50 First Dates musical review – An emotive show that won’t soon be forgotten

Movie-to-musical adaptations are so ubiquitous that it’s hard to get excited when yet another one is announced, but this irresistible new tuner based on the 2004 Drew Barrymore-Adam Sandler rom-com is so well-crafted that it refreshes the whole genre. It helps that creatives David Rossmer and Steve Rosen are unafraid to take major liberties with George Wing’s original screenplay for 50 First Dates in order to give a stage life and urgency to this preposterous but engaging tale of an amnesiac young woman meeting anew each day the guy steadily falling for her.

It also doesn’t hurt that it’s helmed by Broadway‘s Casey Nicholaw, a director-choreographer who knows a thing or two about reworking films for the stage (Mean Girls, Elf, Aladdin, Hercules and the upcoming Greatest Showman). His work here is playful, slick, but crucially on a very human scale. When characters dance, it feels organic. Relationships have credible warmth and edge. Humour and tragedy co-exist seamlessly. A whole Key Largo community is evoked convincingly and economically on stage… It’s a production that’s showy and flamboyant when it needs to be, but never loses sight of the fragile love story as its core.

Equally essential to the show’s success is the central casting of Georgina Castle and Josh St Clair as the bewildered lovers. Castle’s Lucy is sunny and sweet but finds real anguish when forced to confront her fractured existence: her memory loss is the result of a motor accident and she wakes every day unable to remember the preceding one. St Clair compellingly charts Henry’s journey from careless womanising to hanging desperately on every word from this radiant, unconventional gem of a woman. They’re both utterly wonderful, and it’s impossible to imagine either role being played better than this.

Sandler’s Henry in the film is a marine biologist, but for the musical, he’s a travel blogger, and Rossmer and Rosen’s script takes a couple of witty swipes at influencer culture while touching on modern phenomena such as toxic masculinity and even the new American pope. It’s all delightfully light on its feet but with an emotional impact that, while sentimental, feels earned.

As with their pre-pandemic off-Broadway hit The Other Josh Cohen (surely crying out for a London premiere), Rossmer and Rosen again provide a propulsive, catchy pop score that rocks, possessing a certain quirky eccentricity and tender lyricism that frequently surprises. It’s very funny but turns on a dime, so you suddenly find yourself reaching for the Kleenex, such as in the gorgeous, weepy choral number where Henry gets the entire community to create a video message to reassure their beloved Lucy.

In all honesty, the basic premise that a whole town would rearrange their lives in order to make a single individual comfortable, even one as adorable as Castle’s Lucy, takes some swallowing. Also, the father and brother who support her, though superbly played by John Marquez and Charlie Toland respectively, are written in such different colours that they strain credibility as members of the same family. But these are minor quibbles in what is otherwise a satisfying evening free of the portentous bloat that has afflicted several of this year’s new West End musicals.

Ricky Rojas and a stunning-voiced Aiesha Naomi Pease are spicy and charming as the married local restaurateurs fiercely looking out for Lucy while squabbling amongst themselves, and Chad Saint Louis is a full-throated, high camp joy as their Disney-obsessed lead waiter. Natasha O’Brien delivers a hilarious turn as Harry’s boozy, increasingly infuriated showbiz agent; there isn’t a weak link in the fine supporting cast.

The set and costumes by Fly Davis are nicely evocative of a sun-kissed, tropical Florida, especially when enhanced by George Reeve’s colourful video creations, culminating in a coup de théâtre that puts a beautiful button on Lucy and Harry’s story. The only technical flaw is that the generally excellent lyrics are sometimes rendered unintelligible by Adam Fisher’s sound design, which otherwise strikes the right balance between the voices and George Carter’s cracking six-piece band.

This is really lovely.