Book: Callie Khouri
Music and Lyrics: Neko Case
Director: Tripp Cullman
Everyone knows what happens at the end of the 1991 film Thelma and Louise, and so this new musical begins there, with our doomed couple sitting atop their T-Bird, which they drove over the edge into the Grand Canyon to escape the police and the FBI. And yet, over two hours later, when we approach the musical’s end, the acting and voices of its two leads still manage to deliver some heart-in-the-mouth moments, even though we know exactly what’s going to happen.
Ridley Scott’s movie is so iconic, some must have wondered if there was any need for a musical adaptation. Would songs and dance numbers cheapen writer Callie Khouri’s feminist story of two women on the run? Fortunately, with Neko Case in charge of the music and lyrics, the Young Vic’s production is far removed from the usual musical theatre fare offered up in the West End. Her songs are bluesy, country and Western numbers, some sounding a bit like those by The Indigo Girls. And the whole cast sings them impeccably.
One of the most memorable songs opens the show. A Story of Two Little Girls sets the scene with scenographers Christine Jones and Brett J. Banakis’s saloon bar stretching out into the very corners of the wide stage. Underneath the posters and pictures on the wall are hidden lights – headlamps and neon strips that suggest speeding along the freeways. Everything happens in this bar, although the locations change. Sometimes it’s a motel; at other times it’s a gas station. With sand poured upon the gaudy carpet, it’s the state of Arizona.
Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber’s choreography is restrained. The staccato moves and spiky line dances keep faith with the book’s material, and by the second half, there’s hardly any dancing at all. If the dancing were any more exuberant, this world premiere would have arrived dead in the water.
And yet, sometimes the musical feels a little empty, strangely sparse. There are moments at the end of the first half and in the middle of the second where nothing much happens, and Rachel Tucker as Louise and Amy Lennox as Thelma seem stranded on the extensive stage. A few songs, even though they carry the story within their lyrics, are superfluous. Some of the best songs are too short, while others go on for too long. And the show flags whenever the pair aren’t on stage.
Tucker and Lennox, however, are so strong that they mitigate the show’s bagginess. Of course, both have excellent voices and every word is crystal clear. Tucker’s more confident Louise is the perfect foil to Lennox’s more beaten-down Louise, although the latter’s journey of freedom from her husband allows her to explore the life she has been missing, a life of fun and sex. Lennox’s soars in her solos.
The rest of the cast is uniformly superb, with Jordan Luke Gage a brilliantly unctuous JD, who was played by Brad Pitt in the film. It’s a shame that Alex Gibson-Giorgio’s deep tenor only appears once in his role as Jimmy, Louise’s boyfriend. The song featuring most of the men – boyfriends, husbands and policemen – is one of the highlights of the second half.
This musical won’t replace the movie in fans’ hearts, but neither is it a disservice to the original. If it lacks some of the joy of the two women breaking free from the men surrounding them, instead it underlines the tragic nature of their only means of escape.
Runs until 24 October 2026
