Theatre review: Adventures of a Redheaded Coffeeshop Girl

With red hair in bunches, a bright-eyed sense of optimism and a megawatt smile Joanie Little is an instantly likeable character.

Star rating: ***

Venue: Gilded Balloon Teviot (Venue 14)

This storytelling comedy with songs is a sequel to the show created last year by Canadian performer Rebecca Parry.

Here, her redheaded coffee shop girl leaves her McJob and heads to the jungle, to live with chimpanzees and study with her heroine, primatologist Jane Goodall.

Dressed in a safari suit, Joanie Little bounces off to Tanzania to live with the chimps and experience a ton of adventures with the primates, her fellow interns and Goodall herself. A trill on the piano sees her jump between one character and the next.

There are a sprinkling of musical numbers, from swing era classics to modern folk – a particular highlight being Scottish songwriter Dougie McLean’s song Caledonia.

It’s silly, light, frothy fun and entertaining with an uplifting “live your dreams” kind of message. The gags could be stronger and Parry might need to look at growing her character up a little bit – at times she’s a bit too children’s entertainer, but she’s bursting with talent and charm and it’s a joy to join her on her daft jungle adventure.

Until 29 August. Tomorrow 4:15pm.