Beautiful Little Fool at Southwark Playhouse (Borough) Review

First off, let’s talk about the star of the show, the superb set design by Shankho Chaudhuri, ably supported by some quite dazzling (literally on occasions) lighting by Ben Stanton. The moody shelves festooned with books, papers, lamps, and sundry artefacts from the Fitzgeralds’ lives serve as a depository of their tempestuous history together. The neatness of a slide-away double bed, drinks trolley, and stacks of suitcases creates a truly atmospheric setting on which the cast perform.

With a book by Mona Mansour, which at times feels like a chronological regurgitation of facts, and music and lyrics by Hannah Corneau (a former Elphaba in Wicked and and Elsa in Frozen, who has been playing the part of Zelda herself) there’s a clear focus on the women in Fitzgerald’s life and the manner in which they were required to subsume their own talents and ambitions in order that he could succeed. The songs certainly give Zelda (on press night played unannounced by understudy Amy Parker) the bulk of opportunity to impress with powerhouse notes to deliver, whilst Scottie (Lauren Ward) is very much relegated to a supporting narrator’s part, left to sift through the remnants of her parents’ lives on her 48th birthday as she eclipses the ages which both of them barely attained after years of alcoholism and in the case of her mother, extended periods as an inmate of mental institutions with their questionable treatment methods. As Fitzgerald (David Hunter) also has occasional numbers in which his reedy high tenor has moments to shine, but his character’s louche selfishness serve to paper over the underwritten nature of the part, which is a common failing throughout. Two other players (Jasmine Hackett and David Austin- Barnes) drift about the set playing occasionally party guests and deserve mention if only for their patience in being woefully underused and largely overlooked.

Some of the songs have an occasional lick which promise memorability, and they are certainly helped along by the talented on-stage band (Jerome van den Berghe, Lola Barber, Ikechuwu Onwuagbu and JT Taylor) but by the end, most seemed to have effortlessly blended into each other, such that I could barely recall two bars of any individual song aside from One Night in July which as a studio recording, has been doing the rounds on social media.

I’m not sure that director Michael Greif could alter any particular aspect of this piece to help it attain cult or commercial status. It’s seemingly just another slightly underwhelming show on which the cast and creatives have worked incredibly hard to ascribe a polished look and feel, but in the end, the substance underpinning it (book and lyrics in particular) lacks the Jazz Age glitz and glamour associated with the couple at its heart.

Beautiful Little Fool continues its run at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 28th February and plays 1hr 30mins straight through without an interval.