Film Review: Fallen Angels Is A Gloriously Tipsy Broadway Romp

Conceived by English playwright Noël Coward in 1925, Fallen Angels is a quicker-than-quick 90-minute knockabout comedy, set in 1930s London. Two affluent women, best-friends Julia Sterroll and Jane Banbury, engage in a fizzly, champagne-filled romp over the course of one night. But for not the reasons you’d think.

After their less-than-satisfying husbands go away on a golfing trip, Julia (Kelli O’Hara) and Jane (Rose Byrne) congregate in Julia’s opulent art deco apartment for some girly fun.

While discussing their mutually unfulfilling marriages, they discover some wild news. Maurice Duclos, a former French lover they both shared before wedlock, wishes to come back into town to see them.

Excitement ensues. Lustrous, long-forgotten premarital pleasantries are reignited and celebrated in champagne-fluted style. And suddenly, Julie and Jane come up with an idées de jour… To reawaken their feminine desires by reuniting with this seductively suave Frenchman.

As they wait for him to arrive, both women dress in their very finest, clink their glasses, and puff away excitedly, awaiting his impending arrival. As they wait. And wait. And wait…The champagne flows. Anticipation grows.

Their prim and proper masks dissolve and their witticisms uncork. Their true feelings towards each other are exposed. Past jealousies abound to the fore. Drunker and drunker they become, until their ladylike behaviour becomes so out-of-control, dissolving into a hot mess of hysteria.

Or as the French would politely refer to as, bouffonnerie. Where everything turns out well in the end. Or does it?

Historically speaking, Fallen Angels was Coward’s first-ever play, mounted in 1925 at London’s Globe Theatre. It was then subsequently banned, due to its seemingly morally-degrading subject matters.

It features women openly discussing premarital sex, getting drunk, and other ‘undesirable’ ideas about marriage and womanhood. For back then, there was still push-back by the traditionalists of society, who still viewed the newly liberated, flapper mindset as simply ‘scandalous’. And married women misbehaving? Heaven forbid!

Since then, countless productions of Fallen Angels have been mounted many times over. And this year, it was recorded live on Broadway at the Todd Haimes Theatre, by the Roundabout Theatre Company.

Fallen Angels arrives on the big screen this week Image supplied

Once again, to rave reviews, this revival-of-the-fittest is now being released onto the big screen in select Australian cinemas this week.

Luckily for many, this glamorous production has gotten a fascinatingly fabulous facelift, fresh off Jeff Mahshie winning a 2026 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play for his gorgeous 1920s costumes.

Not to mention the strikingly bold Art Deco set design devised by David Rockwell. This production invites us into the otherworldly world of Julie Sterroll – a feministic, aspirational, dopamine-filled 20s nostalgic apartment from the get-go.

A charming abode moderne, the set features a cosy custom-made curvy sofa perfect for dishy girl-to-girl gossiping. There’s a vivid mural, bold artworks, and majestic columns and radius windows throughout. Plus, lustrous details for après-heurs apéritif-based fun!

There’s a baby grand piano for melodic jazz crooning. A sweeping, stainless steel staircase for parading the latest fashions. A 1920’s cellarette for secret beverage-taking among friends. And last but not least, a Gatsby-style chandelier, exuding the jittery sparkle of the Jazz age.

It is no doubt a home that speaks of a woman-of-the-world, down to a decorative parquet floor that stretches out right to the edge of the stage. It exudes open-hearted, urbane charm.

Similarly, Mahshie’s award-winning costume design pairs beautifully with Rockwell’s vision. Deciding to do away with the cliché lines of the boxy 1925 flapper look, instead, it pushes for a loose-draping bias-cut technique of 1929. It’s a look that modern audiences could relate to and admire.

But Mahshie didn’t stop there. He also gleans inspiration from two iconic, fashion innovators of that time.

As Julia, Kelli O’Hara’s wardrobe is influenced by ‘the Queen of Drapery’, Madame Grès, a famous 1930’s French fashion designer. While as Jane, Rose Byrne’s outfits are more Chanel-inspired. Blending chic fashion with high-end chaos, is what makes these leading ladies even more hilarious.

To start, Golden Globe-winner Rose Byrne glorifies the stage as uptight, anxiety-ridden Jane, desperate for some kind of adulterated excitement. Deeply bored by her husband Willy – and feeling that seven-year-itch – she feels like an ‘old sardine with a few fins left’.

Byrne has the absolute knack of taking an irritable woman, and very slowly and methodically pealing her layers apart with such hilarity to reveal the vulnerability beneath the cracks. Like a boiled egg simmering, she manages to crack open the shell of her prim facade with selfless abandon.

She entertains the audience with boozy shenanigans, fixing a champagne glass flat to her face while gulping a whole glass. She dances provocatively when the phone rings. Chews powdery mouthfuls of dessert while talking gibberish. And her pièce de résistance – fashioning an ‘absolutely fabulous’ look of misshaped knotted hair when she is hungover.

As Julia, Tony Award-winner Kelli O’Hara is the perfect foil for Byrne. She is strong, bold, and sensible, yet also feeling ‘beastly feelings’ waiting to spring, especially as there is also a lack of passion in her seven-year marriage to Fred. O’Hara, a Broadway veteran, sinks her teeth into this dishy role with such comedic flair.

Like a burst of fresh air, she rises above the sweet, ingenuic heroines of her past to profoundly take centre stage in the vim-and-vigorous role of a socialite that frankly, I feel was deserving of a Tony Award. For, in Fallen Angels, O’Hara takes charge with a worldly eye – and embraces sophisticated drunkenness like a duck to water.

Slithering slowly like a cobra over a chair, she answers a phone call. She kisses her housemaid Saunders on the cheek seductively. She slides down the staircase. And then there’s the classic moment, with a drunken perm-a-smile, or should I note – a static smile of glee, when she imagines Fred gone via a ‘sudden accident’.

Tracee Chimo is a delightful choice for Saunders the housemaid. She has great comic timing and a delightful know-it-all, Marry Poppins-air of refinement.

She has a seasoned theatrical voice and is sharp, witty and boisterously funny, especially in scenes where she brings out the dishes for these ladies’ long-winded evening meal, and name-drops in great detail.

Mark Consuelos, making his Broadway debut, plays his role of Maurice Duclos to perfection. Naturally-playing the debonair, dishy and dapper gentleman to the audience’s supreme gratification.

Christopher Fitzgerald and Aasif Mandvi, as hilarious, ego-centric husbands Willy Banbury and Fred Sterroll, play up their upper-class foppish-ness well. Forthright and punchy, they nuance this with great sensitivity and at times, a puppy-dog eyed realness.

Thanks to the brilliant direction of Scott Ellis, he gives them the emotional depth needed for us to sympathise with them. This is especially true once Maurice finally arrives at the very end, to a great ‘chandelier-shaking’ conclusion.

Fallen Angels is a laugh-out-loud revival, perfect for a champagne-fuelled evening at the cinema.

Fallen Angels opens nationally at participating cinemas from 22 October 2026.

Check the list below for a cinema near you, and purchase tickets at the website link below.

Website: https://sharmillfilms.com.au/fa/

Socials: https://www.instagram.com/sharmillfilms/