Theatre - Breakfast at Tiffanys

Performance: Breakfast at Tiffanys

Date: August 25th 2016
Location: Haymarket Theatre, London
Seat: C19 Upper Circle
Rating: 8/10

Being a massive fan of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, I was so super excited when I found out that Truman Capote's novel was being transferred to the stage! I read the novel while sat in an airport in Italy, and it took me about an hour, and subsequently got passed around the whole group of friends I was with.

Breakfast at Tiffany's tells the story through the narration of the neighbour upstairs, of the eccentric Holly Golightly and her New York Life, pursuing the richest men and surviving off of trips to the powder room (Quel Rats!). Holly is trying to find her way through life, waiting to find somewhere she belongs so she can buy some furniture and give the cat a name. Anyone who has read the novel will know that the 1960's film starring Audrey Hepburn is quite a bit different from Capote's novel. The stage production did market itself as an adaption of Capote's novel, however, it did merge elements from the film into it. It would be a hard feat to not be influenced by the film as a theatre director due to its enormous popularity and indeed hard to set the Holly Golightly Hepburn plays away from the Holly Golightly Capote portrayed.
The hollywood Breakfast at Tiffanys romanticised Golightly as a character. Hepburn was an anglicised, endearing, romantic character and Fred (Paul) was entirely in love with her, and indeed at the end of the film they are iconically kissing in the rain seemingly in love. Capote's version is entirely different. Aside from the fact that at the end of the novel, Holly does not return to the arms of Fred as she flees the country to Buenos Aires after her indictment and Fred is insinuated to be homosexual.
The play then, followed more closely to the novel than the film, and indeed Pixie Lott portrayed the Capote Golightly as opposed to the Hepburn one. And she was absolutley incredible. Unfortunately, I didnt' think much of her rendition of Puccini's Moon River. This may have had something to do with the fact that in 2015, boyfriend took me to see a live music performance play along of the film at the Royal Albert Hall and we actually got to see Puccini's daughter sing Moon River and it was really amazing. Lott has a very nice voice, I just didn't think the way she sung Moon River was particularly good. That said, everything else about her performance was amazing. She was an absolutely amazing Holly Golightly and she portrayed Capote's character the way she is envisioned in the novel. Capote's Golightly is more unattainable, more mysterious and quite frankly more fickle.
In conclusion, I really really enjoyed Breakfast at Tiffanys. Unfortunately it has now left London, but is going on tour around the UK. I urge all that love the film/book to go and see it!