Review: Friends! The Musical Parody at Sunderland Empire
The One Where... everyone goes to Wearside
The Sunderland Empire rolled out the orange sofa last night for the arrival of Friends! The Musical Parody, and for two hours the audience was whisked through all 10 series of the beloved 90s sitcom at breakneck speed.
The show is built on a score of original music, woven around the familiar characters, plotlines and catchphrases. The result is a sort of whirlwind greatest-hits package: Ross and Rachel’s will-they-won’t-they, Chandler’s baked in sarcasm, Joey’s cluelessness, and Monica’s obsessive cleaning all ticked off in rapid succession in a series of upbeat song and dance numbers.
This means there's plenty to enjoy for fans, but packing in as many crowd-pleasing memories as possible risks making the show into more of a shopping list than a story. The scenes between the songs recreate the show’s most quotable moments at a functional level, with the characters never greater than the sum of their tics and catchphrases.
One standout surprise comes from Gunther, the long-suffering Central Perk barista, who finally gets more than wistful sighs. His big number cheekily mirrors “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid, and it lands with both parody and pathos. It’s a rare moment where the show slows down enough to give a secondary character some deserved spotlight, and it brought the biggest laughs of the night.
The cast clearly enjoy the material, and the whole evening is staged with a wink that never lets you forget this is a parody. Still, the musical leans so heavily on nostalgia that it risks leaving anyone unfamiliar with the sitcom feeling locked out. The jokes depend on recognition rather than wit, and while the songs are energetic, they rarely transcend pastiche.
The casting of such recognisable characters can't have been easy but by and large the Central Perk six are faithfully recreated. Chandler's one liners are note perfect and Rachel's mannerisms (and haircut) are bang on the money. Ross however seems to have been based more on Back to the Future's jittery George McFly than David Schwimmer’s portrayal of Monica’s big brother.
In the end, Friends! The Musical Parody delivers exactly what the title promises. For fans, it’s an oversized (Central Perk) mug of feelgood and a warm hug in theatre form, packed with affectionate nods to their favourite characters and moments.
For newcomers, though, it may feel like they’ve wandered into the wrong coffee shop.
The production is at Sunderland Empire until Saturday. Tickets from the website.