ALISON BOSHOFF: Felicity Kendal returns to the stage at 79 with a High Society song in her heart as she joins Call The Midwife star for another vintage musical revival

Expect a swell party when Felicity Kendal takes to the stage – at the age of 79 – in Cole Porter musical High Society.

The impossibly well-preserved actress, still best known as Barbara Good in The Good Life, tackled her first stage musical just four years ago, playing snooty Evangeline Harcourt in Anything Goes (another Cole Porter classic) at the Barbican.

The show, directed by Kathleen Marshall, was a huge hit, and Kendal clearly loved the experience, because she is going back to the Barbican to play Tracy Lord's mother in a new production of High Society next year. 

She will have one big solo number, Throwing A Ball Tonight, as she and Uncle Willie prepare for her daughter's wedding.

Call The Midwife star Helen George, 41, will play Tracy – the role made famous by Grace Kelly in the glorious 1956 movie, which also starred Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. That, incidentally, was Kelly's final role before marrying Prince Rainier III of Monaco. 

High Society (based on stage comedy The Philadelphia Story – later a film of the same name) is about Long Island socialite Tracy Lord, who's getting ready to marry her stuffed-shirt beau, George Kittredge.

But the nuptials are crashed by Tracy's ex husband, C.K. Dexter Haven, plus reporters Mike Connor and Liz Imbrie from Spy magazine.

Songs include Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Well, Did You Evah. 

Kendal said: 'I am delighted to be returning to the Barbican in High Society – another Cole Porter musical comedy masterpiece. I so enjoyed my time at the Barbican in Anything Goes, I couldn't think of a more perfect summer treat and leapt at the chance to join this brand new production directed by Rachel Kavanaugh and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast next summer.'

Helen George, who played Anna in a major production of The King And I two years ago, said she 'jumped at the chance to flex my musical comedy chops and play Tracy'.

'Cole Porter's musicals are packed with his signature wit, glamour and unforgettable tunes – and High Society is no exception.'

She added that she was pleased the show would head off on a national tour after London, saying: 'I can't wait for audiences to come and enjoy a sparkling evening of comedy, romance, and sheer musical joy.'

High Society starts at the Barbican on May 16, and will have an eight-week run before hitting the road. Tickets go on sale on Monday (December 8) from HighSociety Musical.com.

All I want for Christmas ...is more bums on seats

THE 'Queen of Christmas' Mariah Carey is struggling to sell tickets for her festive residency in Las Vegas. 

Called Christmastime In Las Vegas, it runs at the Park MGM until December 13 – and it's a decent-sized venue, with 5,200 seats.

However, around half remain unsold on most dates; with next Friday showing rows and rows left for sale.

It's a blow for Mariah, 56, whose hit All I Want For Christmas Is You is said to have earned her £45 million.

However, she's not the only one feeling the holiday blues. Leona Lewis's One More Sleep may be the most streamed British Christmas song; but her Vegas residency at the Voltaire also has plenty of tables free.

A source for Ms Lewis said her shows have been sold out so far, adding that Vegas is a last-minute ticket sale town. 

Ms Carey's spokesman did not reply to a request for a comment.

Ruth Jones was frankly disappointed when making the latest Netflix Harlan Coben adaptation, Run Away.

She plays a successful private investigator, Elena Ravenscroft, who inexplicably drives a 37-yearold VW Golf. 

Jones said: 'There's a scene near the beginning where I have to put a dog on the back seat and shut the door behind it and a bit of the vehicle fell off, although it wasn't caught on camera.

'I did think she [Elena] might be able to afford something better. And as someone who owns an automatic, it wasn't that easy a car to drive.'

The show, which also stars James Nesbitt, streams on New Year's Day.

Hugh tips his ‘magical’ co-star Kate for an Oscar

HUGH Jackman reckons his co-star Kate Hudson deserves an Academy Award for her turn in their film Song Sung Blue, which opens here on New Year's Day.

They play two singers who form a Neil Diamond tribute band in the movie, which is a second-chance love story. 

'We got to sing together every day,' said Jackman. 'You know, I'm a huge fan of Kate's and of her music, but when we sang together it felt magical.'

Hudson added: 'I only knew Neil Diamond's big karaoke songs – the songs that we grew up with, that were really big hits. Delving into his catalogue is one of the great discoveries for me.' 

The pair received the inaugural Musical Tribute gong at the Gotham Awards in New York on Monday night. 

