Flowers for Mrs Harris, filmed at Chichester Festival Theatre Review

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/chichesterft/

I watched this one just in time! As this whole Covid business is going on, a lot of theatres are putting some of their previous works online to help keep the spirit of theatre alive... Even though it's not going to be going to normal for quite a while.....

The National have been releasing some of their archive NT Live works, but Chichester also released one of their musicals back in April.... that I have only just got chance to watch and it's being taken off on Friday... ooops....!

That show is called Flowers for Mrs Harris, based off the book of the same name by Paul Gallico.

Written by Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff, the show premiered in Sheffield in 2016, directed by Daniel Evans, the Artistic Director at the time. When he left Sheffield to go to Chichester, Flowers for Mrs Harris was a show Evans brought back and directed again in 2018.

Flowers for Mrs Harris tells the story of 50-something year old widow Ada Harris, a cleaner living in post-war London. When covering for one of her friend's clients, she bumps into a glamourous Cristian Dior dress; and her life is transformed!

Musically, it reminds me a bit of Titanic in that its score doesn't necessarily have a memorable tune, but it's luscious, like diving into a chocolate fountain - or perhaps like a lush Sondheim score. Unlike Titanic though, the book is wonderfully written, especially concerning its main character.

Clare Burt has a gift of a part of perform; Ada worn-down from years of cleaning and doing nothing for herself, but her huge heart and kindness affects the lives of everyone she encounters, from her best friend, to one of Dior's models in Paris. As Daniel Evans has said in interviews, Ada Harris thinks she's ordinary but she's in fact extra-ordinary; and every bit of that oozes out of Burt's performance.

Burt gives an incredible performance, but I must also give props to the supporting cast: including Joanna Riding, Claire Machin, Gary Wilmott (Oklahoma), Louis Maskell and Laura Pitt-Pulford (Falsettos), all brilliant and witty in their own way, despite them all playing 2 different characters.

Whilst watching, it becomes no wonder that Ada falls for that Dior dress; because Lez Brotherston's costume design is absolutely gorgeous!

If you have chance to see Flowers for Mrs Harris before Friday, then I urge you to do so! But if you cannot, pesker whoever you have to to bring this story back once the theatres open again! It's such a warming story in every sense, like being wrapped up in a blanket with nice cup of tea. Oh and have tissues handy. You're going to need them!

To watch Flowers for Mrs Harris, click here: https://www.whatsonstage.com/chichester-theatre/news/festival-flowers-mrs-harris-free-watch-online_51365.html