing greetings to each other. Such a sense of culture and place here. The gorgeous lighting does so much to support this too.

The nightclub singer was tremendous every time they were on stage and surprisingly Michael D. Xavier turned Night and Day into a belter. As Princess Ann wanting to know how people really lived, Rebecca Collingwood was charming — I wish at points she’d had better choreography. But things really got going when at the end of the first Act she crashed a Vesper off-stage, in a flurry of thrown fruit and veg. In the second Act, threatened with arrest, she pleaded imminent marriage and everyone got jiving — which brought the life and energy needed.

Scenes set really well, street scenes carried out brilliantly (including all the women gathering round Ann to transform her hair during ‘experiment’) and an ending I wasn’t expecting. Very inclusive — nuns have fashion opinions too! The nightclub scene where Ann fights off her minders with a guitar and fists was unexpected too. Michael D. Xavier as Joe Bradley showed real character change and transformation over time. Enjoyable but I think suffers from being over-padded with Cole Porter songs, and perhaps still having some tension between whether it is a musical or a play.

I loved it when the moped moved. The ‘Mouth of Truth’ scene was also tenderly done — and in a nice touch the monument turned into the Moon for later scenes. For me — drive the moped more, and perhaps a bit more scene setting…But the focus is very much on the songs and the singing here rather than chorus lines…

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