Little Fish
Michael John LaChiusa’s “jittery, engagingly off-kilter” musical tells the story of woman quitting smoking, said Charlotte Stoudt in the Los Angeles Times.
Little Fish
Second Stage Theater, Hollywood
(323) 661-9827
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Michael John LaChiusa’s “jittery, engagingly off-kilter” musical tells the story of woman quitting smoking, said Charlotte Stoudt in the Los Angeles Times. Most musicals are built around a character with a deep sense of ambition or yearning, which inevitably finds expression in a show-stopping number. Little Fish instead explores “what happens when a musical revolves around someone who has no clue what she wants.” Charlotte, played by Alice Ripley, is a New Yorker whose world seems to be closing in on her. A small, nimble cast figures out how to pack the overwhelming energy of New York onto this L.A. stage, and choreographer Jane Lanier “knows how to take a tiny space and make it feel dynamic and textured instead of cramped.” In fact, this production’s problem is that it tries to pack too much in. “Even for a story of confusion, Fish is a little too discombobulated.” At least the musical “has a real pulse,” said Evan Henerson in the Los Angeles Daily News. Too many new musicals these days—including LaChiusa’s own flop in 2000, The Wild Party—come off stilted and removed. Where previously LaChiusa has strived to write serious quasi-opera, Little Fish is a touchingly light entertainment. “LaChiusa’s music, which in the past has been largely sung through dialogue, has recognizable narrative structure here.” At the center of that narrative is the long-suffering Charlotte and her everyday trials with roommates, family, and romantic partners. “Ripley’s Charlotte suggests a spirit of endurance and—barely—resilience.” We come to root for her and to realize that, more than a cigarette, what she really needs is “to catch a break.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The Week Unwrapped: Are pig-butchering scams taking over the world?
Podcast Plus, could discarded gadgets solve the copper shortage? And will employers hire more over-50s?
By The Week Staff Published
-
5 spine-chilling horror video games to play this Halloween
The Week Recommends A nostalgic classic remastered and a couple of scary co-ops you can play with brave friends
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Climate safe havens may be a thing of the past
Under the radar Safe spaces are few and far between
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
If/Then
feature Tony-winning Idina Menzel “looks and sounds sensational” in a role tailored to her talents.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Rocky
feature It’s a wonder that this Rocky ever reaches the top of the steps.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Love and Information
feature Leave it to Caryl Churchill to create a play that “so ingeniously mirrors our age of the splintered attention span.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Bridges of Madison County
feature Jason Robert Brown’s “richly melodic” score is “one of Broadway’s best in the last decade.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Outside Mullingar
feature John Patrick Shanley’s “charmer of a play” isn’t for cynics.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Night Alive
feature Conor McPherson “has a singular gift for making the ordinary glow with an extra dimension.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
No Man’s Land
feature The futility of all conversation has been, paradoxically, the subject of “some of the best dialogue ever written.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Commons of Pensacola
feature Stage and screen actress Amanda Peet's playwriting debut is a “witty and affecting” domestic drama.
By The Week Staff Last updated