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Sheridan Smith is praised for her 'exquisite' performance in Opening Night yet critics agree it's not enough to save the 'hot mess' of a show
The performer, 42, stars as functioning alcoholic actress Myrtle Gordon in the new musical - which is based on the 1977 drama film starring Gena Rowlands.
The Daily Mail's Patrick Marmion branded the show a 'theatrical mash-up', writing: 'It's almost as if this studiously obtuse new musical which opened in the West End last night was designed to sabotage its fabulous leading lady, Sheridan Smith. 'Belgian avant-garde theatre director Ivo Van Hove’s musical, set backstage during a show, is determinedly unflashy and oblique, dimly illuminated by singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s operatic torch songs.' 'It’s a weird, wry, very human vehicle for a superb group of actors to tell a story that looks like it’s going to be an archetypal fable about a doomed star, but thrillingly pulls away from that, as Myrtle literally changes the script of her life and ‘Opening Night’ drifts into a euphoric final fantasia.'
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