In his acceptance speech, Jackman saluted his co-star saying: 'I believe this time she is going to get an Oscar.'

The actor had earlier revealed he got an unexpected chance to sing with the 84-year-old Diamond himself.

'Katie, his wife, rang me, and they were teary. It meant a lot to them, particularly to Neil. 

'He loved the movie, and so I did a very Australian thing, and basically invited myself over. We had dinner and Katie said: ''There's a good chance Neil's gonna ask you to sing karaoke.'' And I'm like: 'Absolutely!'

'He sang I Dreamed A Dream [from Les Miserables]. Then we sang Can't Help Falling In Love With You and Sweet Caroline together. And it was awesome!'  

Sex and drugs and mop-top haircuts: BBC rocks back to Beatles in Hamburg

THE birth of the Beatles – complete with drugs, prostitutes and cutting-edge hair dos – is to be told in a sixpart prestige BBC drama.

Hamburg Days, based on a book by artist Klaus Voormann – who got to know the band at the outset – will start shooting in spring next year and hit the small screen in 2027. That’s a full year before the four Sam Mendes Beatles films.

Unlike the Mendes movies, this project is not authorised by the Beatles or by their estates (they even had final say on the casting of the Mendes films).

And they don’t need their blessing – or even their music, as between 1960-62 (when the drama is set) the band overwhelmingly played covers of songs like Twist And Shout and Hippie Hippie Shake in dive clubs in Hamburg.

I’m told there’ll be no songs by the Fab Four; but their defining cover versions will be brought to life by music producer David Holmes, who’s putting together a super group for the soundtrack.

By the end of the period, original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe had quit, with Paul McCartney stepping in. 

Tragically, Sutcliffe died from a brain haemorrhage less than a year after leaving the group.

It was also during this time the band got to know Ringo Starr, who was rattling around Hamburg with another Liverpool outfit, Rory Storm And The Hurricanes. 

Ringo filled in occasionally when drummer Pete Best was under the weather (though Starr did not join the band till August 1962, after the Beatles were back in Britain).

Casting for Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe is apparently an ‘absolute frenzy’, with more than 1,000 applying to portray them as teenagers.

The Beatles’ time in Hamburg was their introduction to drugs, with Sutcliffe’s girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr supplying them with Preludin, or ‘prellies’, to help them stay awake.

Kirchherr was also said to be behind their trademark ‘mop-top’ haircuts – a departure from Brylcreemed post-war quiffs.

Meanwhile, women in the clubs were mostly strippers, dancers and prostitutes. In an interview McCartney said: ‘A girlfriend there was likely to be a stripper, so to be suddenly involved with a hard-core striptease artist, who obviously knew a thing or two about sex… it was quite an eye-opener.’

Gerry Marsden, of Gerry And The Pacemakers, recalled visiting a Hamburg brothel with Lennon.

‘We paid our money, went in and sat down. This guy came out with the biggest lady we had ever seen in our lives. She looked like a bus with a bra on. We ran out that door so quick we didn’t hear it shut.’

The series will be overseen by German filmmaker Christian Schwochow (The Crown) and directed by Mat Whitecross, known for documentaries about Coldplay and Oasis.

BBC executive Sue Deeks said: ‘Hamburg Days is the fascinating story of how, in the space of two short years, a raw young band from Liverpool honed their music skills in Hamburg, before returning home to become an overnight worldwide success.’

NETFLIX boss Ted Sarandos seems to have forgotten that David Harbour gets top billing – even above Millie Bobby Brown – in Stranger Things.

In an Instagram post to hail the release of the fifth and final series of the show Sarandos wrote that Stranger Things ‘exploded a bunch of little known young actors into superstardom and reminded the world how great Winona Ryder, Matthew Modine, Paul Reiser, Sean Astin and others are’.

No mention of Harbour, for whom the publicity campaign for the show coincided, awkwardly, with the release of a ‘revenge’ album by his ex, Lily Allen – and allegations that co-star Millie Bobby Brown had filed complaints about his ‘bullying’ behaviour on set.

Regrets? Mega-successful author Colleen Hoover has a few over the film version of her book It Ends With Us… which sparked acrimony and legal action between its stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. 

Hoover, who based the book on her mother’s experience of domestic violence, told Elle magazine: ‘I can’t even recommend it any more. I feel like [the lawsuit] has overshadowed it. I’m almost embarrassed to say I wrote it.’ 

Hoover is preparing to give a deposition (a sworn statement) ahead of a trial slated for March