Little Miss Sunshine the Musical

A musical based on the film, with music and lyrics by William Finn and book and direction by James Lapine, was workshopped at the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at White Oak in Yulee, Florida October 25 through November 7, 2009. It then premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse from February 15 through March 27, 2011. The cast features Hunter Foster, Malcolm Gets, Georgi James, Dick Latessa, Jennifer Laura Thompson, and Taylor Trensch. On March 11, 2011 Malcolm Gets left the show.

Ensemble member Andrew Samonsky took over the role of Uncle Frank, and understudy Ryan Wagner took over the role of Joshua Rose until the show closed on March 27, 2011. The Musical is opening off Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre October 2013. Cast includes Stephanie J. Block, Will Chase, Rory O’Malley, Wesley Taylor, David Rasche, Josh Lamon, Logan Rowland and Jennifer Sanchez.

The Story

On life’s twisty road, sometimes you need to pull over and change direction. When the coveted title of “Little Miss Sunshine” is unexpectedly within her reach, young Olive Hoover convinces her family to make the 800-mile trek to the pre-teen pageant of her dreams. Along the way, a series of mishaps threatens to derail the group’s quest for the crown, until they realize a young girl’s far-fetched goal may actually hold the key to the family’s happiness.

2011 Cast

The Movie

Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American comedy-drama road film and the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Michael Arndt. The movie stars Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin. Little Miss Sunshine received critical acclaim and had an international box office gross of $100.5 million. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two: Best Original Screenplay for Michael Arndt and Best Supporting Actor for Alan Arkin. It also won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature and received numerous other accolades.

Video

From Fox Searchlight Pictures

William Finn

William Alan Finn is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book. Finn is especially noted for his work on what was to become a trilogy of short musicals Off-Broadway. In Trousers, March of the Falsettos, and Falsettoland all chronicle the lives of the character Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, his boyfriend, Whizzer, his psychiatrist, Mendel, and his son, Jason. Falsettos, the combination of the latter two parts of his Marvin Trilogy (March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland), opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theater on April 29, 1992, and ran for 486 performances. It won the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book, the latter shared with James Lapine.

Finn had another Broadway success with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, for which he wrote both music and lyrics. The show won two Tony Awards in 2005-one for Best Book of a Musical, and another for the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical. It ran Off-Broadway, then on Broadway in 2005 and toured the United States in 2006. Finn is a heavily autobiographical writer; he always writes his own lyrics. His topics have included the gay and Jewish experiences in contemporary America, and also family, belonging, sickness, healing, and loss. According to a 2006 article, “The Washington Post called him ‘the composer laureate of loss.'”

James Lapine

James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.In 1982 he was introduced to Stephen Sondheim,and they decided to work on a musical together, which became Sunday in the Park With George, with Lapine writing the book and directing with Sondheim’s music.

In 1992 Lapine returned to working with William Finn, and wrote the book and directed the Broadway musical Falsettos. Lapine wrote the book, with Finn composing the music, for A New Brain, which premiered Off-Broadway in 1998. They later worked together with Lapine directing Finn’s musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which premiered Off-Broadway in 2005 and then transferred to Broadway. The New York Times reviewer wrote of the Spelling Bee Broadway transfer that “Mr. Lapine has sharpened all the musical’s elements without betraying its appealing modesty.”

Lapine has also directed dramas, including Dirty Blonde, which ran Off-Broadway and on Broadway in 2000. Conceived by Claudia Shear and Lapine and written by Shear with direction by Lapine, Ben Brantley called Lapine’s direction “stylish and compassionate.”Lapine was nominated for the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award, for Best Direction of a Play.

Off Broadway

Little Miss Sunshine the Musical opens at the Second Stage Theatre previews beginning mid October 2013 . Second Stage Theatre productions have launched the successful careers of numerous directors, actors, playwrights and artists, many of whom regularly
return to work at Second Stage.