Review: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, King's Theatre, Glasgow

The Hoover family are quite a unique mix. Grandpa has moved into the family home after being banished from a residential living facility, Uncle Frank (Paul Keating) can't be left unattended due to a recent suicide attempt and teenage son Dwayne (Sev Keoshgerian) hasn't spoken to anybody in 85 days. When the opportunity arises Sheryl (Lucy O'Byrne) and Richard Hoover (Gabriel Vick)'s young daughter Olive to take part in the little miss sunshine beauty pageant they all hit the road in a cramped VW bus to travel 800 miles to take her there.

Based on the 2006 Oscar-winning film, Little Miss Sunshine was first adapted for the stage in 2011 and this UK tour is its European premiere.

While most of the songs were quite forgettable there were a couple of gems and they were all performed with enthusiasm. Bizarrely, none of the tracks are listed in the programme so I can't name the ones that I really enjoyed but the one from Olive's talent section of the pageant was my favourite!

The thing I really enjoyed about Little Miss Sunshine was the portrayal of the family dynamics. The word dysfunctional is best to describe them but their love for straight talking Olive brings them all together. The relationship between Olive (Evie Gibson) and her Grandpa (Mark Moraghan) is particularly lovely to watch. The cast are all terrific and particularly shine during the pageant finale.

Summer is typically a quiet time for regional theatre but I strongly recommend getting along to the King's this week as this dark and quirky comedy is utterly joyous.

Little Miss Sunshine is at the King's Theatre, Glasgow until Saturday 6th July.

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