By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Monday 19 October and running through 24 October 2026 RUNTIME: 140 minutes (including a 15-minute interval)

This musical of the 1991 classic Oscar-winning female road movie was 1 of the most eagerly awaited shows this autumn and we see it in its final week at this venue to assess whether it’s any gas left in its tank.

• Read on for reasons including how the biggest injustice in this show is how the 5* story receives 2* songs

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon (Mary Page Marlowe, Old Vic) played the leads in the film but it was writer Callie Khouri who won its Oscar from 6 nominations and the good news is she wrote the musical’s book.

The best thing about this version is that we’re constantly reminded of the rage at the heart of the film’s screenplay as the titular friends, fed up of waiting for their unreliable men to show up on a Friday night, decide to hit the road for a weekend away together.

The women let their hair down in a bar, a man attempts to rape Thelma outside, Louise shoots him and the pair go on the run.

It’s cast really well and Amy Lennox (Opening Night, Gielgud Theatre) and Rachel Tucker as Thelma and Louise sing the socks off what they’re given but the biggest injustice of this show is that the 5* story receives just 2* songs.

The best example of how you transform a hit film into a compelling musical is Pride, arguably the hit of the summer a stone’s throw from this venue at the National’s Dorfman, which transfers to the Bridge Theatre next month.

Jordan Luke Gage, who wrote and starred in other breakout summer hit set for a transfer – Redcliffe at Southwark Playhouse, appears here as Thelma’s love interest (pictured above) and Trevor Dion Nicholas (Next To Normal, Donmar Warehouse) is terrific as the cop and father of 2 daughters on the women’s tail trying to do the right thing who asks his wise wife to shed light on Thelma and Louise’s behaviour.

The UK is clearly the place rather than the US to try these things out and it’s unfortunate that so few of the songs have been released publicly before we see this and there isn’t even a list of numbers in the programme to help an audience member trying to make sense of the score.

For A Change (watch and listen below) is 1 of the few songs we remember and it’s a good starting point for the show with Louise persuading Thelma why she should accompany her.

If you’re interested, we would encourage you to see this musical before it closes on Saturday (24 October) for no other reason than we’re not convinced it has a life after this Young Vic run.

Superbly performed, with a memorable, hard-hitting and still very relevant story, Thelma and Louise the musical just doesn’t have the tunes to propel it off its cliff.

• Main pictures by via Facebook courtesy the Young Vic Tickets
• Have you seen a Young Vic show before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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