Noël Coward’s delightful, rarely produced 1925 comedy Fallen Angels is the sort of Broadway fare that gives critics ample reason to use descriptors like “fizzy” and “intoxicating” and “dizzying,” all apt in capturing the pleasures of its airy sophistication and raucous, gutbucket smart, rich-ladies-get-drunk laughs. What was true in the Jazz Age remains so, as the Roundabout Theatre Company production starring the terrific Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara, opening tonight, so bountifully proves.
A showcase for the even-then legendary Tallulah Bankhead back in the day, Fallen Angels, once controversial for its casual depictions of female libido and not-so-wifely infidelity, has been produced on Broadway only twice before – 1927 and 1956 – and a TV movie adaptation starring Joan Collins and Susannah York aired in 1974.
But the play’s influence exceeds its visibility. The beloved British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous mightn’t exist without Fallen Angels. Too many Real Housewives
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