It is no mean feat to stage a musical about one of the most glamorous movie actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Rita Hayworth, who was revered by the likes of Fred Astaire and romanced by the legend that is Orson Welles. Unfortunately this premier production doesn’t hit many of the marks, with any potential being very much marred by flawed execution.

‘Love Goddess’, presented in collaboration with The Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, originated as a one-woman play ‘Me, Myself and Rita’ created and performed by Almog Pail who takes the same credits in this apparently full scale musical production, alongside Stephen Garvey, her co-writer. It tells the story of Rita Hayworth, from childhood dancer with an overbearing and slightly creepy father (well articulated by Joe Simon, a new talent on the London theatre scene) to an absolute icon tragically rocked by Alzheimers. There is a sporadic attempt to have the deterioration of memory hanging over every scene, which would have had legs if it had been more apparent.

Alongside Pail, an ensemble of actor/singers bring to life Astaire, Welles and Harry Cohn – a select few of Hayworth’s men in her life (she married an impressive five times). It was a struggle at times to imagine the vibrant scenes the script depicted with such a small cast, though the actors did their best to fill The Cockpit Theatre’s in-the-round staging.

There is a struggle here for consistency and quality. For example, there is the inconsistent use of two actresses in the title role – Almog Pail and the excellent Imogen Kingsley-Smith as the younger Rita (or Margarita Carmen Cansino as she was known then). At times, Pail would watch from the sidelines as the Kingsley-Smith danced away, echoing Hayworth’s tap shoes (the highlight of the show). At other times, Kingsley-Smith would take on random bit roles in the ensemble, which really jarred as she was much easier to connect with than Pail. Pail almost seemed aloof in the role, her singing ability being overshadowed by her co-stars who somehow had a lot to do and were also somehow wholly under-utilised. For such a big role, Pail wasn’t the right casting choice here.

The costumes for the Hayworths were really poor; wrinkly and cheap looking. There was a particularly awkward scene where everyone vanished from the stage, with messy VO filling the silence (tech issues were aplenty), which ended up being for an unnecessary costume change from one old dress to another equally poor one. The wigs also unfortunately looked ill-placed and at one point looked ready to fall off, so it wasn’t a surprise to see an ad out for a Wig Supervisor for this production. Funnily enough, everyone else’s costumes and wigs worked much better, with small additions allowing the ensemble to change from character to character, almost.

There were a couple of songs with potential in the huge list of songs in this musical. Ya Gotta Play The Game, sang by the commanding Simon Kane, had the strongest lyrics, but overall the music fell flat, with Under Your Spell being almost laughable in quality. Staging was underwhelming, with a set of stairs at the centre of the stage being regularly tripped on and wear and tears already visible with only the previews complete.

The sell was gripping – a musical about Rita Hayworth, reportedly Astaire’s ever favourite dance partner! Epic! It was disappointing that the results were far from the sell.