Fallen Angels makes a dazzling return to Broadway, starring Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara

According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, the delightful and rarely staged comedy Fallen Angels by Noël Coward has returned to Broadway, with critics describing its pleasures as “exhilarating,” “intoxicating,” and “dizzying.” The new Roundabout Theatre Company production, starring Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara, proves that this Jazz Age comedy still retains its freshness and charm.

Fallen Angels, once controversial for its bold portrayal of female desire and infidelity, has only been staged on Broadway twice before (in 1927 and 1956). However, its influence has far outlived its limited number of productions. Without it, popular sitcoms such as Absolutely Fabulous might never have been created. Even episodes of classic television series like the 1970s show Maude draw on its structure and comedic style.

Directed by Scott Ellis and brought to life with lavish Broadway design, the production becomes a visual and theatrical spectacle:

Set design: David Rockwell
Costume design: Jeff Mahshie
Lighting: Kenneth Posner

While the spotlight is firmly on Byrne and O’Hara as two women waiting for the return of their former lovers, Ellis has assembled a strong supporting cast:

Mark Consuelos, host of Live With Kelly & Mark and former television actor, makes a successful Broadway debut as a charming man from the past.

Christopher Fitzgerald and Aasif Mandvi play the bewildered husbands.

Tracee Chimo portrays a witty and sharp-witted maid.

Fallen Angels unfolds with the same deceptive simplicity and elegant complexity one would expect from a farce. The story centers on two stylish close friends, Julia (Kelli O’Hara) and Jane (Rose Byrne), who live in passionless marriages alongside their husbands (Aasif Mandvi and Christopher Fitzgerald). Their quiet lives are disrupted when news arrives that a man from their past, “Maurice,” is traveling from Paris to London and intends to visit both of them.

While their husbands are away playing golf, Julia and Jane—attended by the story’s martini-making maid (Tracee Chimo)—dress in evening gowns and impatiently await Maurice’s arrival in Julia’s luxurious apartment.

What begins as a sisterly bond and a revival of old desires quickly escalates, over repeated glasses of gin, into a fiercely “wicked” yet hilarious rivalry. Noël Coward’s brilliant dialogue reaches its peak in these scenes:

An intoxicated Jane teases Julia: “I suppose you think your mind is a delightful gift basket filled with mixed fruit and tied with a bow?”
Julia replies: “Better that than being an old tin of sardines with only a few fins left in it!”

When Julia coolly remarks, “I wish you’d go home, Jane,” the audience erupts with laughter at every perfectly timed insult delivered by the two performers.

If Coward’s sparkling dialogue sustains the play’s charm, its physical comedy is equally captivating. Watching these refined women gradually descend into impropriety is consistently entertaining, especially when it becomes physically expressed on stage:

Kelli O’Hara: masterfully climbs the Art Deco staircase like a tipsy crab.
Rose Byrne: a natural comedian, even prompts a genuine onstage laugh from her co-star after an improvised reaction to eating a large piece of chocolate, seamlessly incorporated into the performance.

The production’s meticulous visual design also stands out. Hair and wig designers David Brian Brown and Victoria Tinsman create a striking “morning-after-the-party” look that is as visually memorable as Carol Burnett’s iconic curtain-rod dress in Gone with the Wind parody sketches.

Blending Coward’s razor-sharp dialogue with Byrne and O’Hara’s physical comedy, the production offers an experience that balances linguistic elegance with bold, unapologetic humor.

While Fallen Angels entertains audiences in its first half with sharp dialogue and competitive comedic exchanges, the second half masterfully shifts into full farce.

Following a memorable drunken scene—including a brilliant sequence with long cigarette holders and an uncooperative flame—the play accelerates into a series of absurd situations: missing characters, escalating misunderstandings, suspicious husbands, and hungover women desperately trying to restore order and a semblance of dignity to their apartment.

At this point, Mark Consuelos appears as Maurice, arriving just as the narrative complications reach their peak. David Rockwell’s set design also comes into full focus in this final act, drawing the audience’s attention once again and bringing the story to a satisfyingly neat conclusion for its old friends.

Production credits

For audiences who saw Rose Byrne in last year’s comedic drama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, her return to a lighter theatrical style feels fitting. In that film, she delivered one of the most acclaimed performances of her career as an overwhelmed mother dealing with strange circumstances—including a mysteriously ill child and an absent husband—earning an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe.

Byrne says of choosing Fallen Angels: “The joy of doing a farce was something I needed creatively—a delightful antidote I was really craving.”

Having last appeared on stage six years ago in Medea, Byrne, unlike many of her awards-season peers busy with screenings and promotional events, chose to spend this spring in New York, rehearsing at the Roundabout Theatre. Fallen Angels began performances on March 27 and is scheduled to run through early June.

The collaboration between Rose Byrne and Kelli O’Hara in Fallen Angels is not a random pairing, but rather a deliberate contrast of two distinct acting worlds that blend seamlessly within this comedy.

Rose Byrne, known for her standout roles in hit films such as Bridesmaids, Neighbors, and Get Him to the Greek, has built a reputation as a performer with a sharp instinct for bold comedic delivery. She is now experiencing a different kind of challenge on Broadway. Reflecting on the shift to stage work, she says: “Being on stage requires a different set of skills. It’s especially demanding in high comedy, and it requires a different kind of energy. Being in New York and doing this play has been very new and refreshing for me.”

Throughout her three-decade career, Byrne has often used her refined, classical screen presence as a contrast to her biting comedic edge, a quality she now brings fully into the theatrical space.

On the other side of this collaboration stands Kelli O’Hara, an artist deeply tied to the history of musical theatre and opera. Born in 1976, O’Hara has become one of Broadway’s most distinguished figures, earning eight Tony Award nominations over the course of her career.

In 2015, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the Lincoln Center revival of The King and I. Her acclaimed résumé includes Tony nominations for several major productions that highlight her versatility over two decades:

• The Light in the Piazza (2005)
• The Pajama Game (2006)
• South Pacific (2008)
• Nice Work If You Can Get It (2012)
• The Bridges of Madison County (2014)
• Kiss Me, Kate (2019)
• Days of Wine and Roses (2024)

The combination of Byrne’s cinematic comedic intelligence and O’Hara’s precision-driven classical stagecraft turns Fallen Angels into one of the richest and most distinctive theatrical experiences of the Broadway season.