The world’s biggest sit-com finds new life on stage in Friends: The Musical Parody, showing this week at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre. The production features affectionately over-the-top caricatures of Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross, honorary ‘seventh friend’ Gunther, and a host of classic comedy moments - all set to a tongue-in-cheek musical soundtrack. 

Rocketing through ten seasons and ten years in only two hours, Friends fans will be sure to enjoy this hilarious, lightning-fast tour of the series. Written by Bob and Tobly McSmith in honour of (but legally distinct from) David Crane and Marta Kauffman’s smash hit TV show, the production shines a light on plot holes and lovingly lampoons acting styles - cramming in as many references to iconic scenes as possible.

All of the six leads have moments of brilliance, mastering the original actors’ mannerisms so well that it’s uncanny. Amelia Atherton provides Phoebe Buffay-style guitar and vocals, and Ronnie Burden is Joey all over - naturally, he leads a number called How You Doin’. Enzo Benvenuti makes perfectly pitched Ross Geller reaction noises - and his performance is a reminder of how much physical comedy there is in the character. 

Daniel Parkinson received one of the biggest laughs of the evening, thanks to a ridiculously extended ‘Chandler Bing run’ off stage. Eva Hope was Rachel Green to a ‘T’, equalled only by Alicia Belgrade as Monica Geller, who not only looked and sounded the part, but brought the character into her top-notch vocal solos as well. 

The songs, with music by Assaf Gleizner, are good fun - highlights being 495 Grove Street, in which the audience is asked to ‘suspend their disbelief’ that 20-something Monica could afford to rent an apartment with such generous square footage, and We Were On A Break, which happens, fittingly, just after the interval. 

Completing the main cast is Edward Leigh who appears not only as coffee shop-owner Gunther, but also sexy Italian Paulo, Tom Sellek, Marcell the monkey, and more… He certainly gets the award for the most quick costume changes, and is funny in every role.

The biggest success of Friends: The Musical Parody is in the design, which is absolutely on-point. Andrew Exeter’s set design - from Central Perk couch to purple apartment door - the costume by Jennie Quirk and wigs by Craig Forrest-Thomas are all exactly right. Each costume prompts an immediate trip down memory lane.

The production is a loving nostalgia trip for anyone and everyone who watched the iconic series - whether you love it as much today as when the first season aired in 1994, or if you look back with more of a cringe. Gather your Friends friends and enjoy the show.