\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tAasif Mandvi, Christopher Fitzgerald <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoan Marcus<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe premise is as simple and convoluted as the farce commands: Lifelong friends and impeccably attired sophisticates Julia (O\u2019Hara) and Jane (Byrne), settled into companionable if passion-free marriages (to Mandvi\u2019s Fred and Fitzgerald\u2019s Willy, respectively), have received word that a man from both of their pasts is soon to visit London from his Paris home, and he wants to see these former flings for reasons that the women can only dream about. <\/p>\n \n\tWith the husbands off for a golf outing, Julia and Jane (well attended to by Chimo\u2019s martini-mixing maid Saunders) get decked out in their evening finest and wait impatiently at Julia\u2019s luxe apartment (Jane lives upstairs) for the mystery man Maurice to arrive. What begins as sisterly bonding over their shared perhaps not-so-dead passion for the suave ladies man devolves, with each slug of gin, into increasingly vicious (and uproariously hilarious) competition. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI suppose you think your mind is a lovely gift basket filled with mixed fruit with a bow on top?,\u201d a tipsy and getting tipsier Jane snipes at Julia, who responds, \u201cBetter than being an old sardine tin with a few fins left in it.\u201d By the time Julia deadpans an understated \u201cI wish you\u2019d go home, Jane\u201d both actors have the audience howling at every teeth-baring jab, exquisitely executed.<\/p>\n \n\tIf Coward\u2019s blithe dialogue and urbane wordplay remains captivating, so too is the physical humor on display: It\u2019s always amusing to watch the cultivated slide into incivility, even better when those slides are made literal. O\u2019Hara clammers up the set\u2019s Art Deco staircase like an inebriated crab, and Byrne, an exemplary comedian who, at one point in the reviewed performance seemed to have gotten an unplanned laugh from her costar after taking a too-large bite of some scrumptious-looking chocolate concoction and playing it off beautifully, has the funnybone instinct that allows a gorgeous person to revel in unflattering deshabille. Shout-out to hair-and-wig designers David Brian Brown\u00a0and\u00a0Victoria Tinsman\u00a0for a morning-after sight gag nearly as show-stopping as Carol Burnett\u2019s \u201cWent With The Wind\u201d curtain-rod dress.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tO\u2019Hara, Mark Consuelos, Byrne<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJoan Marcus<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tFollowing the play\u2019s extended raison d\u2019\u00eatre drunk scene \u2013 which includes a wonderfully directed and performed bit involving lengthy cigarette holders and an uncooperative flame \u2013 Fallen Angels<\/em> moves more decidedly into farce, with missing persons, misunderstandings, suspicious husbands and hung-over wives desperate to reclaim order and a modicum of dignity. <\/p>\n \n\tEnter Consuelos\u2019 Maurice, of course, just in time to put a capper on all the scheming and on this show. Rockwell\u2019s set design will have one last chance to reclaim our attention, and it does so deliciously, with the suggestion that the old friends conclude this latest escapade with a blissfulness equal to what they\u2019ve gifted us.<\/p>\n \n\tTitle:<\/strong> Fallen Angels<\/em> \n\tThe misfortunes endured by Linda, the frayed nerve portrayed by Rose Byrne in last year\u2019s unhinged comic drama \u201cIf I Had Legs I\u2019d Kick You,\u201d include but are not limited to: a mysteriously ill child, a surly absentee husband, a malevolent hamster and a cosmic black hole in her bedroom ceiling. Even watching the film feels harrowing, a sort of two-hour panic attack by proxy. \u201cThe delight of trying to bring a farcical comedy to the stage felt like such an opportunity and a lovely antidote creatively, and that\u2019s something I\u2019ve really been craving,\u201d said Byrne, who\u00a0last performed onstage six years ago, in \u201cMedea.\u201d \n\tKelli Christine O\u2019Hara<\/strong>\u00a0(born April 16, 1976)[1]<\/sup>\u00a0is an American actress and singer, most known for her work on the\u00a0Broadway\u00a0and\u00a0opera\u00a0stages.<\/p>\n \n\tAn eight-time\u00a0Tony Award\u00a0nominee, O\u2019Hara won the\u00a0Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical\u00a0for her performance as\u00a0Anna Leonowens\u00a0in the\u00a0Lincoln Center Theater\u00a0revival of\u00a0The King and I<\/em>\u00a0at the 69th Tony Awards in 2015.[2]<\/sup>\u00a0She also received Tony nominations for her performances in\u00a0The Light in the Piazza<\/em>\u00a0(2005),\u00a0The Pajama Game<\/em>\u00a0(2006),\u00a0South Pacific<\/em>\u00a0(2008),\u00a0Nice Work If You Can Get It<\/em>\u00a0(2012),\u00a0The Bridges of Madison County<\/em>\u00a0(2014),\u00a0Kiss Me, Kate<\/em>\u00a0(2019), and\u00a0Days of Wine and Roses<\/em>\u00a0(2024).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-deadline-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.jpg\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>
Venue:<\/strong> Broadway\u2019s Todd Haimes Theatre
Written By:<\/strong> No\u00ebl Coward
Directed By:<\/strong> Scott Ellis
Cast:<\/strong> Rose Byrne,\u00a0Kelli O\u2019Hara,\u00a0Tracee Chimo,\u00a0Mark Consuelos,\u00a0Christopher Fitzgerald, Aasif Mandvi
Running Time:<\/strong> 1 hr 30 min (no intermission)<\/p>\n
So you can understand why Byrne sought out a project in a lighter register this spring, even as \u201cIf I Had Legs\u201d continues to earn her some of the biggest accolades of her career, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination.
While many of her fellow Oscar nominees lean into the private screenings and ritual glad-handing of Hollywood\u2019s peak campaign season, she\u2019ll be at home in New York rehearsing for her role in a Broadway revival of a rarely seen 1925 No\u00ebl Coward play called \u201cFallen Angels\u201d alongside Kelli O\u2019Hara, Tracee Chimo and Mark Consuelos at the Roundabout Theater Company. Performances, at the Todd Haimes Theater, are scheduled to begin March 27 and run through early June.
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\u201cIt feels so fresh to do this play and be in New York,\u201d Rose Byrne said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a different skill being onstage. It\u2019s so rigorous, particularly high comedy. There\u2019s a different sort of energy required.\u201d
Comedy, as fans who are familiar with her three-decade career know, is hardly foreign territory. Her turns in box-office hits like \u201cBridesmaids,\u201d \u201cNeighbors\u201d and \u201cGet Him to the Greek\u201d helped to establish the Australian actress as a low-key force in films in which her symmetrical, almost doll-like beauty proved a compelling stealth vehicle for cracked and giddily profane humor.<\/p>\n