'50 First Dates' review — Casey Nicholaw directs a wholesome adaptation of the 2004 romcom

Read our review of 50 First Dates, starring Georgina Castle and Josh St. Clair, now in performances at The Other Palace.

It’s fitting that the seeds of a stage adaptation of 50 First Dates were first planted during the pandemic. As people around the world were living their own versions of Groundhog Day, writers Steve Rosen and David Rossmer, along with director Casey Nicholaw, started to piece together a musical about a woman who is forced to repeat every day in the same way after losing her short-term memory in a car accident.

That musical has just arrived at London’s The Other Palace in a sweetly packaged, modern update on the original 2004 film, which starred Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler as Lucy and Henry. The setting has been transplanted from the tropical climes of Hawaii to the similarly sunny Key Largo in Florida, presumably to distance the musical from the offensive portrayals of Hawaiian people in the film.

There are also half-hearted attempts to shift 50 First Dates into the present day, with references to Siri and Zoom calls (there’s the pandemic creeping in), and leading man Henry swaps his career as a marine vet in the film to become a travel influencer, which is positioned as a more shallow aspiration in a musical that prizes community above all else.

Initially, much is made of Henry’s rootless state, but we never really buy into this idea of him being a womanising globetrotter. Josh St. Clair’s puppyish and dorky Henry seems to abandon his glamorous career almost as soon as his opening number “Everything” has finished and he’s locked eyes with Georgina Castle’s loveable Lucy.

During the musical’s brief 100-minute runtime, it skirts over any real meditations on the issue of consent (with Lucy unable to remember the man she is supposed to love when each new day begins), but Henry’s unthreatening demeanour helps to smooth over this imbalance within their relationship. The message here is clear and simple: love will overcome adversity (even if it can't quite bring her memory back).

Castle steals the show as wholesome, endearing Lucy, and she has sweet chemistry with St. Clair, capturing the heady thrill of young love in the duet “They’re Not You”. Her character is full of warmth and energy, and occasionally offers up brilliant deadpan lines, which are faintly reminiscent of her star turn as the venomous Regina George in Mean Girls (another Nicholaw production, also based on a 2004 film) earlier this year.

Chad Saint Louis’s performance is one for the theatre kids, playing Disney enthusiast/cafe waiter Sandy and showing off big, belting vocals in the camp number “Key Largo”. Aiesha Naomi Pease shines as Ukulele Sue in “I’ll Be Back Tomorrow”, although the song feels exposition-heavy as the plot rattles through Lucy’s accident and new normal. Charlie Toland brings comic relief as Lucy’s odd-ball brother Doug, his t-shirt tan lines a funny visual reminder of their tropical setting as London creeps into autumn.

Fly Davis’s simple set makes a virtue of the Other Palace’s small stage, using a rotating — though slightly rickety — set piece to move from cafe to porch to bedroom. But with West End hits like Mean Girls and Hercules under his belt, it’s likely Nicholaw has his sights set on a bigger stage for London’s latest screen-to-stage romcom — only time will tell whether this tear-jerking production sticks in the mind.

Book 50 First Dates tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Georgina Castle and Josh St.Clair in 50 First Dates. (Photo by Pamela Raith)