Review: Little Piece Of You - An Atypical Musical In Concert (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)

Review by Daz Gale

⭐️⭐️ 

This year has seen a huge rise in musicals taking over large theatres in the West End for one or two nights for special concert productions. The increase in these has split opinion, to say the least, but I always saw the value in them and have been lucky enough to attend some sensational ones this year. These concerts aren’t solely reserved for existing musicals – they can also be the first iteration of brand new musicals too, and what a way to start! That’s what has happened for the European premiere of Little Piece Of You – An Atypical Musical Riding a wave of excitement, it has taken over the huge Theatre Royal Drury Lane for two nights only, but was it ready to fill such a large space?

The journey of Little Piece Of You began when exciting new talent Kjersti Long started writing songs at the age of 14. The songs took on a life of their own and generated interest, eventually forming the heart of this musical. The family drama explored mother and daughter Shannon and Britt as they confront the hidden struggles that have plagued their family for generations, attempting to make sense of what they have in common in the hope of building a stronger future.

I want to start by reiterating how much I love new musicals. The excitement of seeing something unknown comes with the possibility of discovering your next favourite and falling in love. That is what I expected might happen with Little Piece Of You after being blown away by the songs I heard performed at Musical Con, so the review you’re about to read has been disappointing to write. It also doesn’t feel entirely fair to review something in such an early stage of its journey, but I was asked to review this show and will be fulfilling that. This is not the review I had hoped to write, however.

Kjersti Long’s songs are undoubtedly impressive. Wise beyond her years, she is a natural talent, penning some effortlessly beautiful numbers, all present in this show, delivering earworms and cleverly crafted numbers you might expect to find in the charts (if that’s even still a thing). The issue I have with Little Piece Of You is everything that surrounds it. I get the sense that the music was the starting point and everything else was shoehorned in in an attempt to give the music a platform. However, something has gone wrong here, and this was not the way to do it.

The book is disjointed at best, nonsensical and even completely missing at worst. Looking into the family’s history with mental health should have been not only a captivating subject matter but an important one too. Unfortunately, it has been given a complete disservice here in a story that is drastically underwritten and seriously underdeveloped. The characters are barely fleshed out and fail to connect, despite the best attempts of the wonderful performers portraying it. The narrative choice to go back in time for the start of act 2 and then go even further for another generation doesn’t add anything to the story and only goes to lessen the story of the main characters we are supposed to be invested in.

Starting as a concert with fictional pop star Sidney Hill (played by writer Kjersti Long), her story is all but dismissed instantly in an unfortunate parallel with a recent tragedy. The sudden end to her story feels like an afterthought, with seemingly no reference to her again. The sense I got was this story was inserted in solely to give a character to the show’s writer. If that is the case, it needed to be a lot stronger than this, If Sidney is going to be a character in the show herself, we need to be able to empathise with her so that the tragedy that awaits her actually means something. To then rarely mention her again but have the performer remain on the stage to sing was a jarring choice, particularly when the story went from 2023 to 1998 and 1973, with Sidney still seemingly present despite the fact she wouldn’t have been born yet. There was an opportunity to draw comparisons for the three generations and the musicians they idolised with Kjersti Long portraying them all – instead, we had an idea that seemed to be no more than a few words with no thought on how to actually carry it out.

It is a harsh comment to make but I couldn’t shake the feeling that people involved with creating this show didn’t quite understand exactly how to put on this show. This was reflected in the abrupt stopping of songs, prolonged silences and more awkward moments than you would expect to see in a theatre of this stature. With these one-off concerts, the very nature of them means rehearsal time is limited and the show wouldn’t be bedded in enough to have a smooth run. This is exactly why critics don’t review shows in previews, so they can be given the time to be at their best, ready for press night to come and hopefully wow the audience. This, of course, is not a luxury that can be given to concerts such as this one, particularly when such a stellar cast are involved. However, it leads to problems being aired publicly when these could have been fixed prior to being seen by an audience. Little Piece Of You is nowhere near ready to be seen by a paying public audience, especially for the prices on offer here. This is a show in desperate need of further workshopping and a complete overhaul to the book.

The book is completely at odds with Long’s music. The songs are the best part of the show but the book adds nothing to them at all, with lyrics not furthering the story and feeling randomly inserted. This makes it hard to view Little Piece Of You cohesively as it jumped all over the place, never quite knowing what it wants to say or how to get there. I wonder if the book was even necessary for this? The songs stand strong on their own, and perhaps this is a show that would have fared better as purely a concert with the songs speaking for themselves.

