Review: Fly More Than You Fall, Southwark Playhouse

For the first fifteen minutes this new musical from Eric Holmes and Nat Zegree seems unrealistically positive and upbeat, as fifteen year old Malia (Robyn Rose-Li) is taken by her parents to a writer’s camp for the summer. There’s a cute song about the joys of life, a dash of broad comedy when a fellow student reads some Star Wars fan fiction involving a terrible impression of Jar Jar Binks, and an appealing if swift friendship between Malia and slightly older student Caleb (Max Gill).

We also get to witness the first example of some of Malia’s writing when she reads out a story about two birds (personified on stage by Maddison Bulleyment and Edward Chitticks) who can’t fly, and one of them sprints over to Malia and belts out a song. The device allows the musical to include a very meta take on what’s about to happen, but it’s also at this point when reality gatecrashes the party, as Malia’s parents return all too soon with the news that her mother Jennifer (Keala Settle) has stage four cancer.

Musicals about serious subjects or tragic stories have to handle problematic material extremely carefully, and Fly More Than You Fall occasionally stumbles on this front. There are parts of the play where it needs to tread gently but instead stomps noisily, and there’s the odd mawkish moment which would have been far more effective if it were less saccharine. The meta element with Malia’s writing reflecting her real life is lacking in subtlety as well. Though the play addresses the fact that she’s still very young and has a lot to learn about the craft of writing, her fiction contains clunky, simplistic dialogue that is filled with cliches, leaving it feeling odd that it’s supposedly written by an award winning fifteen year old.

Yet despite these issues the production does manage to impress a fair amount with its take on what it’s like to watch a parent not so slowly die, and the aftermath of such a tragic event. After those slightly bland first fifteen minutes it becomes increasingly clear that these characters aren’t perfect, they say and do things which are mean or selfish or cruel, and the writing takes on an honest and believable tone. It also captures the confusing and contradictory responses to grief with nuance, whilst the songs are both musically and lyrically more affecting as Malia’s life becomes increasingly difficult.

The musical is at its best when it highlights how Malia wishes she could escape from seeing her mother deteriorate just once in a while, and how after the tragedy occurs there’s no right or wrong way to deal with grief. It’s not relentlessly miserable though and thankfully it’s not afraid to be funny. There’s even a hint of a romcom and the way it comments upon how people respond to death amuses in a realistic manner.

This is not a subtle work but, given all of the sensitive subjects it covers, it gets more right than wrong. The cast all shine and the selection of songs are very likeable and mostly memorable. Best of all is that it doesn’t shy away from showing how damaged people sometimes mistreat each other. Yet it still manages to end on a high note which makes all of the bleaker moments worthwhile.

Book and Lyrics by: Eric Holmes
Music and Lyrics by: Nat Zegree
Orchestrations and Arrangements by: Daniel Edmonds
Directed by: Christian Durham

Fly More Than You Fall runs at the Southwark Theatre Elephant until 23rd November.
Tickets and further information is here.