Southwark Playhouse is a fantastic venue for championing new theatre, so it’s always exciting to hear about an upcoming musical, especially in the largest of the 3 spaces at their Elephant branch. A fantastic cast, including Tony award winning Keala Settle, lead this production which has the potential to be beautiful, but unfortunately misses the mark.
High school junior Malia (Robyn Rose-Li) has a dream of one day becoming a published author, attending writers camp before unfortunately having to drop out due to the ill health of her mother (Keala Settle). Exploring grief and loss through the eyes of a young adult, Malia writes a book of 2 birds who are unable to fly (Willow played by Maddison Bulleyment and Flynn played by Edward Chitticks), and begins to reflect on her own struggles as she comes to terms with her emotions. Malia displays a desire to be strong and independent, pushing away both family and friends, culminating in large bust ups which must be tackled with heart and humour.
Rose-Li soars as central protagonist, Malia. Her performance is confident and assured with stunning vocals, managing the emotions of a teenager going through their own struggles. She also works incredibly well alongside breakout star Max Gill playing Caleb, a friend met at writers camp who has also encountered grief after the loss of their mother. The relationship created here between the two is incredibly sincere, exploring both the highs and lows of young friendships. Gill's quips and asides are also a stand out of the show, the comedic timing hitting the mark each time. It is more of these moments which the show could benefit from.
You simply cannot write a review about a musical starring Keala Settle and not mention her. The vocal performance, as expected, is phenomenal, however it’s a shame to see her so drastically underused in the second act. Once again, the relationship built between her character and her daughter is one of the strongest parts of the narrative, hinging on the ability to infuse emotions into the dialogue.
Unfortunately, the cast are the strongest part of this show, with the plot being relatively thin and lacking cohesion. The emotional impact is simply not as strong as one would hope, as you find yourself thinking ‘oh that’s sad’ supposed to feeling a genuine sense of sadness. Perhaps this is due to the lack of depth explored in the other relationships Malia sustains, such as a bizarre friendship group and a turbulent relationship with her father. It isn’t until the last few scenes that he is actually nice to her, supposed to his usual boisterous nature. While it’s understandable that he is also going through an incredibly challenging time, it is hard to root for their relationship when it’s been so tumultuous until it is loosely strung back together in the final scenes.
Also surprising was the jump between act one and two, in which it reopens to a funeral. While the outcome is clear when closing act one, this jump in time feels disjointed and, although employing a shock factor, lacks the emotion that the show is clearly trying for. While it would surely be a challenging watch, this is not a musical billed for younger theatre goers and therefore would benefit from the impact of this emotional and narrative beat.
The songs are generally quite pleasant and well placed within the story, doing a good job at progressing the narrative. The strongest moments were either duets or solos, allowing us to peak into the emotions and relationships which help us to connect to the story, but the ensemble moments do tend to miss the mark. With some fine tuning there could be the potential for some really strong and often quite whimsical songs. That being said, repetition of ‘Fly More Than You Fall’ is at risk of bypassing motifs and ear worm to potentially become a little annoying.
The set is made up of lots of pastel pieces of paper in the shape of bird wings, in a nod to the bird's story. This stage is a challenging space to work with and doesn’t allow a lot of scope for set changes so a less literal backdrop is the most powerful here. That being said, the costume design of the ensemble matches the set and is mostly comprised of block pastel colours bearing similarity to an early 2000’s kids show. It’s a confusing choice, disjointing them from the other characters in normal clothing and also the era which, although never mentioned, reflects the modern day as iPhones, emojis and text step as a large part of the show.
Overall, Fly More Than You Fall does have the potential to be a really nice piece of theatre full of heart and heartache, if it can work to streamline its narrative and further develop some of the relationships. Regardless, it truly is a delight to see such wonderful young performers on the stage, as well as such seasoned professionals working with some challenging material. A case of a little more development, perhaps this musical will fly more than it falls.
Fly More Than You Fall runs at Southwark Playhouse until 23rd November. For tickets and more information, you can follow the link here.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by Craig Fuller
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