Review: Fly North Theatrical's LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE at Greenfinch Theater and Dive

Fly North Theatricals (FNT) produces one show annually that acts as a fundraiser for their Theatre for All Initiative. Through FNT’s fundraising efforts over $10,000 annually is provided to young theater students to take private voice and dance lessons. Fly North’s Artistic Director Colin Healy and Managing Director Bradley Rohlf recognize that access to the arts is expensive, and they are offering students an opportunity to begin their career working with a professional theater company.  

Their yearly fundraiser show blends a cast of professional actors and their students from The Studios at Fly North Theatricals. This year’s production of Little Miss Sunshine includes students Zy Beckley, Connor Becker, Parker Collier, Zoe Klevorn, Brynja Murphy, and Callum Thompson. 

The musical adaptation of Little Miss Sunshine is based on the 2006 Oscar winning film of the same name. The book for the musical was written by three-time Tony winner James Lapine (Into the Woods, Falsettos, Passion) with a score by Tony winner William Finn (Falsettos). In addition to his Tony winning score for Falsettos, Finn also wrote the score for the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which was FNT’s well-reviewed fundraising production in December of 2023.  

Little Miss Sunshine premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in early 2011 before moving to an Off-Broadway theatre in 2013. The production starred Tony winner Stephanie J. Block (The Cher Show), Will Swenson (Hair, A Beautiful Noise) and Rory O’Malley (The Book of Mormon) in principal roles. The production at Second Stage Theatre ran for only one month following a month of previews.  

The FNT production, directed by Colin Healy, is led by the amazing Zoe Klevorn in the role of Olive Hoover. Olive is a beauty queen wannabe who awkwardly lacks the poise, talent, and resources of the other girls on the pageant circuit. She is given an opportunity to compete in a regional pageant because the winner of their local pageant was unable to make the trip. She was the runner-up in the Little Miss Huntington Beach pageant that had only three contestants. 

Klevorn, one of FNT’s students, was last seen on The Muny stage as Bielke in Fiddler on the Roof and in FNT’s excellent production of Caroline, or Change where she played Noah in a gender-bending role. Broadway World called her work as Noah “astounding” and said, “at no point was it apparent that Klevorn was playing a character of a different gender.” 

The sixth grader leads this company with confidence and skill alongside a quartet of professional actors playing her mother Sheryl (Eileen Engel), her father Richard (Brian McKinley), her Uncle Frank (Dereis Lambert), and her grandpa (Ken Haller.) Klevorn handles her parts of the score proficiently. She is a talented performer with an immense amount of potential for a career in musical theater. 

While Klevorn’s performance was fantastic, she did not have the same homely looks that Abigail Breslin did in the movie. It would have significantly increased the irony had creative choices been made to make Klevorn look less polished and more like the nerdy Olive from the film. The costuming choices worked, especially with the ridiculous pageant dresses, but Klevorn looked a bit too pretty to be taken as a slightly chubby tween who is a fish-out-of-water pageant contestant.  

FNT students Connor Becker and Parker Collier also showed outstanding potential in breakout roles. Becker plays Olive’s non-talkative teen-age brother Dwayne who has dreams of becoming a pilot. He has outstanding comedic timing reacting silently to the family’s conversations. But it is in the second act when Dwayne has a complete meltdown that Becker gets to chew scenery and show his emerging talent as a dramatic actor. He takes the theater by surprise with his emotive and authentic performance.  

Collier is outrageous in about a half-dozen small roles that give him the opportunity to lay on the camp and earn some laughs from the audience. He draws chuckles with his Map B*tch voiceover and garners belly laughs as a hospital social worker and the retiring Little Miss Sunshine. He is the show’s biggest surprise bravely throwing himself into every bit. The audience was laughing out loud every time he was on stage. Collier has a lot of talent.  

Students Zy Beckley, Brynja Murphy, and Callum Thompson played the mean girls from Olive’s class and the pageant contestants D’Borah, Bridget, and Tracee. They handled the traditional chorus roles confidently and show promise as young actors and singers learning their craft.  

Engle, Haller, Lambert, and McKinley gave fully realized performances and nimbly navigated Healy’s crazy choreographed blocking on rolling mid-century swivel chairs with surprising agility. The frenetic rolling movement added to the show’s whimsy and the feeling of being on a road trip as did the kooky projections he designed to serve as backdrop.  

Healy also served as conductor and music director. The band sounded terrific, and the cast adequately handled the vocal arrangements of Finn’s uninteresting score. Klevorn and Engle are the vocal standouts in the cast.  

The short run and lack of success Off-Broadway was likely a result of the lackluster score that added little to the storytelling. Some of the songs have a few witty lyrics that grab a few laughs, but musically the score is like soggy cereal. Lapine’s story is a direct lift from the movie script. Little Miss Sunshine is one of those head-scratching film-to-stage musical adaptations that leaves you asking why.  

The indie film version is a dark tragicomedy. While the musical has all the elements of the film’s story, Healy’s direction feels more intentionally comedic than the film. There is no doubt it is due to his madcap blocking and the cast careening around the stage on wheeled chairs. 

Fly North Theatricals Little Miss Sunshine has a lot of laughs thanks to Healy’s creative direction and the breakout performances from young talented actors. Tickets for this production are pay-what-you-want and are going fast. Little Miss Sunshine continues at The Greenfinch Theater and Dive Bar through May 4, 2025.  

St. Louis Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. THE SECOND HURRICANE (Stray Dog Theatre)

8.7% of votes

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7.6% of votes

3. 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL (Alton Little Theater)

7.5% of votes

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