Little Miss Sunshine

Offizielle deutsche Übersetzung
im Auftrag von Musik und Bühne

2022

Little Miss Sunshine

Musical
von William Finn
und James Lapine
(2013)

Offizielle deutsche Übersetzung
im Auftrag von Musik und Bühne
2022

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

"Little Miss Sunshine" am Off-Broadway | Photo © Joan Marcus

Über das
Stück

Buch
James Lapine

Musik & Liedtexte
William Finn

Uraufführung
15. Februar 2011
La Jolla Playhouse
San Diego

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

"Little Miss Sunshine" am Off-Broadway | Photo © Beowulf Boritt

Songs

Musikalische Nummern

The Way Of The World

For The First Time In My Life

The Happiest Guy In The Van

Pushing The Bus

Always Makes Me Proud

Poor Olive

How Have I Been?

Motel Sequence (Part 1)

The Most Beautiful Girl In The World

Motel Sequence (Part 2)

Something Better Better Happen

Nothing Gets In The Way

Something Better Reprise

Dwayne

What You Left Behind

LMS Pageant Theme

Dolor

The Way Of The World (Reprise)

Shake Your Badonkadonk

Finale

"Little Miss Sunshine" am Off-Broadway | Photo © Beowulf Boritt

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.

"Little Miss Sunshine" am Off-Broadway | Photo © Sara Krulwich/The Ney York Times

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."