Liam O'Dell — Theater Critic

Belflower’s script unlocks brilliantly when the updated interpretation in 2018 (the year in which this production is set) is revealed as the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, and it becomes a fascinating and wide-ranging look at accountability – from the woman’s fact versus the man’s fictional (or amorphous) reputation; to how to view mistakes in isolation; listening authentically; performative feminism and being emotional unashamedly.

With solid music, great performances and a decent chronology of the lives of the Fitzgeralds, Beautiful Little Fool is a passable new musical, but it is evidently missing one overarching message it can push emphatically. It’s not ‘irredeemable’, to use a term deployed in the show, but it could do with a rewrite.

There’s no denying, of course, that Novi’s acting career being curtailed by an unintentional stay in a youth psychiatric hospital is a unique and unusual premise – even more so when it’s a true story – but when the comedy is tailored to a very specific and knowledgeable audience, and what remains after that is a jumbled narrative and message, then this play sadly fails to generate much of a buzz.