Byrne and O'Hara Shine in Uneven Coward Revival

Noël Coward's 1925 comedy Fallen Angels has returned to Broadway with Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara in the lead roles, drawing praise for its two stars even as critics find the underlying revival uneven. The production leans heavily on the physical and comedic chemistry between Byrne and O'Hara, whose performances, anchored by a boozy, escalating drawing-room scene, are widely cited as the evening's primary attraction. Coward's script, a brittle farce about two married women awaiting a mutual former lover, has never ranked among his most durable works, and the revival appears to underscore that structural weakness rather than conceal it. O'Hara brings her musical-theatre precision to a straight-play context while Byrne, making a prominent Broadway turn, matches her in timing and physical commitment. The gap between what the two leads deliver and what the material supports is the central tension reviewers keep returning to. Whether the star power sustains a run will determine how the production fares commercially in a competitive Broadway season.