The Boy Friend, Menier Chocolate Factory

At a strait-laced finishing school on the French Riviera, the lively young ladies just can’t resist a tune or two as they bundle forbidden suitors in and out of the windows. Though set in France, Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend couldn’t be more British – and the musical comedy is back in London this Christmas for a major revival at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Premiering in London in 1953, the show ran for over five years, meeting even the Queen’s favour, while a coinciding Broadway run turned a young Julie Andrews into an overnight star. Back in Britain, Ken Russell’s 1971 film earned Twiggy two Golden Globes in the principal role of Polly.

A pastiche of 1920s musicals, The Boy Friend balances irony on light-hearted scales, delivering the happy endings one might anticipate from such a youthful, buoyant host of characters. Expect all the drop skirts, T-bars and pearly twirls of Europe's Golden Age, paired with light, tuneful song and dance.

Left in the expert hands of Menier native and Olivier Award-winning director Matthew White (She Loves Me, Candide, Sweet Charity), the theatrical fodder of timeless heartache finds its musical legs once again. Though a small theatre, the Menier packs a punch when it comes to musicals, with last Christmas's production of Fiddler on the Roof spawning five-star reviews and a West End run.

American shows might have rather stolen the musical limelight recently, but the Menier’s production of one of Britain’s best-loved musicals, spanning the Channel, is set to delight London's audience.

Tickets for The Boy Friend at Menier Chocolate Factory go on sale on Monday 9 September.