Disposable fluff

With the ever rising number of Hollywood stars boarding the West-End-express-train-to-credibility-central and only so many plays available, the law of diminishing returns was bound to kick in. And this strange choice to update a wildly successful 1989 romantic comedy to the stage was one that just didn't pull off.

For one thing: When Harry Met Sally on stage and on screen were exactly the same. Exactly. Whole reams of dialogue lifted from the film and fed into the mouths of different actors led, quite naturally, to direct comparisons between versions. This is something that really should have been avoided at all costs, for the live production was certainly left wanting.

It's difficult to ascertain whether Alyson Hannigan was attempting an impression of Meg Ryan or just unconfident on the stage: either way, her performance as Sally was strangely muted and mannered. Luke Perry wisely avoided emulating Billy Crystal's Harry, instead turning him into a Colin-Farrell-style man-about-town, a good-looking bastard who no sensible woman should go near, but couldn’t resist. Either way, you cared very little about this couple, and unlike the movie, you invested none of your emotions into caring whether they got together or not. But the very fact we knew exactly how and when this would happen stripped away any tension the production might have had in the first place.

The stage was cropped until it was half its normal height, and the shifting set borders seemed to constantly scream, "Look! This is a FILM on the STAGE!" Scenes were jerkily linked together by the famous series of video vignettes of old couples talking about how they met. It was a fluffy, instantly disposable show with occasional inspired moments of comedy — mostly provided by the supporting cast. But it didn’t add anything to the film version, and because of the faithful similarities between scenes and dialogue, it was impossible to disassociate Ryan and Crystal from your mind. A wasted opportunity to do something really special.

When Harry Met Sally