Fallen Angels, Broadway in Movie Theaters

Noel Coward famously quipped, “I’m not a heavy drinker, I can sometimes go for hours without touching a drop.” In truth, he appreciated a glass of bubbly, the more expensive, the better, but he was no Bukowski or Faulkner. Frankly, his characters were more likely to get into trouble through inebriation than he was. That certainly happens to Julia Sterroll and her friend Jane Banbury in Coward’s play Fallen Angels, which was filmed live-on-Broadway and now screens in movie theaters, starting today.

Sterroll is totally fine with her husband Fred. Likewise, Banbury is perfectly comfortable with her husband, Willy. Yet, they both remember their wild days of youth with Maurice Duclos, a French ladies’ man worthy of Harlequin novels. Much to their excitement and panic, Duclos sends word he will visit London while their husbands are off on a golfing excursion. Should they run away to Brighton, to preserve their faithfulness, or should they stay, which presumably means succumbing to their pent-up desire?

They go back and forth debating whether it is better to run like cowards (so to speak), or face temptation head on. However, after several cocktails, and bottle of champagne, after dinner liquors, their decision-making judgement somewhat clouds.

Watching Fallen Angels during the current era of Puritanical woke humor is wonderful refreshing. Honestly, some of Coward’s zingers barely qualify as double entendre. The naughty meaning could not be any more nakedly apparent.

Likewise, Fallen Angels is about as boozy as Absolutely Fabulous—and maybe fifty percent funnier. Kelli O’Hara and Rose Byrne suitably vamp it up, visibly delighting in Coward’s urbane but acid-laced dialogue. They milk the debauchery for every last laugh—sometimes even from each other. Also, Byrne’s hairdresser deserves considerable credit for maintaining the levels of upkeep and unkemptness for Banbury’s coif.

Aasif Mandvi and Christopher Fitzgerald make suitably befuddled twits as their respective husbands. Tracee Chimo pushes the farce almost a little too far over the top as the Sterrolls’ new know-it-all housekeeper Saunders, but she has the chops to handle the musical aspects of the role. Plus, Mark Consuelos is an inspired stroke of celebrity casting as Monsieur Duclos—and he duly hams it up appropriately.

Weirdly, most of the cast will be quite familiar to horror fans, notably including Byrne (the Insidious franchise), Mandvi (Evil and The Terror: Devil in Silver), and Consuelos (Scream 7 and Riverdale). (Plus, Coward wrote Blithe Spirit, which almost counts). Regardless, it is highly entertaining, in a throwback kind of way, to watch a cast of familiar faces check their social conscious at the door and unselfconsciously troll for laughs. The production successfully marries highbrow sophistication with bawdy farce. They don’t write ‘em like this anymore. Highly recommended for patrons who appreciate the sly, unruly humor, Fallen Angels starts screening today (10/22) in theaters, including the Regal Times Square in New York.