Flowers for Mrs Harris by Rachel Wagstaff

A challenging yet rewarding production choice for schools, with a heart-warming story

One of the most heart-warming British musicals of recent years’ is how one reviewer described the award-winning Chichester Festival Theatre production of Flowers for Mrs Harris, and it's easy to see why. Based on the 1958 novel Mrs ‘Arris goes to Paris by Paul Gallico, the musical tells the story of a widowed London charwoman who glimpses a magnificent Dior gown in the wardrobe of one of her clients and decides she simply must own one herself. It's a lovely story and well-told through Rachel Wagstaff's book and lyrics; the two are virtually interchangeable, with dialogue flowing into song and back again.

The downside of this is that there are very few big show numbers. However, the music is pleasant, picking up in the fun Parisian scenes and growing to a moving finale, but much of it is unmemorable on a first listening. The singing itself isn't hugely challenging; most of the voices are mid-range, though excellent London and Parisian accents are needed for the script not to descend into unflattering caricature.

Many of the characters are well over fifty years old, with the remainder as twenty-somethings. This is far from insurmountable, casting-wise: Cabaret has a similar age-range, as do many of the classic American shows. But older characters in musicals are often larger-than-life, whereas portraying a tired fifty-something charwoman requires real sensitivity. The musical can be performed with a cast of ten but there are around twenty-five speaking roles in all.

The suggested multi-roling adds a pleasing level to the story, with parallel French/British characters, but the story would work well enough without it if a larger cast is desirable, though there is no chorus as such. Most of the supporting characters have plenty to do and although this is not a dance show, there is scope for some effective choreography, particularly for scenes in Paris.

In logistical terms, staging this show would present no more challenges than the average large-scale musical, though a decent budget and dedicated costume team would be needed. In short, this would make a challenging but brilliant choice of production for a school.