The beautiful little fool of the title here is Scottie, the little known daughter of the famous – perhaps infamous – F Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. As told here, it’s a soubriquet given to her as a baby by her mother because, as Zelda knows to her cost, being too clever is dangerous for a woman.
And so it turns out. From a whirlwind romance in Montgomery Alabama (when Zelda is still in her teens) to her appalling death in a fire in a mental institution at the age of 47, Mrs Fitzgerald was, as her husband might say, both beautiful and damned. Not then, you might think, obvious material for a musical.
It is, though, the basis of Mona Mansour and Hannah Corneau’s new show at Southwark Playhouse – and they very nearly pull it off. Rumour has it that what we’re seeing in London is still at a formative stage and it will go back to the US to open in its finished state.
Even if it is a work in progress, however, this is not to say that it lacks polish. The singing is first rate – especially Lauren Ward as Scottie and Amy Parker as Zelda (standing in for Hannah Corneau) – and the musicians are excellent, albeit a bit loud at times for the voices in this small venue. Shankho Chaudhuri’s messy museum of a set works well and there are some very good numbers, notably Zelda’s Built to Last.
The underlying theme of a woman wronged and unappreciated – how many people nowadays know of Zelda’s prolific writing? – is a good one but needs more in-depth exploration rather than an unexpected diatribe in the penultimate moments. And could they dare go for a less upbeat (and surely more appropriately dark) ending?
David Hunter as Fitzgerald has the most underwritten part but is believably arrogant as the writer who possibly stole his wife’s ideas and who soared and burned early. Amy Parker is impressive as Zelda but again the character is thinly drawn. Lauren Ward is the most convincing of the three as Scottie at various stages from the woman looking back at her parents’ chaotic and peripatetic lives to an awkward teenager embarrassed to visit her mother in an institution.
There’s definitely something to be mined here – they just have to dig a little deeper.
Beautiful Little Fool runs at Southwark Playhouse until 28 February. For more information, and for tickets, please visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk.
