Already Perfect at King's Head Theatre review

The production mirrors much of the creator’s lived experience, starting from humble beginnings in Tennessee, where, as the son of a churchgoing stage mom, he was encouraged to develop his musical talents. He was we also learn, encouraged to believe falsehoods about his father, who left when he was young.

Now living as an openly gay man, much of the musical’s narrative feels like a personal and cathartic exercise for Kreis, focusing as it does on the damage and repercussions of conversion therapy, which he undertook for six years with Exodus International in a bid to rid himself of his homosexuality. Balancing self-acceptance whilst retaining a love for, and belief in God, when most churches publicly deem homosexuality a sin, proves a conjuring trick many struggle to achieve. Kreis has managed it in his own life by affording God more intelligence as his creator than the institutions that proclaim him.

The show opens with the performer at a low ebb, having delivered a poor matinee of the Broadway production in which he is appearing, which coincides with being dumped via text by his most recent boyfriend. When his friend and drug addiction sponsor Ben (Yiftach ‘Iffy’ Mizrahi) arrives unexpectedly at his backstage dressing room between shows, he finds his despondent friend about to fall off the sobriety wagon by smoking crystal meth. After talking him out of it, the pair embark on a retrospective analysis of Levi’s life and the key events which informed it, told with the help of Levi’s cocky and self-assured younger self Matthew (Killian Thomas Lefevre).

Despite the potentially gloomy subject matter, and the negative entertainment industry tropes, the production manages to keep any maudlin introspection and self-indulgent navel gazing to an absolute minimum by delivering a raft of beautifully crafted southern gospel/soul songs, each of which is vibrantly and energetically performed with exquisitely measured vocals from the cast members, including some dangerous harmony lines.

As the older and younger selves accept that they can learn from the other, any lingering sense of despondency evaporates, helped enormously by an abundance of humour and slickly delivered movement in director Dave Solomon’s production (for which he also receives an additional book writing credit). This ain’t a song ‘n’ dance spectacular, but you’ll rarely witness a better musical production at an intimate fringe venue, than this.

Already Perfect plays for a snappy 1 hour 40 mins straight through, without an interval.