This all-singing adaptation of the blockbuster 2004 Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore romcom is written by cult US musical comedy duo Steve Rosen and David Rossmer, who have been admirably pragmatic in looking at the source movie and concluding that no, you absolutely cannot do a lot of that stuff in a modestly sized London theatre in 2025.
Sandler played Henry, a free-spirited marine veterinarian living in Hawaii, whose somewhat problematic posse of hangers-on including a perpetually stoned native Hawaiian, an assistant whose indeterminate gender was a running joke, plus a walrus and a penguin (not problematic but difficult to replicate on stage thriftily).
Big name Broadway director Casey Nicholaw’s world premiere production very wisely ditches basically all of the above, with Rosen and Rossmer’s book reimagining Henry (Josh St Clair) as an improbably successful travel blogger, with no posse at all. He has made his name by hopping between US cities and capturing ‘one perfect day’ in each of them before moving on to the next (often leaving some poor smitten local girl high and dry). Now a lucrative contract to do the same in Europe hoves into view. But he has a final US stop in Florida’s Key Largo to make first.
From then it more or less cleaves to the film. In a local diner Henry meets Lucy (Georgina Castle), a winsome, free-spirited young woman who he spends a wonderful, wholesome day with, despite some funny looks from staff and locals. His agent is desperate to get him to Europe straight away, but he has arranged to meet with Lucy the next day and turns up with a bunch of flowers, only to discover she has no idea who he is. It turns out a car crash has robbed her of her short term memory.
I think you can engage with this premise in several ways, and the one I’ve opted for is ‘well it’s what happened in the film and they’ve taken all the really dodgy stuff out, so let’s not worry about the accuracy of its depiction of short term memory loss too much’. The locals’ determination to give Lucy the same happy day over and over again so she won’t have to continuously deal with repeatedly discovering the truth is obviously nuts. The fact that Lucy seems to be in perfect health other than her memory of the day is wiped out when she goes to sleep does not sound very medically likely to me (what if she has a nap? What if she pulls an all-nighter?).
But determinedly not worrying about any of that… and it’s all pretty charming. Rosen and Rossmer’s songs aren’t necessarily desperately memorable, but they are very pleasant, with big, bright ELO-ish melodies. The change in scenario takes a bit of getting used to, and I suppose as a Brit it’s somewhat bemusing that a musical that’s premiering over here is banging on so wholeheartedly about how wonderful Florida is (no offence but most recent news from the Sunshine State makes it sound dreadful).
I’m sure the plan is to restage it in the States, possibly on Broadway, but crucial to its charm is the fact that it’s not a big Broadway production slumming it in a small theatre – it’s got distinct indie vibes, with a (relatively) small, sweet cast working away furiously, cute, slightly wobbly sets from Fly Davis and little in the way of splashy setpieces (George Reeve’s projections are the most ostentatious things here). It’s a bit schmaltzy, but the fact that it doesn’t treat Lucy’s brain injury as something that’s going to be cured by a kiss from the right guy does give it a bit of an emotional edge. It’s also barely over 90 minutes, with no interval, far from the bloat one associates with this sort of thing.
Crucially, St Clair and Castle have good chemistry together and they’re winningly wholesome – he never tries any sleazy tricks on her, he just falls for her instantly, and while it’s obviously farfetched, it’s also relaxed and intimate and ultimately just about two nice people who you want things to work out for.
I think scaling up would present challenges – piling on the razzle dazzle doesn’t seem like it would enhance the show much. But as it stands it’s all very likeable, an adaptation of a familiar IP that skips all the baggage and bombast that usually comes with that.
