Clearly, someone thought this obscure, ’70s musical would be a perfect fit for Connie Fisher, now out of her ‘Sound of Music’ habit. In many ways, it is. But it has perilously little else to recommend it. Based on the real-life romance of lyricist Carole Bayer Sager and composer Marvin Hamlisch, it boasts a score by the pair and a script from the master of connubial oddity, Neil Simon. But the music is persistently drab, antique pop, and, though the script is peppered with neat epigrams, Simon is effectively hamstrung by the fact that this play contains no progression in it anywhere.
The commitment-phobe-boy-meets-zany-flaky-girl-gets-it-on-breaks-it-off-gets-it-tenuously-on-again plot is almost entirely devoid of authenticity or meaning. Words like ‘professional jealousy’ get bandied about, but the only reason demonstrated for Sonia and Vernon’s persistent difficulties is that Sonia’s off-stage, psychotic ex attempts to top himself with trying regularity.
There isn’t a hint of chemistry between them, but Alistair McGowan effectively nails the one-liners, and it’s a treat to hear Fisher’s fresh vocals climb a new set of musical mountains. Director Fiona Laird opts for blinking, cartoon campery in her staging, but the attempt at self mockery is doomed. You know you’re in trouble when the most entertaining moments of the evening occur when Sonia and Vernon’s alter egos – six, identically dressed chorus members – bop to ’70s tunes while changing the scenery.
