15 September 2016 (released)
20 September 2016
If you somehow missed Audrey Hepburn in the iconic 1961 film of Truman Capote’s novella, you can't have missed the elegant black and white images and the irresistible version of ‘Moon River’. Richard Greenberg’s new adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany’s which starts it’s UK tour this week following a West End run, retains much of the films charm, and stays very faithful to Capote’s sharp dialogue.
Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony and Olivier Award-winning playwright Richard Greenberg and director Nikolai Foster, tell this tale of the capricious Holly Golightly (played by Pixie Lott in the West End) and her fantastical existence in 1940s New York City, through the eyes of a young writer (played by Matt Barber), besotted with this ephemeral beauty.
‘You musn't give your heart to a wild thing. The more you do, the stronger they get, until they're strong enough to run into the woods or fly into a tree.’
Whilst Holly Golightly seems to represent everything our narrator cannot have in the first half, the psychological realism deepens as her childhood story emerges and the brutalities of war touch her personally.
Capote was open about his own homosexuality and his mother, a former beauty queen took her life with an overdose of pills in 1954. Foster’s production is more explicit about these elements than the film, exploring the fragility of Holly’s mental health as she trashes her bedroom in her nightdress and the confusion of our narrator who loves Holly but is sexually attracted to men at a time when this could destroy a man’s life and career.
The two central characters and the period raise comparisons with ‘Cabaret’ – yet the cast and story is far slimmer, the social context barely touched upon and of course it’s not a musical, despite a few of a cappella numbers for the lead including ‘Moon River’ and ‘People say we’re in Love’ from Oklahoma. Perhaps it should have been?
Foster's production has done a great deal to bring out the dramatic elements of the story, as the original film was not in essence very dramatic - it’s really the vision of Audrey Hepburn and brownstone New York that stays in the memory.
Theatre-News saw Pixie Lot playing Holly Golightly and once over the shock of a blonde in the title role, it was an impressive theatrical debut. She was evidently a big draw for West End audiences but there’s no reason why a lesser known but probably more experienced actress can’t bring this dreamy part an entirely new magic...
