Review Roundup: BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FOOL at Southwark Playhouse

The new musical Beautiful Little Fool is officially open at Southwark Playhouse Borough. The cast features David Hunter as ‘F. Scott’, alongside Lauren Ward as ‘Scottie’, Hannah Corneau (Wicked, Renascence, Frozen) as ‘Zelda’, David Austin-Barnes as ensemble / cover ‘F.Scott’, Amy Parker as Ensemble / cover ‘Scottie’ and ‘Zelda’. The company is completed by and Jasmine Hackett as swing. The world-premiere production runs at Southwark Playhouse Borough until Saturday 28 February 2026.

With music and lyrics by Hannah Corneau and a book by Mona Mansour, directed by Michael Greif, Beautiful Little Fool tells the story of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald through the eyes of their daughter Scottie, as she rediscovers the lives and writings of her brilliant and tempestuous parents. See what the critics are saying...

Aliya Al-Hassan, BroadwayWorld: Corneau also writes the music and lyrics; she avoids what might be seen as a jazz cliché and focuses on an inoffensive soft rock soundtrack, but this lacks any really memorable tunes. In stark contrast to the lyrical and vivid style of the couple themselves, clunky lyrics sound like they could have been written by ChatGPT. The band, however, are accomplished and give off a vibrant sound.

Emma John, The Guardian: Between Mona Mansour’s book and Corneau’s corny and repetitive lyrics (“Trust is a funny thing / You have it one day and then it’s gone”) we never get more than a superficial drawing of the central couple. There’s no sense here of why they were so dazzling, or darkly troubled. David Hunter works to bring out F Scott’s mix of arrogance and insecurity, Amy Parker – who stepped in for Corneau on opening night – belts out Zelda’s emotions as a wall of lights bursts suddenly behind her, and there’s some tender romance to their Alabama meeting in One Night in July.

Mike Carter, Everything Theatre: Beautiful Little Fool looks great as a show. A mammoth multi-level set from Shankho Chaudhuri is lit exquisitely by Ben Stanton. There’s a killer band under the direction of Jerome van den Berghe. The cast sings gloriously, and, despite my misgivings, its creator and star, Hannah Corneau, deserves a huge amount of credit. (As does Amy Parker, who understudied on press night.) Musical theatre used to be about triple threats. Singing, dancing and acting. I now suspect we’re in an era of quintuple artists who add writing music and lyrics to the mix. It’s probably six, actually. There’s the sheer hustle needed to get your show produced in the first place. So, I’ll be in the queue to see what Corneau does next, but I hope it’s something more heartfelt that cuts a little deeper. Beautiful Little Fool, for all the effort put into it, and for all the emoting in song that goes on, ultimately feels uninspired and shallow.

Liam O'Dell, Liam O'Dell.com: 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.

Louise Penn, Loureviews: Beautiful Little Fool is one of those shows that doesn’t quite get to the heart of its characters, regardless of the inspiration. F Scott himself is extremely underwritten, and Michael Greif’s direction isn’t quite enough to rectify that.

Tim Bano, TimeOut: Vaguely, Corneau and Mansour gesture towards the fact that F Scott used Zelda’s writing under his own name; that she may have driven him to drink, and he may have driven her to a psychiatric hospital. One moment has their daughter scream about how it’s bad that unconventional women get locked up. But they don’t attempt to explore these ideas - or anything else - in any meaningful way. Quickly, a pat ending swoops in telling us that Zelda and F Scott were really in love, and love is great.

Tim Bano, TimeOut: Vaguely, Corneau and Mansour gesture towards the fact that F Scott used Zelda’s writing under his own name; that she may have driven him to drink, and he may have driven her to a psychiatric hospital. One moment has their daughter scream about how it’s bad that unconventional women get locked up. But they don’t attempt to explore these ideas - or anything else - in any meaningful way. Quickly, a pat ending swoops in telling us that Zelda and F Scott were really in love, and love is great.

Average Rating: 42.9%