Set backstage at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway, Already Perfect opens with Levi returning to his dressing room between the matinee and evening performances, only to discover he’s been dumped via text by his latest boyfriend. It’s the final straw in an already frayed life, and he reaches instinctively for some drug paraphernalia for comfort. At precisely the wrong – and right – moment, Ben enters. Ben is Levi’s Narcotics Anonymous sponsor, knows him inside out, and is determined to stop him sliding back into his drug-fuelled past. Instead, Ben urges him to return to what he does best: writing songs.
Levi sits at the piano, starts to play, and we seem to be off and running in what looks like a fairly conventional musical about a deeply troubled artist. Then, as if conjured from the wall itself, a young man named Matthew appears. He turns out to be the younger version of Levi, who has changed his name in an attempt to escape his past, and suddenly, a conventional musical becomes one of the most unconventional “conventional” musicals in years.
As the story unfolds, we learn that Levi/Matthew was pushed into a singing career by a fiercely fundamentalist Christian mother, endured five years of conversion therapy to “cure” his homosexuality, headed to Hollywood dreaming of stardom, and ended up instead in the porn industry, then escorting, and, inevitably, drugs. These revelations emerge as Levi and his younger self spar—one haunted by the life he’s lived, the other trapped in the life he’s still living. There is, understandably, a great deal of angst.
And yet, if this all sounds like another earnest, existential gay-crisis musical, it really isn’t. One of the show’s great pleasures is its playful theatricality. Levi – played by Levi Kreis, not coincidentally – inhabits a dizzying array of roles, including his mother, his grandfather, and his high school bully. Matthew (Killian Thomas Lefevre) also shifts characters as the narrative twists and folds back on itself. Even Ben (Yiftach “Iffy” Mizrahi), who insists he’s not an actor at all (the show is gloriously meta), gets swept up in the fun, portraying everyone from a Baptist minister to a conversion counsellor. He enjoys it so much that by the end he’s had headshots printed – yes, it’s that kind of show.
What truly makes Already Perfect such a joy, though, is not just the inventiveness or the performances, but the superb score and the excellent, never trite, lyrics. The songs cover an impressive range: rock power ballads, classic Broadway musical theatre, country, gospel, and a dash of pop for good measure. All three performers boast exceptional voices, with Kreis – who also wrote the book, music, and lyrics – particularly strong. He plays the piano too, just in case he wasn’t already doing enough. Mizrahi and Lefevre match him beautifully, belting with gusto when required and pulling back with real subtlety when the moment calls for it.
The cast also proves impressively unflappable. Early technical hiccups are smoothed over seamlessly, and when Levi/Matthew asks an audience member his name – only to be told “Matthew” – he somehow keeps it together. (The Matthew in question was esteemed theatre critic Matt Wolf.)
Even the set becomes a character in its own right, with falling Bibles, walls that transform into new locations, and a band that gleefully joins in the action. Everything feels clever, inventive, and alive. At a tight 100 minutes straight through, director Dave Solomon never lets the pace sag or the audience’s attention waver.
Already Perfect tackles difficult emotions and that eternal question: who might we have been if we’d taken a different path growing up? But as one character wisely notes, “You can’t rewrite the past.” Thankfully not – because the past, reimagined here, has produced a superb piece of musical theatre that absolutely deserves to be seen.
Review by Alan Fitter
Already Perfect is a searing and uplifting new musical by Tony Award® winner Levi Kreis. On the eve of his Broadway show being filmed for the archives, Levi finds himself alone in his dressing room, unravelling and on the brink of ending it all.
When an unexpected encounter occurs, a bit of theatrical magic happens. The walls of the room begin to shift, and what follows is a deeply personal journey through memory, identity, and self-reckoning. Joined by Ben, Levi is propelled into an emotional collision of past and present, where long-buried moments resurface and the stories we tell ourselves are put to the test.
CAST
Levi | Levi Kreis
Matthew | Killian Thomas Lefevre
Ben | Yiftach ‘Iffy’ Mizrahi
CREATIVES
Book, Music & Lyrics | Levi Kreis
Additional Book | Dave Solomon
Director | Dave Solomon
Music Supervisor, Arrangements & Orchestrations | Matthew Antonio Perri
Set Designer | Jason Ardizzone-West
Movement Director | Jennifer Rooney
Lighting Designer | Ian Scott
Costume Designer | Jason Antone
Sound Designer | Jessica Paz
Casting Director | Will Burton for Grindrod Burton
ALREADY PERFECT
King’s Head Theatre
9 January to 15 February 2026
