Hull New Theatre – until 7th March 2026
Reviewed by Dawn Bennett
4****
Mark Goucher, Matthew Gale, Óskar Eiricksson present Friends The Musical Parody. Book and lyrics by Bob and Tobly McSmith and composed by Assaf Gleizner.
From the minute the Warm Up Guy (Edward Leigh) walked onto the stage and literally warmed up the audience with lots of jokes and a bit of audience participation we knew we were in for a good night. The show is set as a live recording of the 90’s TV show so we the theatre audience are the live TV studio audience
Friends The Musical Parody was just that, with an original musical score of 22 toe tapping songs and some proper belly laughs it was a really good night out. All the actors played their parts so like the Friends TV characters you always knew who was playing who, they did look them but the voices and mannerisms were spot on.
All the well-loved characters were there, Phoebe Buffay (Amelia Atherton), Monica Geller (Alicia Belgarde), Ross Geller (Jared Thompson), Joey Tribbiani (Ronnie Burden), Rachel Green (Eva Hope), Chandler Bing (Daniel Parkinson) and of course the long-suffering coffee shop manager Gunther (Edward Leigh, who also played Tom Sellek and Paolo). Whether it was the hair (who remembers “The Rachel” cut that was the fashion for a while?!) the clothing to the decoration of the apartment it takes you right back to the 90’s.
The set and lighting (designed by Andrew Exeter) turned the New Theatre stage into the iconic Central Perk coffee shop and inside Monica’s Manhattan apartment.
This show goes through the ten seasons of Friends at lightning speed, it picks out classic moments from the TV show, from how they used to meet in Central Perk, how some of the main characters got together, Phoebes pregnancy (with triplets for her brother), Janice (who we never see on the stage at the same time as Chandler for some reason!) and many more.
For fans of Friends you will really enjoy this snapshot of the iconic TV series, it’s funny, very well acted and will leave you smiling for a long while after you leave the theatre. Well worth a watch!