Though it is billed as a concert, this production has been fully staged. Unfortunately confused direction and questionable choreography go further to highlight the show’s struggles, with some particularly poor pacing plunging the show into silence and awkwardness on multiple occasions. For such a big stage, it never quite manages to fill it with cast members at times looking blankly and purely speaking the words with no meaning – again speaking for the constraints in rehearsal time, and any other factors that may have limited the time they had available. Justin Williams’ set design is full of potential though this is never fully explored – a theme that is prominent in every other aspect of the show. More thought seems to have gone on the multiple ways to make the beds on stage throughout the story - a prop that has been given more life and character than the humans on stage.

The greatest strength in Little Piece Of You is that of its sensational cast. Having wowed audiences in Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), Dujonna Gift once again proves why she is destined to be a force to be reckoned with in theatre, delivering powerhouse vocals and a captivating characterisation that makes the most of the limited writing each character she portrays has been given. In ‘Who Turned The Lights Out’, she showcases her impressive capabilities with a vocal that can seemingly suit any style, and brings this pop-rock anthem to a whole new level. It is her time as Sidney Hill fan Britt that proves the most interesting, with the time reverse seeing her play her mother and grandmother less effective given the lack of time or development these characters have been given. One musical highlight comes from Dujonna Gift and Kjersti Long teaming up for a rousing ‘The Road’, showcasing gorgeous vocals blending together to create a little piece of musical heaven.

Soul legend Mica Paris brings the house down with her phenomenal vocals throughout, though struggled more getting to grips with the material, never quite bringing that same amount of power to the words. Any opportunity to hear her vocals is enough to make up for any other shortcomings, however, and she was on fine form vocally here. Having returned from his time on Broadway, the sensational David Bedella is woefully underused as the fathers in the story. Wheeled out sporadically and adding absolutely nothing to the story, each character he plays isn’t just underdeveloped – it feels like they have been given nothing more than a name and a title of “father”. The fact he also doesn’t sing a single note in the show feels like a crime in itself. There is also a distinct lack of chemistry between the family members which prevented any authenticity the show needs to convey its message.

Writer Kjersti Long demonstrates a singing voice every bit as impressive as her writing abilities though her necessity to be in this story does leave her perched on the stage aimlessly for large chunks of the show. Going back to her music which led to the creation of the show -numbers such as rousing concert opener ‘Half Happy;’, ‘Sad Song’ and the epically amazing ‘Burn It Down’ prove what a talent she is, though the inclusion of five separate people for additional lyrics does create an uneven and disjointed watch with distinct styles creating a varying quality between songs, and some questionable lyrics at times, particularly in ‘Hydroplane’, proving to be one of the weakest numbers compared to the strengths elsewhere. Though the songs are the strongest part of the show, they are extremely limited with far too much usage of dialogue, sometimes for prolonged sequences that are crying out for another musical number to be inserted.

There is plenty of potential in Little Piece Of You but it has ventured down the wrong road somehow and come up with a variety of elements that don’t blend together, instead creating something messy that weakens the strong music that started the show. Though the songs are outstanding and the cast, though underutilised, are all stars in their own right, this was a very uncomfortable and unsatisfying watch – and one I feel premiered long before it was ready. It was a bold and ambitious choice to stage a musical as new as this as Theatre Royal Drury Lane and, sadly, it didn’t quite pay off this time, with that grand stage highlighting the inadequacies of the show. While the subject matter is an important one and something that should be given a larger platform, it came across cold and unable to connect due to the problems in the writing.

I personally questioned whether the songs need a musical built around them or whether they can survive on their own as a concept album? Little Piece Of You is a great album and one I would encourage people to listen to. Had I been reviewing the album instead, this review would have a completely different star rating. As a musical, however, it is far less successful. If the hope is still to make this a musical, the book needs a complete rewrite and different creatives need to come on board to be able to guide this show to where it can be. In the right hands, Little Piece Of You could be incredibly special. In its current form, however, it needs a lot of work – far more work than I would expect for something staged at a theatre such as this one. If something positive has come of this though, it has brought attention to the exciting talent that is Kjersti Long – definitely one to watch in the years to come.

Little Piece Of You played at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 31st October and 1st November.

The world premiere recording album is available to stream online.

Photos by Roger Alarcon.