Little Miss Sunshine

2022

Übersetzung

Little Miss
Sunshine

Musical von William Finn & James Lapine

Offizielle deutsche Übersetzung
im Auftrag von Musik und Bühne

Premiere (DSE)
01. Juli 2023
Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater | Schwerin

Aufführungsrechte
Musik und Bühne

Offizielle deutsche Übersetzung des Musicals von William Finn und James Lapine, basierend auf dem gleichnamigen Oscar-nominierten Spielfilm von 2006.

Die deutschsprachige Erstaufführung unter der Regie von Katja Wolff ist geplant für den 01. Juli 2023 am Mecklenburgischen Staatstheater im Rahmen der Schlossfestspiele Schwerin.

Little Miss Sunshine | UK Tour 2019
Photo © Richard H. Smith

Über das
Stück

Musik und Liedtexte
William Finn

Buch
James Lapine

Nach dem gleichnamigen Film
Drehbuch
Michael Arndt

Deutsche Übersetzung
Robin Kulisch

Off-Broadway-Premiere
14. November 2013
Second Stage Theatre | New York

Ebenso witzig wie berührend ist das Musical "Little Miss Sunshine" mit dem Buch von James Lapine, der u.a. mit Stephen Sondheim "Sunday In The Park With George" und "Into The Woods" schrieb, und der Musik von William Finn.

Die Familie Hoover hat schon bessere Tage gesehen. Vater Richard ist ein Motivationstrainer ohne Motivation, Großvater wurde soeben aus dem Seniorenheim geworfen, Sohn Dwayne hat ein Schweigegelübde abgelegt und Onkel Frank hat - frisch verlassen von seinem Lover - einen Selbstmordversuch hinter sich. Bleiben die Frauen: Mutter Sheryl, verständlicherweise unter Stress, aber immer tapfer, und schließlich Tochter Olive, die Jüngste, die unerschrocken einem Schönheitswettbewerb entgegenfiebert. Auf dem Weg dahin sortieren sich so manche Verhältnisse neu, und der Wettbewerb um den Titel "Little Miss Sunshine" erweist sich halb als Desaster, halb als Familientherapie.

Das Musical basiert auf dem oscarnominierten Film von 2006 und ist ein echtes Ensemblestück. Wenige, aber starke, liebenswerte Rollen, eine kleine Instrumentalbesetzung und geringe Anforderungen an die Ausstattung machen "Little Miss Sunshine" zu einem reizvollen Projekt.

Text | Musik und Bühne

When you have very few expectations,
Things that were once enormous frustrations
No longer are.
The key to contentment is to lower the bar.
The Way Of The World

Little Miss Sunshine | UK Tour 2019
Photo © Richard H. Smith

Songs

Musikalische Nummern

The Way Of The World
Family

For The First Time In My Life
Olive, Girls, Family

The Happiest Guy In The Van
Grandpa

Pushing The Bus
Family

Always Make Me Proud
Sheryl, Richard

Poor Olive
Girls

How Have I Been?
Frank, Joshua, Larry

Motel Sequence (Part 1)
Richard, Sheryl

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
Grandpa

Motel Sequence (Part 2)
Richard, Sheryl

Something Better Better Happen
Sheryl

Nothing Gets In The Way
Richard, Sheryl, Frank, Olive

Something Better (Reprise)
Richard, Sheryl, Frank, Olive, Ensemble

Dwayne
Dwayne

What You Left Behind
Richard

LMS Pageant Theme
Miss California, Buddy, Girls

Dolor
Miss California

The Way Of The World (Reprise)
Richard, Sheryl

Shake Your Badonkadonk
Olive, Richard, Frank, Sheryl, Dwayne

Finale
All

Little Miss Sunshine | UK Tour 2019
Photo © Richard H. Smith

Presse-stimmen

Charles Isherwood | The New York Times
14. November 2013

"The new musical 'Little Miss Sunshine' opens with an emotional cloudburst. As the fractured family at the center of the show gathers for dinner, just about everyone has a grim comment to make on the state of existence. [...]

But if you find yourself thinking, 'Oh dear, what Stephen Sondheim has wrought,' think again. Or just recall the trajectory of the popular movie of the same title, from which the show is adapted. Like that Oscar-laureled film, the musical soon makes a U-turn to head into peppier territory, with everyone arriving at a state of reasonable contentment in time for that 'shake your ba donk a donk' pageant climax.

'Little Miss Sunshine,' which opened on Thursday night at the Second Stage Theater, is the work of two venerable musical-theater veterans. The score is by William Finn, the composer and lyricist best known for 'Falsettos' and 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,' who writes light-fingered melodies and well-turned lyrics, often infused with dark, acerbic humor, as in that opening number. James Lapine, who directed those shows and wrote the book for 'Falsettos,' repeats both those chores here. He has also memorably collaborated with Mr. Sondheim, of course, and knows well how to dig into a character’s burdened heart and to find contrasting shades of light and dark in any story. [...]

At the movies, a road trip can really feel like a road trip. [...] Mr. Lapine cleverly creates the van by shifting around a suite of wheeled dining chairs. (Beowulf Boritt has designed a witty set that riffs on Google maps.)

[...] the show’s moving central ballad, 'Something Better Better Happen' — more lyrical (and memorable) than anything in this season’s other Off Broadway musical of family angst, 'Fun Home' — really hits the show-tune sweet spot, heightening a moment without simplifying or sentimentalizing it."

Something better better happen
And it better happen soon.
Will this sad unfunny morning
become a sunny afternoon?
Something Better Better Happen

Presse-stimmen

New York Post
14. November 2013

"Most of the beloved movie 'Little Miss Sunshine' takes place during a road trip: The hapless Hoover family drives from New Mexico to California so daughter Olive can compete in a children’s beauty pageant.

You can see how this would be a nightmare to stage.

The creators of the new musical adaptation didn’t even try to use a real vehicle — this ain’t no 'Sunset Boulevard' or 'Hands on a Hardbody.' Instead the actors sit on chairs, and dad Richard pretends to drive by holding onto a wheel at the end of a stick. When the Hoovers need to do a running start, some roll the chairs around while the others jog in place, panting.

And it works."

Theatermania
14. November 2013

"In the midst of 'Little Miss Sunshine', William Finn and James Lapine's new musical at Second Stage Theatre, there is a song called 'Something Better Better Happen.' This haunting ballad, one of the most beautiful Finn has ever written, expresses a mother's frustration at how nothing has yet gone right. Far too often does this quiet, heartbreaking prayer for a miracle extend beyond the proscenium and into the house.

Based on the brilliant 2006 film of the same name, 'Little Miss Sunshine' seems perfectly suited for the stage treatment, filled to the brim with quirky characters screaming to sing and emotional situations ripe for gut-punching tunes. As evidenced by their collaborations on the Tony-winning musicals "Falsettos' and 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee', Finn and Lapine make the ideal writing team for adapting this material. [...]

This-already-fractured family in search of the American dream quickly becomes even more fractured than the VW, which breaks down almost as soon as they hit the road and requires consistent pushes to get going. With the inventive help of choreographer Michelle Lynch and a bunch of rolly chairs, Lapine manages to replicate this image, indelibly performed on screen, in an impressively theatrical fashion. In fact, for a piece set mostly inside that vehicle, Lapine's staging rightly recognizes the necessity to open the material up and let it breathe."

Things get better or they worsen.
Or, at least, they move.
I'm the sort of silly person
Who believes things will improve.
Something Better Better Happen