Thelma & Louise - Review

Young Vic Theatre, London

****

Music and lyrics by Neko Case

Book bu Callie Khouri

Directed by Trip Cullman

Rachel Tucker and Amy Lennox

Thelma & Louise was one of the defining movies of the 1990s. With an Oscar winning script from Callie Khouri and Ridley Scott behind the camera, this unlikely road trip following two girlfriends on the run, tapped into a powerful condemnation of misogyny and a profound celebration of friendship.

Fast forward 35(!) years and Khouri has returned to her story, translating the fable from screen to musical theatre, with music and lyrics penned by Neko Case.

It’s a fair transformation of the tale that sees Amy Lennox and Rachel Tucker playing the titular protagonists, and it is within in their performances that much of Case’s songwriting shines. Lennox defines Thelma’s journey of sexual and emotional emancipation, while Tucker peels away the layers of Louise’s carapace to reveal a deeply damaged woman. As Tucker sings of her character’s back story beneath a starlit desert sky, the moment is profound and powerful.

But there are times when the stage show falls short of the brilliant original. While Lennox and Tucker are an inspired choice to replicate the movie’s Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, casting the (talented) Trevor Dion Nicolas as Hal, the cop on the women’s tail and a role originally played by Harvey Keitel, is less successful, not helped by a thinly written sub-narrative involving his wife and daughters.

Christine Jones and Brett J. Banakis have designed the show’s setting - that imaginatively suggests America's bars, motels and highway traffic. But one of the outstanding components of Scott’s stunning movie was its magnificent cinematography- and for all the best intentions of the musical’s producers, their attempts to recreate the film’s original vistas on stage, miss the mark. 

The show’s creative contributors are impressive. Choreographers Bobbie Jene Smith and Or Schraiber deliver some moments of impressive footwork, while straddling the stage atop the wings Kimberly Grigsby conducts her 9-piece band that is deliciously loaded with strings.

Female-focussed theatre.

Runs until 24th October

Photo credit: Helen Murray