Fallen Angels review – Rose Byrne is utterly delightful in Noël Coward comedy revival
10 / 10
O’Hara swishes Coward’s highborn language like a favorite chablis; the actor is an ascendant grande dame of period pieces from television (The Gilded Age) to opera (The Hours) to musical theater (Days of Wine and Roses). What’s surprising is how broadly she can go at physical comedy, falling over furniture and going full Mommie Dearest the morning after. As always, she’s excellent. It is similarly never wise to bet against Byrne. In her second Broadway outing, she takes a bit longer to settle into her character. But as she’s displayed throughout her career, right up to her first Oscar nomination this year in the psychodrama If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, she is a constantly surprising actor. She truly shines once her Jane is nice and toasted, sneaking sips from Julia’s glass and managing to proclaim “how dare you!” in a haughty, one-syllable hiss.
