So, Rosie at The Adelphi for one night only. Where to start…
Not only is Chris Broom listed as being responsible (as in, to blame…) for book, music, and lyrics, he’s also credited, though heaven knows why, with ‘original concept’, which does tend to suggest that there may at some point in time have been a team involved in writing this show who have somehow fallen by the wayside. Or escaped. Take your pick.
The fact that the press release says it’s been ‘in development’ for more than a decade does tend to suggest there have been plenty of changes along the way which raises the obvious question, ‘how bad was it to begin with?’
The show opens with an overture. Quite a tedious affair, played in the Edwardian style. Imagine a cross between the theme tunes of Upstairs Downstairs, and Fawlty Towers.
In fact the music throughout rarely rises above a thick sludge of Edwardiana, with the occasional hints towards Frank Wildhorn, or loving re-created Offenbach.
Memorable it is not. Deep it is not. Varied it is not. There are so many ballads that when another sort of song does rear it’s head – there are what in more competent hands could have been a couple of nice choruses in Act Two – it barely gets chance to take its first breath before being subsumed again in the Palm Court sludge.
But, what’s it about? You say.
Well, a very young Rosie Boote grows up in Ireland where her father, a vaguely theatrical type, ups and dies, meaning her mother has to stick her away in a convent.
A decade passes and the apparently charming nuns help eighteen year old Rosie on her way to follow her dream of treading the boards in wicked London.
Arriving there she gets mugged (off stage) and a friendly passer by takes her in, and also takes her along to a trendy and presumably expensive Romano’s (who’s paying, given she was mugged?) where she just happens to meet theatrical impresario of The Gaiety Theatre, George Edwardes. She sings for him, he offers her a contract, she gets spotted by a young cavalry officer who she falls in love with, and they all live happily ever after.
Did I mention that Rosie’s an almost completely passive character? Or that there is absolutely no obstacle in her way? I was weary from wanting to see just the slightest glimmer of conflict or drama, but conflict came there none… The nearest thing to an antagonist is poor Sally Ann Triplett, criminally wasted as Lady Edith, who doesn’t even get a song as the cavalry officer’s mother.
Mind you, would she want one? The lyrics range from the banal to the truly awful. I gave up making a note of the words rhymed with words that they don’t rhyme with… (Celebration/Occasion, Time/Behind, Far/Stars, Forever/Together, Beside me/Tightly).
And try figuring out the tense of this little couplet which appears in an act two love song –
‘So, if it’s raining, I won’t be complaining’.
It really sums up the tortuous way Broom mangles language to try and make it fit.
Overall Gavin James as Edwardes, Sally Ann Triplett as Lady Edith, and Will Callan do a sterling job with the material to hand, but as the saying goes, you can’t make a silk purse…etc.
Oh, and one last thing. There’s really no dramatic arc that would suggest the conclusion of the show. Lucy Thomas as Rosie sings a song, then, like this review, it just stops.
Adelphi Theatre
Book, Music & Lyrics: Chris Broom
Starring: Sally Ann Triplett, Dylan Wood, Lucy Thomas, Will Callan, Desmonda Cathabel, Madelena Alberto, Alexander Evans and full supporting chorus
Running time: 2 hours 20 mins including 1 x 15 minute interval
Date Seen: Tuesday 17th March 2026
Photo credit: Danny Kaan