'Thelma & Louise: A New Musical' review — Amy Lennox and Rachel Tucker are outstanding in this ode to friendship

Read our review of Thelma & Louise: A New Musical, now in performances at the Young Vic to 24 October.

Summary

• Thelma & Louise: A New Musical has its world premiere at the Young Vic
• Callie Khouri adapts her own Oscar-winning screenplay
• Neko Case supplies soulful ballads and rock anthems
• Amy Lennox and Rachel Tucker both have outstanding stage presence

The iconic 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise, with its emphasis on female solidarity, provides a story in which women are (literally) in the driving seat and the men are largely accessories. A proposed weekend at a lakeside cabin takes a dark turn in transit and the two heroines end up on the run from the police, sticking together until the bitter end. Led by power pair Amy Lennox and Rachel Tucker with a score by multifaceted singer-songwriter Neko Case, there's plenty of potential in this new musical adapation that's anchored by the strength of the story and its memorable characters.

There is a considerable amount of anarchic spirit, but it doesn’t go as far as it could or fully embrace what musical theatre has to offer. Adapted by Callie Khouri from her own Oscar-winning screenplay, it follows the original story faithfully. Along the way, Harlan (Tamlyn Henderson), a local “good ol’ boy”, tries to rape Thelma in the parking lot and is shot by Louise. No one would believe that it was self-defence as he and Thelma were seen dancing and flirting, so the only option is to run for it.

Despite being a story in which the protagonists are hurtling around the American southwest, there’s little sense of movement in Trip Cullman’s leisurely production. The set opens up towards the beginning to reveal an overturned car, but that’s never seen again, and the staging is oddly bound to a single location (a dive bar designed by Christine Jones and Brett J. Banakis), with the car represented at brief intervals by whooshing lighting.

In a musical version, one would expect soulful ballads and anthems laced with bitter irony and full-on lawless zeal. Case’s score is effectively evocative of 1980s and early ‘90s country pop and it delivers on the soulful ballads, though several feel unfinished and many of the lyrics get lost in the too-loud sound design. When it comes to anthems, the soulfulness transitions into some pulsating rock moments in the stronger and more purposeful second act, notably in the opening number in which Thelma holds up a convenience store.

Stepping into Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon’s boots, Lennox and Tucker both have outstanding stage presence and do a sterling job as Thelma and Louise respectively, with the pair’s chaotic friendship the driving force of the piece. Lennox’s Thelma is delightful as her repressed wild streak is given full rein, and she gets many of the most vibrant musical moments, in which her energy is as frizzled as her perm. Tucker is tough yet vulnerable in the comparatively understated role of the more grounded, guarded Louise, who has her own secrets and delivers a painful revelation towards the end.

Along the way, they pick up J.D. (a brooding Jordan Luke Gage), the romantic drifter who quotes Thomas Hardy and provides Thelma with a sexual awakening, having only ever been intimate with her boorish husband Darrell (Samuel Edwards), whom she married straight out of high school. However, while sex is part of the journey, ultimately, it’s friendship that sustains.

Detective Hal Slocumb (a dignified Trevor Dion Nicholas) is reimagined as the only Black detective in the district, which is an interesting idea, if underdeveloped. His decision to treat these two white women sympathetically appears to be motivated “as a father of daughters” rather than seeing women as human beings.

It calls to mind A Face in the Crowd, the Young Vic’s most recent original musical, another homage to Americana that similarly struggled to fully deliver on its rich themes despite many appealing aspects. Where Thelma & Louise does succeed is in its depiction of friendship and “everywomen” pushed over the edge: as credible in 2026 as in 1991, the year in which Clarence Thomas was elected to the Supreme Court despite allegations of sexual harassment. Alas, nothing has changed when it comes to men in power being able to survive every imaginable disgrace. Perhaps with some revisions and a stronger theatrical identity, it could carry us over the Grand Canyon in the future.

Thelma & Louise: A New Musical is at the Young Vic to 24 October. Book Thelma & Louise: A New Musical tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Thelma & Louise: A New Musical (Photos by Helen Murray)