An all star cast of ‘Extraordinary Women’ (and one man) is now playing at London’s Jermyn Street Theatre.

Extraordinary Women the novel, written by Compton Mackenzie, was published in 1928. Nearly 100 years later, it has been turned in to a musical by Richard Stirling and Sarah Travis, which premeiered at the Guildford School of Acting in 2021.

Set during World War One, on the fictional European island of Sirene, the musical is based around a series of relationships between a group of women. The ‘Sirens’ – a group of mythical women, gather together to tell the story of a party that took place one evening with disastrous consequences.

Hard up for cash, Rosalba has no choice but to stay with her wealthy partner Aurora (Rory) who is happy to splash the cash for the woman she loves. Rory buys a villa in the hope that Rosalba will be happy to settle down with her but the plan backfires and Rosalba takes on a series of other lovers (Lulu, Cleo and Olimpia), culminating in Rory finally realising she is better off on her own.

The cast are just as extraordinary as the show suggests. The legendary Caroline Sheen (Grease, Into The Woods, Mamma Mia, The Witches Of Eastwick, Mary Poppins, 9 to 5, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) plays Rory and Amy Ellen Richardson (Matilda, Everybody’s Talking about Jamie, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole) as Rosalba.

Sophie-Louise Dann (Lend Me a Tenor, Made in Dagenham, Wicked), Amira Matthews (Hello, Dolly! – Palladium, Here We Are – National Theatre), Monique Young (Hello, Dolly! – Paris, Sondheim’s Old Friends), Jasmine Kerr (Follies, The Importance of Being Earnest – National Theatre) and Jack Butterworth (Kiss Me Kate – Barbican, Here We Are – National Theatre) each take on a plethora of personas and accents and are a masterclass in multi-rolling. It could quite easily have become a farce with the constant changes in character but each one was executed beautifully.

All credit to  Carla Joy Evans for the design of the costumes. Having seen a big new West End musical last week and commented on the costumes looking cheap, it was a delight to see such beautiful and well made looking outfits in Extraordinary Women. The 70 seat theatre means you are about as close to the stage as you can get and so it was a great decision to have such well made clothes.

The music is performed live by a pianist (Sam Sommerfeld) and guitar/double bass player (James William-Pattison), with the occasional help of the cast. The songs were lovely and fitted perfectly for the piece and there is some lovely 1920’s choreography.

I can’t say I followed the story very well and was at times confused as to what was supposed to be happening but I thoroughly enjoyed it none the less. Very cute and a chance to see the creme de la creme of the West End up close and personal.

★★★★

West End Wilma

Extraordinary Women is playing at the Jermyn Street Theatre until 10 August 2025