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Writer's pictureHarry Brogan

REVIEW | Little Piece of You - An Atypical Musical, Theatre Royal Drury Lane

AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review. Opinions are my own.

TW: mention of suicide.


 
(Photo Credit: Roger Alarcon)
 

A production that has great possibilities to be successful, but sadly falters on quite a few levels, which results in leaving you with an underwhelming feeling. 


Little Piece of You - Atypical Musical, took to Theatre Royal Drury Lane stage for its European Premiere in a two nighter concert performance. Written by Melissa Leilani Larson, music and lyrics by Kjersti Long & Jeremy Long, co-directed by Jennifer Tang & Joshua Long, also co-choreographed by Jess Williams & Jonnie Riordan


Little Piece of You follows mother Shannon and daughter Britt, who both struggle with their mental health. But after the loss of Britt’s favourite artist, Sydney Hill, both Shannon and Britt try to confront the struggles hidden within their family, while also dad Ethan (played by David Bedella) helps to comfort them both.


What seems like a fairly easy narrative to follow, felt like completely the opposite. Larson’s narrative was difficult to understand as it felt blurred and it struggled to really make sense at times. We as an audience are presented with a back in time narrative that begins at the very end of act one and is carried on, and crammed in, over the last forty minutes (which was act 2). This plot line was not explained, apart from the change in year and clothing, and just felt rushed and could have been expanded more over both acts of the show. While something I did like was the writing of the character artist Sydney Hill, using the artist's songs like they can get you through the tough times, which felt like a nice way of writing this character. But Larson’s lackless plot just felt full of confusion throughout, there was no expansion when needed, to help the narrative move along and be understandable. While also the dialogue of the shows subject matter felt almost uncared for, as it seemed quite flat at times and felt like some dialogue was more like a passing comment in conversation, for example when Britt asks her mother Shannon if she had ever tried to attempt suicide, the answer was simply yes and felt like an instance full stop. Nothing of the show's subject matter really gets talked about with just a few comments on therapy and that's it, but listening to the songs you would think the message of it is ok to not be ok would have come out in the narrative. Because of this the characters felt somewhat undeveloped or even felt slightly like they had little purpose to the story. Larson’s writing attempts to be a success in telling what should have been a moving, powerful and also important story, but unfortunately falters in doing that by having  underwhelming writing that is short of emotion and is confusing and lacks expansion of the plot. 


While the book has its flaws, the music and lyrics by Kjersti Long & Jeremy Long don’t! The songs sound like radio worthy hits, with both music and lyrics being incredibly strong, and they have elements of rock and pop to them , while also having the ability to have success on their own. They are memorable, and are somewhat catchy. 17 year old Kjersti has a great song-writing talent that should be admired and looked up to by future lyricists and composers. The songs are a true success to this piece, which is why it is honestly a shame that the book doesn’t have the same amount of attention, so it could go perfectly hand in hand. 


With direction by Jennifer Tang and Joshua Long, both create a static and slightly confused direction. Both Tang and Long have the ensemble come on to stage to move bedding and other props and surround our principles, Mica and Dujonna, making you feel unsure what is really happening. The direction doesn’t help the piece have the emotions it needs, it more or less adds to the confusion that is already there, with having an anticlimactic interval and at times awkward transitions that felt unnecessary. Tang and Long try to be too clever in their direction and sadly miss the mark.


Dujonna Gift is a loveable performer with so much personality, Gift tries to search for any emotion within the material to deliver and perform to the audience. Gift’s vocals are wonderful and beautiful, Gift is a joy to watch. Mica Paris, is known for her incredible soul singing voice, Paris terrifically performs the show's music well through some nicely done vocals, but did feel like the characterisation was missing something.


Overall, the vocal harmonies between Dujonna, Mica and Kjersti were brilliantly delivered by all three performers, and all complimented each other and the music and style.


Little Piece of You brought high expectations due to having a sneak peek at this years MusicalCon and previewing some of the songs from the pre-released album, but unfortunately these expectations were not met due to being let down by its over complicated book, confusing direction and being unsure on what it wants to be.  With music and lyrics that are excellent, and as I previously said have the ability to have success on their own, it is sad to say that on more levels than one the story doesn’t live up to what it could be.


 

★★


(Photo Credit: Roger Alarcon)


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