Line #1 Theatre/TheBoyFriend


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_boy_friend_1954bway.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:The poster for the 1954 musical]]
3	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twiggytheboyfriend1971poster_1.png]]
4	[[caption-width-right:300:The poster for the 1971 film]]
5
6	->''"We've got to have,\
7	We plot to have,\
8	For it's so dreary not to have\
9	That certain thing called 'the boyfriend'"...''
10
11	''The Boy Friend'' is a 1954 musical by Sandy Wilson, and is a {{pastiche}} of the musicals of TheRoaringTwenties. Set in the 1920s in Nice, France, it follows the story of a seventeen-year-old British young lady named Polly Browne and her friends at Madame Dubonnet's Finishing School. All of Polly's friends have, or at least claim to have, a boyfriend, but Polly herself does not. Her father practically forbids her to have a boyfriend because she is incredibly rich and he fears that any boy that courts her will be after her wealth. Thus, Polly [[GirlfriendInCanada makes up a boyfriend]], feeling as if she may never find true love. That is, until she meets a handsome young British messenger boy named Tony...
12
13	The musical also has subplots featuring an American boy named Bobby van Husen attempting to court Maisie, another perfect young lady at the Finishing School; the reunion of Madame Dubonnet and Percival Browne, Polly's father; and the antics of Lord and Lady Brockhurst, a rich British couple vacationing in Nice at the time of the plot, which all happens in one day.
14
15	It has a far less well-known {{sequel}} called ''Divorce Me, Darling!'', set ten years later and a pastiche of 1930s musicals. Everyone is in Nice again, and happen to meet up. Madame Dubonnet's finishing school no longer exists, and many of the characters have completely different lives than before. The main plot is that Polly and Bobby, after meeting up, are accused of having an affair due to a series of misunderstandings from their respective mates.
16
17	It was [[TheFilmOfThePlay adapted into a film]] in 1971, directed by Creator/KenRussell and starring Creator/{{Twiggy}} as Polly Browne.
18	----
19
20	!!''The Boy Friend'' contains examples of:
21	%%* BoyMeetsGirl: Tony and Polly.
22	* DancesAndBalls: The third act takes place at the Carnival Ball.
23	%%* DanceSensation: "The Riviera".
24	%%-->''Shake your hips and kick out your heels\
25	%%You can't tell how lovely it feels 'till you do\
26	%%The Riviera!''
27	%%* DirtyOldMan: Lord Brockhurst.
28	%%* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Poor Little Pierette".
29	* HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:When Polly believes, after Tony runs away from his parents and is assumed a thief, that Tony was only after her wealth, she decides not to come to the Carnival Ball, too brokenhearted to go. When she does go, she simply sits the whole time, not dancing or talking to anyone.]]
30	%%* LargeHam: The show can't be played as anything but as a send up.
31	%%* LoveTheme: "I Could Be Happy With You" for Polly and Tony.
32	%%* MasqueradeBall
33	%%* MayDecemberRomance: Lord Brockhurt and Dulcie, in a way. They don't actually wind up together, but they do sing "It's Never Too Late to Fall in Love".
34	%%* TheMusical
35	%%* OfficialCouple: Lord and Lady Brockhurst, [[spoiler:Bobby and Maisie, Percival and Madame Dubonnet, and, of course, Tony and Polly.]]
36	%%* {{Pastiche}}: Of 1920s musicals, of course.
37	!! Tropes examples for The 1971 Movie:
38	* AllForNothing: The [[spoiler:cast]] try their best to impress the [[spoiler:Producer]], they even stab each other in the back to try and impress him, however they all [[spoiler:fail]] as [[spoiler:he]] leaves them all with egg on their faces.
39	** [[spoiler:Maise]] was packed and ready, however [[spoiler:Cecil B. DeThrill]] realises that [[spoiler:Tommy]] is [[spoiler:his long lost son]],they leave together even [[spoiler:Maise]] can laugh at it.
40	** One of the [[spoiler:girls]] that tries to flirt with [[spoiler:DeThrill]] even tries to learn French only at the last minute to find out he's [[spoiler:German]], she also reveals that [[spoiler:Polly]] has been chosen to become [[spoiler:a star in Hollywood]] but she leaves with [[spoiler:Tony]] to [[spoiler:London]].
41	%%* TheCameo: Glenda Jackson as Rita the leading lady with a Broken Leg.
42	%%* LargeHam: Most of the Theatre's cast.
43	* OhCrap: The show's leading lady breaks her leg and so Polly due to having the same name as the character is forced to be the lead, some parts she doesn't know and has to tape the script in one scene to some flowers.
44	** In the cast is Rosie who plays Hortense the maid, however during the show her boyfriend's [[spoiler:wife]] comes on stage attacking them both much to the audience's entertainment.
45	* ShowWithinAShow: The Boyfriend is set up as a musical inside a Theatre.
46

Context Theatre / TheBoyFriend