A celebration of 10 seasons worth of TV, “Friends: The Musical Parody” revisits the noughties sitcom, reimagining iconic moments and poking fun at behind-the-scenes gossip. With a dynamic set that recreates the sitcom’s famous settings, from Monica and Rachel’s flat to the Central Perk café, this fast-paced musical is a whistle-stop tour of all things ‘Friends‘, which gradually becomes more and more bizarre as the show goes on. For fans of the show, the sheer number of niche references on display is sure to please, although exaggerated interpretations of the memorable characters can sometimes leave a little to be desired.
The show kicks off with a warm-up from Edward Leigh, who leads the audience in a Mexican wave and a cheering contest amongst other things. The idea here is to recreate the concept of the sitcom being filmed in front of a live studio audience (each episode of Friends was indeed filmed this way), although Leigh’s attempts to rile up the audience fall a little flat, and do not particularly add anything to the production. The second act sees a return of Leigh’s “warm up guy”, this time to run a quiz, but there are only three questions and they are all fairly easy for anyone with a basic knowledge of the show. It mostly feels like pointless stalling, and adds to an already lengthy run-time of 2 hours 20.
When the show begins properly, there is a lot more to enjoy – each original song riffs off of popular musical numbers, and the actors are instantly recognisable as our favourite characters. Eva Hope as Rachel and Alicia Belgarde as Monica are perhaps the most successful at recreating the TV favourites, delivering superb imitations of iconic lines. Belgarde also gives the strongest vocal performance, amidst tough competition from the rest of the incredibly talented cast. As Ross, Enzo Benvenuti takes a little time to warm to the role, but by the second act he is firing on all cylinders, with a performance that is both engaging and incredibly funny. Amelia Atherton’s Phoebe and Ronnie Burden’s Joey choose to lean more into the parody-side of proceedings, with over-the-top performances that exaggerate the characters’ mannerisms and lead to some wonderfully clever sketches.
Though it is Daniel Parkinson who gives perhaps the most memorable performance, not as Chandler but as Chandler’s ex Janice, with his constant renditions of “OH MY GOD” in the number ‘OMG It’s Janice’. Expertly switching between Chandler and his zany ex, Parkinson almost teeters into pantomime at moments, breaking the fourth wall and strutting round the stage like a panto dame. The show clearly knows that they have a hit on their hands with Janice, who appears several times throughout the show, to the point where the joke unfortunately wears a little thin.
Written by Bob and Tobly McSmith, who have also parodied other American TV shows such as The Office, 90210 and Saved by the Bell, the show not only reimagines scenes and storylines from the sitcom, but also explores meta-humour about the series, with an entire song dedicated to questioning how Monica could ever afford her flat (‘495 Grove Street’) and another that sees Gunther (Edward Leigh) long to become a main cast member (‘Part of their gang’). It is these moments that perhaps work a little better for a parody, and are the more successful parts of the show.
The first act follows more of an actual plot, with Ross and Rachel’s relationship taking centre stage, from their first meeting (‘Central Perk Tango’) to their first kiss (‘Will They or Won’t They?‘). The second act becomes more like a fast-paced sketch show, becoming weirder and weirder with every scene, to the point where Ross’s pet monkey Marcel gets his own solo (‘I am Marcel’) and Joey gets serenaded by his chicken and duck (‘Chick and Duck‘).
The memorable moments are hurled at us thick-and-fast, with a blink-and-you-miss-it Thanksgiving turkey scene, and a slow-mo football game, that make the entire show feel a little too exhausting to be enjoyable. It is certainly a case of less-is-more, where more focus on storyline and characters would be more appealing than an endless barrage of scenes that cannot hope to live up to the comedy of the original sitcom. Perhaps the most gratuitous moment comes from Phoebe’s rendition of her iconic song ‘Smelly Cat’, here transformed into ‘Smelly Mom’ (for copyright reasons) that falls incredibly flat and begs the question why the show should even bother with this segment if they are not allowed to recreate it properly.
The transitions between the myriad of scenes are all capably handled under the direction of Michael Gyngell, with the show seamlessly jumping between multiple locations, and Andrew Exeter’s set allows for the unforgettable settings to be recreated with key items of furniture. There is some use of a video camera that is not handled particularly well and adds nothing to the show, but this can be overlooked in favour of the superb choreography from Myles Brown which adds to this lively and upbeat production.
For fans of the sitcom, there is a lot here to enjoy, and you will leave having had a thoroughly good night out. The songs are not quite as memorable as one hopes they would be, and the audience participation leaves a lot to be desired. There are also lots for musical fans to enjoy (I particularly appreciated the opening of Rent’s ‘Seasons of Love’ being reimagined in the song ‘The One Where They Make One Million Dollars An Episode’), and it is all capably performed by a talented cast who definitely know how to wring the comedy out of every line. A fun show that is, unfortunately, a little more miss than hit.
Tom Morley, September 2025
Review Round-up:
Elemental Theatre: FRIENDS! The Musical Parody Review – 3 stars from ETC, who call the show ‘an energetic, lovingly crafted send-up that doesn’t always hit the mark’
WhatsOnStage: Friends! The Musical Parody Review – Also 3 stars from WoS, who are full of praise for the ‘live studio audience’ set-up, calling it ‘a clever conceit, breaking the fourth wall without shattering it, letting the audience feel like they’ve been handed a backstage pass to a time that never really left us’
Kev Castle Reviews: Friends the musical parody – Despite having never seen an episode, Kev gives us his (fairly critical!) view, summing up by saying ‘while it’ll never be on my list of favourite musicals, it was Ok’. I thoroughly agree Kev!
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