Broadway hit Friends the Musical Parody is on its way to Dublin. John Byrne talks to one of the stars of the show, Enzo Benvenuti, who plays Ross Geller.
Saying that Friends is a popular TV show is like saying The Beatles were a decent band. It was massive then, it’s massive now, and there’s no doubt it will still be massive in a hundred years’ time.
It’s just a people magnet.
The recent death of Matthew Perry, who played the sarcy Chandler Bing, shocked millions of the show’s fans. But his untimely passing also proved that the classic sitcom's popularity crossed generations.
Unlike, say, Seinfeld, which was also a massive success, Friends was a cynicism-free zone. The six friends had their ups and downs, but everyone was sound and pretty much got on with life with a smile on their face and a thumbs-up attitude.
Watching it made you feel good. And, as Jerry in Seinfeld might say, ‘not that that there’s anything wrong with that’. Feeling good has its obvious merits.
Friends ran for ten years, from 1994 to 2004. But in more recent times a Broadway musical based on the show has been a massive hit and is currently touring around the UK as well as here in Ireland and runs at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from October 21 to 25.
This uncensored, fast-paced romp features an original musical score and showcases the escapades of the world’s most famous group of twenty-somethings as they tackle the challenges of work, life and love in 1990s’ Manhattan.
The show looks at many of the iconic moments from the more than 200 episodes that explored the lives of – in alphabetical order - Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross.
27-year-old Londoner Enzo Benvenuti (The Ballad of Renegade Nell on Disney+) stars as Ross and we got him on a Zoomer the morning after the opening night of the touring Friends The Musical Parody to talk about the show.
Of course, he’s a massive fan of Friends. Even more of course, despite a very Italian name, he has family roots in Ireland.
John Byrne: Hi Enzo! I believe you’re in Nottingham – how did last night’s show go?
Enzo Benvenuti: Yeah, we’re in Nottingham at the moment – and last night was amazing! It was the opening night of this bigger version of the show and the atmosphere was incredible.
It must be a great buzz playing these iconic characters, You’re only playing one, in fairness . . .
It really is. This is a show that comes with the pressure of playing a character that everybody recognises and will have certain expectations of how these characters should be.
And also: what a fantastic, amazing opportunity and a joyful thing – for me, as such a big fan of the show. To be able to play the part of Ross, in a show that I love so much and grew up watching.
It’s really special.
It’s a show that was huge at the time – thirty years ago now - and it’s still huge now. What do you think that’s down to?
It’s a show that is about people. It’s about friends that are doing the kind of things that we all go through in life. There’s probably not one subject matter that they didn’t cover.
There are fundamental human truths throughout the whole show and that’s why it’s so relatable and why people love it so much. Because it’s things we’ve all experienced.
Not to compare the two, but it’s why we still do Shakespeare to this day. It’s stuff that we all get and all relate to, and I think that’s why people still love it so much.
In terms of preparing for a role like Ross, did you just go ‘Ross? No problem!’ or did you go back to the show in order to nail down the character?
You could probably go up to any fan of the show and ask them to do a ‘Ross’ impression, and they’d probably do an okay job, because we know these characters so well.
I know the show like the back of my hand, I’ve seen it so many times. So Ross was in there, somewhere. Obviously then you have go away and specifically look at a parody, you have to think: Right, we’re not being these characters, we’re being a parody of these characters.
So what are their distinguishing features that we can amplify, so that people can go, ‘Oh, that’s Ross!’ It’s an exaggerated version of Ross, but that is definitely Ross.
For me, there was a lot of physicality that went into that. And his nasal voice as well.
I think it’s important – even though it should be obvious – to point out that you’re not taking the proverbial here.
No, not at all. Everyone involved in this production has seen Friends, we’re all fans of Friends.
I think that none of our egos are big enough to think that we have any right to take the mickey out of it, or that we could be David Schwimmer as Ross, we could be Matt LeBlanc as Joey in this show. It’s so iconic.
So our way into it is through parody. Which is where you are tongue-in-cheek, celebrating these characters. And celebrating the joy that they brought to people who watched the show.
It’s absolutely a celebration of Friends. Maybe some parodies take the mickey a bit, but I think that what a parody should be doing is celebrating that thing.
So tell us about Enzo Benvenutti. You don’t sound like you’re from Italy.
No! It’s a very Italian name for someone that’s probably not such an Italian-sounding or looking person. My Italian roots go back to Tuscany – Livorno in particular. My granddad, Luciano.
Funnily enough, I’m more Irish than Italian, despite the name. I’m half-Irish, on my mum’s side. I’m from London – I grew up in London.
Are you familiar with Ireland? Have you been over or performed here?
I’m very excited to get to the Bord Gais Theatre, because I’ve heard such incredible things about it. And I think stepping out on that stage is going to be very, very special.
I’ve been over a few times to visit my family over there. My connection is to Clare. Ennis. That’s where they all are now.
I’m very excited to take this show over as I’ve never done a production in Ireland. So, yeah – it's really exciting. I think my Irish family have booked out half the Bord Gais. It’ll be lovely to see them all!
Friends The Musical Parody is at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from October 21 to 25. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.
