Jeremy Sams’ production of Roman Holiday opens in Bath the same week that Prince Harry’s phone hacking trial is being heard in the high court, and some material could come straight from a witness statement. “She’s fair game,” photographer Irving tells his journalist partner Joe: “It’s always open season on princesses”.
It’s one of the lines that has travelled best from the screen to the stage – and across the 70 years since Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck established their memorable chemistry in the original film. Paul Blake’s version – first seen in 2001, reworked in 2017 and receiving its UK premiere here – fashions the script into a jukebox musical with Cole Porter songs, the best known of which are aggressively telegraphed in the overture to reassure audiences they’ll recognise them.
Rebecca Collingwood plays Anne, a royal heiress trapped by duty and protocol on her visit to Italy. (When she longs to taste authentic spaghetti and meatballs, her countess aunt tells her the chef will make some when they get home to the palace.) She escapes her gilded cage into the arms of Joe, who grudgingly takes her back to his apartment only to discover that the scoop of his career is now in his bed, wearing his pyjamas.
The movie’s screwball set-up never quite delivers here despite the familiar bickering (“It’s Keats!” “It’s Shelley!”) and we’re landed with a love song before the leads have demonstrated any interest in each other. The famous Vespa ride around the city fares particularly poorly on stage, although Francis O’Connor’s design provides much-needed continental vibes to a show whose American songbook feel leaves it short on Italian flavouring.
There are charismatic performances, including Adrian Der Gregorian’s wonderfully comic Irving and Tania Mathurin’s flamboyant Francesca. Alongside a talented ensemble, Michael D Xavier’s voice soars in the role of Joe. His chemistry with Collingwood blossoms in the second half and their climactic kiss is the moment that the story makes the most sense as a musical. But the need to crowbar in Porter’s bigger hits slows the story into a parade of lovelorn wistfulness, one that ultimately undercuts the movie’s celebrated ending.
At Theatre Royal Bath until 1 July
