Lauren Ward, Declan Bennett and Hannah Corneau to Lead World Premiere of Beautiful Little Fool at Southwark Playhouse

Southwark Playhouse Borough will stage the world premiere of Beautiful Little Fool from Thursday 15 January to Saturday 28 February 2026, with a national press night set for Thursday 22 January.

The new musical, with music and lyrics by Broadway’s Hannah Corneau and a book by Mona Mansour, is directed by Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, Rent). Told through the eyes of Scottie, daughter of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the show explores the lives and writings of the celebrated literary couple.

The London cast will feature Lauren Ward (Matilda, Dear Evan Hansen, Stranger Things: The First Shadow) as Scottie, Declan Bennett (Once, Jesus Christ Superstar, Moulin Rouge!) as F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Hannah Corneau (Wicked, Renascence, Frozen) as Zelda.

The creative team includes orchestrations by Adam Rothenberg, musical direction by Jerome van den Berghe, set design by Shankho Chaudhuri, lighting by Ben Stanton, and sound design by Domnic Bilkey.

Commissioned by New Works Provincetown, the production is produced by Mark Cortale, Jonathan Murray and Harvey Reese. Cortale said:

“It is thrilling to welcome Lauren and Declan to join Hannah in bringing this extraordinary new musical to London. The concept album has already given audiences a taste of Hannah’s remarkable score, and now we cannot wait to see the show come alive on stage at Southwark Playhouse.”

Tickets are on sale now via Southwark Playhouse.

The Beautiful Little Fool concept album, featuring Jessie Mueller, Ryan Vasquez and Hannah Corneau, will be released on 24 October 2025. The first single So Alive, sung by Jessie Mueller, is available now on all streaming platforms.

For more information: BeautifulLittleFoolMusical.com