HappyLand

115270 original

The only way this show could be saved is if the writers, midway through, had decided in a moment of pure artistic genius to metamorphose it into a kind of Orwellian nightmare. Smiley 412, however, turns out not to be a double agent monitoring inmate Joey’s every movement and the strangely rebellious girl trapped within the therapy unit HappyLand becomes the self-appointed leader of the revolution rather than revealing herself to be a psychotic turncoat biding her time to crush the masses. All of this is incredibly disappointing.

In this saccharine, ludicrous and consistently feeble new musical, inmates of HappyLand not famous enough to be missed are either ‘de-jollified’ and turned into living zombies, or given the chance to become ‘smilies’ who control and guard the remaining guests. When taxidermist Joey checks in he manages to fall for one of these custodians of jollity, expressing his deep-seated love with the immortal words ‘there must be a big heart behind that enormous face’.

One of the chief components of a musical is usually the medium of song, which is why it is unfortunate that the majority of the cast are not accomplished singers despite their London drama school credits. The only acting worth mentioning comes from Carlo Bosticco and his turn as the confused, acceptance-seeking villain, and the only reason for the extra star up there is for the oomph with which the cast throw themselves gallantly every night into a show that is more flimsy than the infrastructure of Zimbabwe and less witty than the back of a cereal packet.

Bring on room 101.