Fallen Angels – 18 April 2026

Ravishingly charming and magnificently humorous, Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels takes place in an impressively fashionable house. It centers on two women who are classlessly enamored with a French man who is a former lover of both of them—and both of them have lawfully wedded husbands. Sometimes working in tandem, sometimes operating selfishly for themselves, Julia (Kelli O’Hara) and Jane (Rose Byrne) are absolutely hilarious in their use of wit, slapstick, physical comedy, and ironic delivery; they elevate this production with their talents delivering subtext, and embracing the perfect times for their characters react similarly and blend together versus the perfect times for their characters to differentiate from each other. Thanks to the extravagant characters and the husbands who provide blunt, basic foils, Fallen Angels is a rollicking good time.

Tracee Chimo stole the show in her role as Saunders, the maid. Chimo had impeccable comedic timing, and nailed the bits where she outshone her boss (Julia) with her off-putting ability to have personal experience with everything that came up in conversation. Chimo paints a satisfying picture of what it would look like to have a servant serve too much—and she is definitely serving! Her contrast with O’Hara and Byrne is powerfully fun as Saunders is the only woman in the show with a legitimate set of brains and potential. Though truthfully, all three men are even worse.

The design elements in this show were impeccable, particularly costume design (Jeff Manshie) and scenic design (David Rockwell), both of which painted a picture of characters who are wealthy and have expensive taste. Materialism was also hinted at with the piano, the endless champagne, and the crystal chandelier. Julia and Jane talk about their former lover Maurice (Mark Consuelos) as though he was an object to be acquired more than a sentient person with feelings; in the end, he is more than okay with being used this way, and goes upstairs with both women to have a chandelier shaking adventure with their husbands standing below, determinedly accepting the lies their wives told them about Maurice’s presence in the Sterrolls’ home.

Fallen Angels is a show that should be enjoyed without thinking too deeply about the discouraging suggestions about gender and human failings. Some of the content regarding gender and intellect would be problematic if poked, but in the context of its time this was a scandalous victory for women—to be endlessly drinking and planning for the arrival of their lover, knowing that they were friends now but might have to compete with each other later. Coward depicted women drunkenly lusting over a man in a way that is typically gender swapped with drunken men daydreaming of their ideal woman.  Fallen Angels is a well-crafted gem that prioritizes having a good time and enjoying a good story over having a strong moral message to share with the world. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I attended this performance on a press pass from Polk & Co.