I was there tonight and there's a lot of promise, but I think there's also still a lot of work that needs to be done. I feel like for every bit of praise there's a "but" that follows. For example, the young girl playing Olive is excellent, but she needs a better/bigger song to sing at the beginning and should probably have a duet with her mother and/or father sometime during the show.
The score drove me crazy; it's appropriately jaunty and tuneful, but I felt like I was at Motown because half of the songs were only 45 seconds long. I was ready to scream at the stage when Stephanie J Block began a beautiful melody called "Something better, better happen." (Or thereabouts- there is no song list in the Playbill.) She starts off and I sense we're going to a "Holding to the Ground" moment when the damn thing trails off! I wanted to heckle the band to let her finish!
Likewise Olive gets the start of what could be a terrific I want number, but it's over before it can begin. The song needs to be expanded ASAP because she would really kill the number.
When the score is allowed to breathe it can be Finn at his best. Rory O'Malley, who is currently the best thing about the show, is aided by taking part in the two best numbers. The first is a trio in a gas station bathroom between him, his beloved and his academic nemesis. Rory really sold the crap out of it. The second number was a duet between him and Dwayne at the Game Room. It's a "Everyone Hates Their Parents" moment and nicely develops each of the characters. It's in no small part that O'Malley feels like the most complete character because he gets the strongest moments in the score.
The musical version of Little Miss Sunshine favors heart over quirkiness, and that's not a bad thing. The story is sweetly told and I really enjoyed the final 15 minutes.
If you haven't seen the movie, which the musical follows closely, then don't read further*********************************
I had issue with the role of the grandpa. He needs a longer song with Olive before he dies and the part overall needs to be punched up a bit so we feel the sting of his loss more.
There are two technical aspects of the film that didn't translate so well to the stage. The first and obvious one is the van. The van is just 6 yellow chairs, and it reminded me of the "car" staging they used in Death Takes a Holiday. The iconic scene of pushing the van and jumping in just doesn't have near the effect without a real van. I realize it may not have been feasible to bring a real van to this off-Broadway space, but if this has hopes of transferring to Broadway, they need a van. (Sorry Will, another show where you have to sit in a vehicle the whole time!)
The second is the loss of the dessert scenery. One of the more devastating scenes in the movie is when Dwayne finally speaks and run down the side of the hill. Being lost in the dessert is such an important metaphor for the family, and although there are some tasteful projections it's just not the same.
END SPOILERS*****************
With all that said, I still did like the show. Most of the time you go to an early preview and it's three hours long and you're thinking, "Cut this, cut that." With Little Miss Sunshine I wanted more of this and more of that. I hope they keep working on it because I think there's a great show waiting to burst out of there.
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
