I Wish You Well: The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski-Trial Musical | Short Review

Simon Button
Tuesday, September 17, 2024

The madcap satirical musical starring Diana Vickers is a total hoot

Diana Vickers as Gwyneth Paltrow. Photos: Mark Senior

Based extremely loosely on the Gwyneth Paltrow ski trial, I Wish You Well takes a niche subject and turns it into a laugh riot. Not one pop-culture reference, witty lyric or catchy tune is wasted in a lean interval-less 60 minutes that Shiv Rabheru directs at such a breakneck pace that there’s no time for the hardworking cast – led by Diana Vickers as a pouty Paltrow – to catch their breath.

Yes, the show feels more suited to the Edinburgh Fringe, which is where it originated this August, than London’s Criterion Theatre, where it’s on for a limited run. A short slalom rather than a full ski run, it’s over too soon and could do with some fleshing out.

But it’s still a total hoot – playing as fast and loose with the facts as Gwyneth often does about the supposed benefits of the products she pushes ad nauseam on her ‘Goop’ website to fashion a side-splitting yarn that’s inventive, irreverent and hilarious.

I Wish You Well is booking until 12 October 2024 – for more information and tickets, visit criterion-theatre.co.uk

You can read our full-page review in November issue of Musicals magazine, on sale 26 October – consider subscribing today!