@sohoplace

‘It’s a terrible idea for a show’ says the actor playing Henry Fraser in the early moments of new musical ‘The Big Little Things’.  But don’t believe him. This story, based on the memoir of the same name written by the real-life Henry Fraser about the 2009 holiday accident that changed his life forever and left him paralysed from the neck down tingles with tenderness, defiance and spirit. The show, adapted by Joe White, tracks Henry’s life from a carefree, rugby-obsessed 17-year-old through the traumas of his sudden disability, up to the beginnings of his successful career as a painter. Each chapter is rich with surprise as well as sadness and new adventure. Centred around a conversation between Henry pre-accident (Jonny Amies) and post-accident (Ed Larkin), the show relays his battle to come to terms with his new life and let go of the one that came before. Both Henrys give performances mighty enough to tear your soul. Amies has a voice so ripe, it makes any song he sings sound effortless. Together they are two halves of one whole – much of the musical’s humour comes from the moments when they jointly chorus about their teenage crush or cringe at the other’s behaviour. The supporting cast is perfectly pitched too. Henry’s Dad is played so exquisitely by Alasdair Harvey, with all the pent-up feeling of a man unable to properly express himself, that my eyes begin to water nearly every time he opens his mouth. The punch of this heart-soaring production is that it clings onto th