The Student | Juliette Pepin
25 Aug 2025
★★★★ | With the title of the musical coming from a Craigslist category where people hope to find someone they have lost touch with, what underpins the the story is the community web of people all tied to one place.
A picture of life and community in 1997 rural Kentucky, heartfelt folk numbers are mixed with earnest love confessions in Los Angeles Theatre Initiative’s original musical Missed Connections. Interweaving the lives of friends affected by the foreclosure of their town’s bar holding 30 years of memories, the production is a love letter to the people in life who make anywhere feel like a place of belonging.
In real time, we witness the changing dynamics in the group with emotions heightened due to the bar’s sudden foreclosure, unfolding in scattered vignettes and folk songs expressing unsaid feelings. With the title of the musical coming from a Craigslist category where people hope to find someone they have lost touch with, what underpins the the story is the community web of people all tied to one place.
We hear the innermost thoughts and feelings of almost all the characters, with no one story dominating the other. Particularly moving is the unspoken romance between best friends Audrey and Fiona; Lucy Winzenried’s performance of Fiona’s concealed feelings under rosy lighting could be cheesy and insincere but is instead touching and natural. The connection between them seems real and raw; we feel for Audrey when she has trouble processing her emotions. Maggie’s character is vulnerable but not overly sentimental, as a grieving daughter trying to hold together her emotions for everyone else. A few storylines do feel unexplored – a couple of the love stories feel somewhat superficial and rushed. Loose ends aren’t tied as the musical quickly comes to a close, with the audience suddenly disconnected from the characters’ lives.
With only a small band of instruments, the small-town American folk feel comes to life in original music, ranging from solemn ballads to more upbeat celebrations of community. The band members switch seamlessly from accompanying the songs to acting as ensemble members. A standout number was Audrey’s emotional ballad ‘Weeping Willow’, performed softly and with earnest feeling by Sarah Ousterhout.
Even with the short run-time meaning there is more room to explore the friends’ relationships and futures, Missed Connections has sparkling potential. With plenty of Gilmore Girls-style small town charm and a beating heart, it celebrates the communities and friendships that keep us afloat.