This plucky and utterly delightful production breathes new life into the heart-tugging 2004 film about Lucy, a girl who suffers a severe car accident and subsequently wakes up every day with no short-term memory, and Henry, the boy who loves her, even though she can’t remember him.
There have been so many recent adaptations of classic Nineties and Noughties films, too many of which lacked the charm of the original (Clueless being a major exception). This one captures all the heart and hope of the movie but also does more than just deliver a lazy dose of nostalgia.
Georgina Castle brings her own sunnily sweet take on her character, while Josh St Clair is captivating in the majorly reworked Henry. Instead of a marine biologist, he is now a very 2025 cynical travel blogger, afraid of staying still or forming attachments, who loves and leaves a new girl in every port. When he blows into a tiny seaside Key Largo town just before leaving for Europe for his big career break, he suddenly finds that, for the first time in his life, he doesn’t want to cut and run.
The two leads bring bags of charism and charm, revelling in both David Rossmer and Steve Rosen charmingly fun songs but, even more, in their witty and light-footed book. The banter and romance are strong, but so, too, are the brief darker moments when a devastated Lucy figures out that everyone around her is pretending that it’s the same day over and over.
Castle and St Clair both handle the shifts in tone with ease. I started out thinking this was just going to be a scrappily fun few hours but soon found myself beaming with delight. We won’t talk about the, ahem, manful tears that welled up towards the end – something I don’t remember happening watching the film.
This is the best kind of small production that becomes something so much more than the sum of its parts thanks to an all-round fantastic cast, inventive staging, and an excellent book, although the supporting characters are too thinly sketched. The entertaining songs are often rather pastichey, but the cast sell every kitch high kick and Chad Saint Louis is a hoot as the camp Disney-obsessed waiter.
It’s a little show with a huge heart. For such a frothy premise, the quieter tender moments are surprisingly moving. Lucy might forget each new day, but this show left a warm glow in my jaded soul that didn’t fade.
50 FIRST DATES AT THE OTHER PALACE TO NOVEMBER 16