Beautiful Little Fool

Design wise, the set itself, designed by Shankho Chadhuri, is intriguing and not at all what we’d expect for a show about these particular icons of the 20’s. Yet it has a charm and an air of familiarity about it, reminiscent of the description of Gatsby’s library from The Great Gatsby. We half expect Owl Eyes to drunkenly stumble out of the shadows. Upon learning that this is the family archive, this set makes complete sense, especially given how out of place Scottie looks in it. 

The second her parents arrive to illustrate the tale, the haze sets in. Unfortunately, Laura Hopkins’s designs don’t quite seem to match the setting, which in turn creates a sense of confusion along with lack of circumstantial clarification from Mona Mansour’s book. Where exactly are we? 

Even if Francis and Zelda are figments of Scottie’s memories or imagination, surely they would be dressed in fashion of the period? Given that Zelda was the ‘it girl’ and commonly referred to as ‘the first flapper’, she would surely appear as the epitome of that style. Not to mention that her mother mysteriously appears to have adopted the New York style as opposed to the traditional southern styles of the time, which also doesn’t make sense. 

Why is this important? Costumes very much aid contextual understanding and tell us a lot about the characters. In this case, the costumes feel out of place for most of these characters. So what is the context? The family archive, yes, but we aren’t entirely sure why Scottie is there and if the action takes place in the archive or in Scottie’s memories. Then there’s the added issue of why fourth wall breaking is used by the character of Scottie- she establishes that she’s not a historian- but why does she talk to us? Are we supposed to be in this private archive with her? Is she trying to make sense of things for herself or is she trying to explain the truth and protect the family legacy?

This becomes a running issue with this musical: the ‘why’ is missing.