There's no people like show people? London's theater establishment obviously hopes the public thinks so as a fourth production about the acting profession moves into the West End.

Joan Collins and Frank Langella in the showbiz farce "Over the Moon" was followed shortly by Noel Coward's little-known "Star Quality" and Michael Blakemore's Tony-winning "Kiss Me, Kate." Now, hot on their heels, comes an extravagant revival of "The Royal Family," not seen in London since Laurence Olivier starred in the first British production at the same theater in 1930.

Directed by Peter Hall and featuring a cluster of actors from the British theatrical hierarchy, this version of George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's play based on Broadway's Barrymore dynasty of the 1920s unashamedly sets out to attract patrons through sheer glamour. Heavy advance bookings suggest it was a smart move. Although Hall gives the play so much polish that it positively gleams, even he can't prevent the dated comedy from creaking with age occasionally.

Judi Dench, with more theater and movie awards than many actors get parts, plays Fanny Cavendish, the matriarch in a family where art is all. "Marriage isn't a career; it's an incident," she tells granddaughter Gwen, who wants to give up the profession to marry an "outsider."

Harriet Walter and Toby Stephens (son of theatrical legends Maggie Smith and the late Robert Stephens) play Fanny's son and daughter. She is a Broadway luminary, while he is a Hollywood star with a penchant for fighting and womanizing. Walter is a more vivacious Ethel Barrymore, while Stephens swashbuck- les brilliantly in the John Barrymore role, though John's fero- cious drinking is not part of the plot.

With Peter Bowles and Julia McKenzie as close relatives, the vaudevillian Deans, and Emily Blunt, a stage newcomer thrust into exalted company, as Gwen, the acting is of a uniformly high standard.

Anthony Ward's set is as lavish as the Cavendish family's lifestyle as a sweeping staircase links two floors of a gorgeous New York duplex apartment.

There might be too few laughs, especially in a second act featuring a great deal of shouting from the Cavendishes and their wily manager, Oscar. But as an amusing celebration of show folk and their dedication, it should please all but the most demanding.

Thanks to Mike Kennedy for sending this review which appeared in the Hollywood Reporter on November 7, 2001.

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