REVIEW: THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT @ SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

🎭 The Jonathan Larson Project

📍 The Large, Southwark Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD

🗓 Monday 13th July 2026

⭐️ 4 Stars

A WONDERFUL CELEBRATION OF A LOST LEGACY

I have literally been vibrating with excitement for this one! A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited into the rehearsal room to get a cheeky sneak peek at some of the material, and let me tell you, my expectations were already through the roof. Thankfully, the UK premiere of THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT at Southwark Playhouse Borough more than lives up to expectations.

For the uninitiated, Jonathan Larson was the genius behind generation-defining musicals like Rent and tick, tick... BOOM!, whose life was tragically cut short just before his greatest success. This show isn't a traditional narrative musical. It is a beautifully curated song cycle of rare, unproduced, and previously unheard tracks rescued from his private archives.

The evening kicks off with "Greene Street", an early 1983 track that sets the mood perfectly. It’s an energetic, evocative opening number that drops us right into the gritty, romanticised, bohemian landscape of 1980s New York, wonderfully setting the stage for the treasure trove of music to follow.

It certainly helps that the production has assembled a cast made up of some of my absolute favourite musical theatre performers working today. Michael Mather is magnificent, particularly with his performance of "Valentine’s Day" - a cut song from early drafts of Rent that he delivers with exquisite precision. I am always in awe of Natalie Kassanga, and here she brings the house down with vocals that are nothing short of beautiful, heartfelt, and deeply moving.

Imelda Warren-Green injects a fantastic burst of energy into the room, giving us a wonderfully sassy, sultry rendition of "Break Out the Booze", while the brilliantly talented Max Harwood grounds the ensemble with his signature charm and vocals.

But for me, the ultimate standout of the night has to be Marcus Collins. His vocals are pure, unadulterated soul. Every time he takes the lead, his performance is incredibly engaging, powerful, and brimming with raw emotion. It's hard to take your eyes off him. He is a true shining star.

What makes Larson’s writing so magical is that even completely out of context, these standalone songs are utterly gripping. You find yourself laughing one minute and feeling a profound wave of emotion the next. "Hosing the Furniture" - a track about a deeply frustrated housewife that originally won Larson the Stephen Sondheim Award - is a brilliantly funny, eccentric outlier in the setlist. By contrast, closing the evening with "Piano" is a really poignant, lump-in-the-throat moment. It's an intimate, autobiographical song about a musician's sacred relationship with their instrument, and knowing it was one of the last things he wrote makes it hit incredibly hard.

If I'm being completely honest, the evening was let down slightly by the technical elements. Unfortunately, the sound mix just felt entirely wrong on the night. There were chunks of the show where the band sounded incredibly distant - as if they were playing in the next room or underwater. Curiously, though, there were opposite moments where the music randomly surged and completely drowned out the actors' vocals. In a show entirely dedicated to lyrics that have never been heard before, losing that clarity is a bit of a shame.

Visually, the set design feels incredibly apt for the piece. The back of the stage features a large sheet acting as a projection screen, which is used to introduce the history of each song. However, these written introductions were a bit too quick for my liking - truly a case of "blink and you'll miss it". Plus, depending on where you are sitting in the auditorium, your view of the text might be completely obscured. I can't help but wonder if it would have been more effective and personal to just have the cast introduce the background of each song verbally. Luckily, the lighting design works pretty well to compensate, washing the space in rich colours and creating, for the most part, a lovely, intimate atmosphere. There were a few occasions where I felt the lighting was perhaps concentrated on the wrong part of the stage, but overall it was very good.

Minor technical gripes aside, the overall experience of the evening is something special. For any theatre lover, it is an absolute privilege and a joy to hear these lost pieces of musical history - some of which are being presented to the world for the very first time. It's a vital, emotional, and rocking celebration of a legacy that ended far too soon.

THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT runs at Southwark Playhouse Borough until Saturday 22nd August 2026. CLICK HERE for more details and to book tickets.

Neill Kovacic-Clarke

All views are my own and I pride myself on being honest, fair and free from influence. Theatre is subjective and it is important to remember that all views expressed are just those of one reviewer.  

My ticket for this performance of The Jonathan Larson Project was gifted by KWPR who invited me to watch the show in exchange for my honest review. The fact that my ticket was gifted played no part in the content of my review or the star rating given. 

CAST:

Max Harwood as Man One; Imelda Warren-Green as Woman One; Michael Mather as Man Two; Natalie Kassanga as Woman Two; Marcus Collins as Man Three

RUNNING TIME (approx):

1 hour 20 minutes, with no interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Strong language; Sexual references; References to death

AGE RECOMMENDATION:

12+

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