I’m an American visiting London for a few days & I saw this last night. I’d say I liked it, but didn’t adore it. Several of the performances are excellent, especially Rebecca McKinnis as Jamie’s Mum Margaret and Lucie Shorthouse as his friend Priti. I thought John McCrea was funny and touching as a Jamie, although as someone else here mentioned, his voice did sound a little weak. I also thought that he might not be able to play a 16-year-old much longer.
The choreography stood out to me; I thought it was great. I did have issues with the score. Some of the songs were light and fun and some, like Priti’s songs, were touching. But then I also felt that the song “He’s my Boy,” although McKinnis sang it beautifully, could have had way better lyrics. I was sitting there thinking “she needs better material.” I had some reservations about Dear Evan Hansen (which this reminded me of in terms of the mother/son dynamics) but So Big/So Small delivered much more of a powerful punch for me.
I also found parts of the ending pretty unrealistic based on what had been going on throughout but I won’t say more as I don’t want to spoil anything.
I do think it could easily transfer to Broadway as it is with a few tweaks to make some of the slang and references understandable to Americans (or maybe just a glossary in the program) ??
I should finish by saying that the audience LOVED it. Immediate standing ovation.
Maggie-the-schnoodle
