Christian Borle is always so much fun to watch on stage. From his Tony winning turns in Peter and the Starcatcher and Something Rotten to last year’s Falsettos, he has built a very impressive theater resume. Casting him as Bill Snibson in the Encores! staging of Me and My Girl seemed an inspired choice. Based on a 1986 Broadway re-imagining of a 1937 musical by Noel Gay, the show is a chance to prance through old school, grandly silly entertainment. With Christian Borle in the captain’s seat, the production is a smooth ride.
Our hero, Bill Snibson, is a Cockney lad who finds out that he is the long-lost fourteenth Earl of Hareford. As the sole heir, he inherits the manor, the fortune and the title, with one stipulation. He must become a proper English gentleman as judged by his Aunt Maria, the Duchess of Dene played by the grand ham Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie). What will happen to his Cockney girlfriend Sally? Add in a butler, a vampish gold digger and assorted characters from both sides of society, stir the pot and watch them all strut their stuff in the show’s famous number, “The Lambeth Walk.” Try to forget that tune when you leave this show. It’s both catchy and ridiculous.
Me and My Girl is certainly a swiftly paced piece of smile-inducing goofiness. The best moments included the Act II opener, “The Sun Has Got His Hat On.” As the Honorable (but not rich) Gerald Bolingbroke, Mark Evans (The Play That Goes Wrong) delivered a public lesson in show stopping madcap frivolity. Laura Michelle Kelly (Finding Neverland) beautifully sings the excellent “Once You Lose Your Heart.” As the Lady Jaqueline Carstone, Lisa O’Hare (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) makes a great villainous gold digger, gorgeously costumed by Emilio Sosa.
I saw this production and Robert Lindsay’s Tony Award winning performance during the original run. His Bill Snibson was also a clown but perhaps more debonair than Mr. Borle’s physically rougher, but still hilarious, interpretation. For an evening of escapist silliness, this Encores! version of Me and My Girl was an agreeable pleasure.