LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

A review by Tanya Howard

Adapted from the film of the same name, the musical was an attempt to recreate the universally adored musical, where the youngest of the Hoover family, Olive, had a dream to compete in a beauty pageant in California. In support of this the entire family, including Grandpa and Uncle Frank embark on a road trip in the family’s worse for wear campervan.

Unfortunately for the Hoover family they are on a downward spiral where everything in life sucks. The credit cards are maxed out, Dad’s lost his job, Uncle Franke tried to kill himself, Nietzsche reading son Dwayne has taken on a vow of silence and Grandpa has been kicked out of Sunnyside Retirement Village because he was caught selling drugs.

Not exactly the top of your list if you was planning a road trip, and when the van breaks down the family have to attempt to push start for the rest of the journey. But the poignancy of Olive’s cheery disposition against her family’s downcast attitudes is supposed to be the true motor behind the story.

The show has true comedic moments throughout, but it was not consistent, and I think the struggle was clear on how to fit a campervan and road trip onto the small stage. There was a lot of awkward dancing with chairs as they set up the campervan set and was too drawn out at times.

One of the stand out for me was Sev Keoshgerian as Dwayne, mute for a good portion of the show but still managing portray his character’s emotion. When he does speak he still maintains the sullen teenager routine and has a really good singing voice and I actually wish he’d been able to speak sooner.

Gary Wilmot takes on the role of drug selling, risk taking Grandpa and you can see the passion in his performance, but I couldn’t take to the parent’s characters. It seemed like an awkward attempt at recreating the incredible screen work and they seemed to be battling out the duets rather than harmonising, and I could barely capture the words of the songs.

My favourite part of the performance was the beauty pageant itself and Imelda Warren-Green was absolutely hysterical in her performance as Miss California, and her little stint of Linda at the hospital, performing her hit YouTube song complete with dance routine.

Anyone who has seen the movie knows that the final performance during the beauty pageant is the one you’re itching to arrive; Olive’s final performance. Taught to her by Grandpa the show ends with Sophie Hartley-Booth, one of three playing Olive, dancing and singing to Shake Your Badonkadonk and her family storming the stage.

I think the show has a lot of potential and could be a huge success but could do with a bit of a rework before it truly flies. The pageant section was particularly funny, and the characters really came into their own at this point, but it felt like it was too little too late. The pieces of the jigsaw are there, they just need to look at a different way of putting them together.

However it all could have been just a bit of first night jitters and things will smooth out as they get deeper into the show, which is currently showing at Arcola Theatre until 11 May before embarking on it’s UK tour.