Little White Feathers – Hope Street Theatre

I’m often excited when I get to see new works especially musicals. Last night’s offering was called ‘Little White Feathers’ a story of love, loss and laughter with 17 original songs.

This story is a tale of two ladies, firstly Vivian Edwards (Kate Mulrooney) who sadly lost her daughter as a young girl. A pain that never really goes away for a mother. She believes that when she finds a white feather it’s a sign from her late mother that she (her angel) is with her watching over her. Viv owns a costume shop in Liverpool with her husband Frankie (Tony Prince) and their motto is it’s always a yes, no matter of the request. In to the shop walks in a young American girl called Emmy (Beth McShane) from the Deep South. She’s in Liverpool on the search to find her biological father. Upon entering the shop, she believes that Frankie could be the father she’s on the hunt to find and asks him to take the test.  Viv is beside herself as she has already lost her own child with her husband and now it looks like he could have another with another lady from his past. He hesitantly agrees to the test but when they all receive the results theres it offers up more questions that need to be answered within the show. Aside from this Mental Mick (Bobby Sox) a man not to be messed with puts pressure on Frankie to bring him a package he’s expecting at his birthday bash and of course Frankie and Viv provide the costumes, Dancers and entertainment. All hosted by Compare and actor Brain (Leslie Longley).

So, this musical does have a lot of promise and it is a story that is heartfelt, moving and entertaining. However, I don’t feel it works as a musical per se, i think it would work better as a 90 minuite play. The reason why I say this is because the music didn’t always compliment the beautiful lyrics and I’d rather have heard it as a monologue. Along with this some of the harmonies fell a little flat. I do think there is promise here but personally as a play those important moments would hit home a lot better. The show is described as an “emotional rollercoaster” that will have you crying one minute and laughing the next. I didn’t feel that it needed to have us laughing and rarely we were, because the story was beautiful as it is by talking about a sensitive topic. The audience members were enjoying the show and a few tears were shed from the beautiful moments shared by the two leading ladies. I hope this comes back again as a play as I’m unsure if I’d personally come back to see it again as a musical. It could have some scenes scrapped because it took away from the bigger story for example, I didn’t really understand why Mick was in the story I felt it didn’t really add much to the piece.

Of stage there were a few technical hiccups with microphones and backing tracks being too loud so lyrics were missed or blackouts not lasting as long so you could see scene changes happening before the scenes could start. The actors on stage handled it very well.

Reviewer: Luke Stephenson

Reviewed: 22nd April 2023

North West End UK Rating: ★★★