Review Pans Pixie Lott's 'Who Killed Marilyn?' — SkimNews
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- Sharleen Cooper Cohen's play 'Who Killed Marilyn?' runs at London's Emerald Theatre until 29 October, starring Pixie Lott as Monroe and directed by Philip Wm McKinley.
- Pixie Lott appears in Monroe's signature blond hair, red lipstick, and white pedal-pushers but strikes 'Marilyn-esque poses' without revealing the woman beneath the icon, the reviewer writes.
- The play sketches Monroe's marriages to Joe DiMaggio (Henry Proffit) and Arthur Miller (Ben Dilloway) and her encounters with JFK (Mars Sams) and Bobby Kennedy (Paul Kane) — but skips her first marriage entirely.
- The reviewer calls the script 'thuddingly on-the-nose' and its therapy-scene climax 'basic tortured-starlet' psychology, with Monroe's sex life explored in 'the most hackneyed of ways.'
- The supporting performances carry 'wooden uniformity' and no uncanny resemblances, leaving the show with a 'whiff of drama school end-of-year show,' according to the review.
- The play notes 600 books have been written about Monroe since her 1962 death at 36 and provides an answer to the titular question — yet, the reviewer concludes, 'the bigger mystery of who Monroe was remains entirely untouched.'
Why it matters: For theatergoers weighing a ticket before the 29 October close, the review is a clear warning: with 600 Monroe books already in print, the production's reliance on JFK-and-mafia conspiracy beats and sex-scene clichés means audiences leave without any new insight into Norma Jeane beyond the icon — the play answers 'who killed her' while dodging 'who was she.'
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