A Little Piece of You
A LITTLE PIECE OF YOU
An Atypical Musical in Concert
Theatre Royal Drury Lane
"This show has promise but it is definitely not there yet"
Review
The first thing to say about this show is that it wasn’t a concert. It was a fully staged show with set, lighting, costumes, choreography and staged dialogue. And this was one of the problems.
For me, the theatre was far too big. Clearly a work in progress, it would have been much better in a smaller venue. The set was right at the front of the stage and the orchestra were on both sides so the full width wasn't being used either but it still felt too big.
The premise of the story is a good one. It follows Shannon and Britt, a courageous mother and daughter, as they confront their family’s hidden struggles and embark on a trans formative journey. Throughout the show they travel back in time, becoming their own Mother and Grandmother and Great Grandmother and Grandmother. Shannon and Britt and their ancestors were all played by Mica Paris and Dujonna Gift respectively.
They both sang brilliantly and did a good job with the dialogue, which, at times was a bit heavy going. The Fathers were all played by David Bedella, who many may remember from & Juliet, In The Heights and The Producers. He was excellent and managed to create different characters for the different fathers. The Ensemble were good performers, although I found them a bit distracting at times and I question whether they were really necessary, especially since there were five excellent backing singers on stage.
The part of Sydney Hill, Britt’s favourite singer who kills herself early on in the show and then, ghost like, follows the action through, was played by Kjersti Long who also wrote the music in conjunction with her father Jeremy Long.
I liked some of the music a lot, especially the opening which gave a really strong start to the show. But there were some songs that didn’t hit the mark quite so well.
Reviewers: Julia Rufey.
We are Gifted tickets so that in return we may give an honest review. All comments are those of the reviewer and theirs alone.