I saw LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE twice at La Jolla Playhouse - once early in the run and then at the second to last performance - and then the fairly much revised version at Second Stage. I love William Finn and highly respect James Lapine's work. The cast in both productions was excellent, and I think William Finn wrote good music and lyrics for the most part. Far be it from me to presume how they made their choices in the evolution of the work, but here's my 2 cents. All three times I saw it, the story just didn't come to full life for me like the story did in the movie. I can't quite put my finger on why because the whole project sounded Ike a perfect William Finn vehicle. Perhaps it's because the story is episodic and the focus on multiple characters - the parents, the uncle, the grandfather, the son and and Olive herself - limited the overall effect of the piece.. Perhaps it's because we all know the plot and how it turns out going in. So aside from the music and the friction between the parents there wasn't much new to the stories or characters for me. Perhaps it's because the characters were not always that likeable. And what works in a road movie in film is harder to translate to a stage bound work. What seemed cute and quirky in the film - the "dirty" grandfather, stealing his corpse and whole beauty pageant with the kids - to me played slightly creepier when you see it in person in front of you on stage. But maybe that's just me.
Re the staging - In the La Jolla production there was a stylized VW bus set piece. As mentioned chairs on wheels were used at Second Stage. I think that the use of the chairs on wheels in the Second Stage production actually worked better than the VW bus set piece and gave the staging more fluidity. And I liked that Lapine incorporated the other young beauty pageant contestants as a chorus at Second Stage which they did not do in the La Jolla production. .
There were many changes in the book and the music between La Jolla and New York, but I don't remember the details that exactly. All in all, I did enjoy LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and Finn's music in each version, and I would have loved to have seen a cast album released.
By coincidence I am writing this just after having seen MISS YOU LIKE HELL, the new musical by Pulitzer Prize winning author Quiara Alegría Hudes with music by Erin McKeown at La Jolla Playhouse where LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE first premiered. MISS YOU is a road trip musical also, but it has a very strong central plot with a struggling Latina mom wanting to reconnect with her estranged daughter whom she hasn't seen for many years. While not perfect, this episodic road musical works because it has a very strong and focused through-line.
Updated On: 11/6/16 at 02:09 AM
