The reviews are in for Who Killed Marilyn?, the world premiere now running at the Emerald Theatre, in which Pixie Lott plays Marilyn Monroe and narrates her own life and death from beside the bed where her body was found in 1962. Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s play promises to reclaim Monroe as a woman of intelligence and force, then works its way through the conspiracy theories that have surrounded her death ever since. The critics have come back a long way apart. Two of them called Lott a tour de force; rather more found Philip Wm. McKinley’s production static and the writing buried under exposition. Almost nobody defends the script — the argument is over whether Lott rises above it.
The verdict: eleven reviews in so far — two four-star notices, three two-star, four one-star, and two outlets that publish no rating at all. Across the nine that do score, the average is 2 out of 5. The one thing the critics agree on is Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s script, which almost every one of them describes as telling rather than showing. What splits them is Pixie Lott: a captivating reanimation of the icon to some, a caricature to others.
What are critics saying about WHO KILLED MARILYN?
The Reviews Hub
"Entertaining and gripping theatre"
Reviewer: Nilgün Yusuf
"Lott is at ease in her own body; lithe, sensual, flirtatious and fiery, she slips into Marilyn’s skin with natural feeling; a female performer who feels the pain and injustice of another woman and performer. Through this sympathetic understanding, Lott effectively reanimates the icon through a captivating performance and commentary that – some exposition aside – is wry, astute, intelligent and witty. We even get a beautiful rendition of the notorious Happy Birthday Mr President—the only song in the entire play."
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Brian Penn
"What stands out most is a towering performance from Pixie Lott in the title role. Anyone can perfect the look but capturing her character is by far the greater challenge. She achieves this with a portrayal that proves Monroe was anything but a dumb blonde. Her complexity and intelligence shine through in a performance that is a tour-de-force."
WhatsOnStage
"Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s new play, directed by Philip Wm. McKinley, runs until 29 October"
Reviewer: Julia Rank
"There’s never any shortage of Monroe impressions on the cabaret scene or at fringe festivals and Philip Wm. McKinley’s wooden production is like a Monroe-themed Halloween pageant. Lott does her best with what she has to work with in her bouffant bobbed wig (physically, she would be more convincing as Princess Diana than Monroe), though there is overreliance on the breathy voice and coquettish mannerisms. Her lengthy final monologue to her psychiatrist is handled capably, granting her some dramatic dignity."
London Box Office
Reviewer: Stuart King
"Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s book has clearly been a pet project, but has to shoulder most of the blame, for it is so dire that burial in this instance would be preferable to resuscitation. Not a moment passes without some hackneyed cliché being uttered by a pastiche, cardboard cut-out representation of the men in MM’s life, each of whom is clumsily announced just in case we don’t know who they are. It’s the sort of lazy and uninspiring ‘shopping list’ approach which should be drummed out of a creative writing student during their first semester."
London Theatre Reviews
Reviewer: Jason Lane
"Pixie Lott certainly looks the part. Luminous in shimmering white, she has considerable stage presence and captures the Marilyn we think we remember: playful, sexy, vulnerable, knowingly flirtatious. She delivers the direct-address passages with dignity and, particularly in her final monologue, genuine force."
The Standard
"If I could give it zero stars, I would"
Reviewer: Nick Curtis
"A pouting, posing, peroxide-helmeted Pixie Lott narrates Marilyn’s story in a parody of her breathy tones. Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s script invariably tells us things rather than shows us."
BroadwayWorld UK
Reviewer: Mica Blackwell
"Pop singer Pixie Lott steps into Monroe’s shoes, and while a valiant effort cannot be saved by her material. She at least looks the part styled in Monroe's voluminous blonde bob and red lip courtesy of JJ Wigs’ wig and makeup design yet dressed in a plastic looking white top and trousers by Jasmine Swan that screams more Sandy in Grease than The Girl in The Seven Year Itch. Strutting around offering a coquettish wink to the audience in her breathy voice many will be familiar from film, you can't help feeling like you're watching a caricature, best exemplified by her one musical moment singing Happy Birthday Mr President."
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Emmie Newitt
"Lott shows moments of true vulnerability in her portrayal, but for the most part fails to capture the essence and vocal style of Monroe, choosing instead to pout and bend her knees continuously. Her monologue delivery varies, yet before some of Marilyn’s classic lines, Lott seems nervous, as if anticipating audience reaction. She also repeatedly falls out of character between scenes. Surprisingly there are no songs, except for Happy Birthday, and to her credit Lott performs this well. Disappointingly, Marilyn only has one costume throughout, but Jasmine Swan’s choice of sparkly white jumpsuit - although perhaps not the expected choice - does encapsulate Marilyn’s style, while the blonde curls by JJ Wigs are exceptional."
All That Dazzles
"Pixie Lott stars as the iconic Marilyn Monroe in a seriously misguided and poorly executed production"
Reviewer: Daz Gale
"What it does instead is reinforce the victim narrative, defining Marilyn only by the men who influenced, abused and took advantage of her. There is no sense of power, justice or a wrong being righted here - just digging up the past to diminish Monroe’s own achievements. The fact that the supposed intention of the play and the reality of what has been presented are so wildly different explains the fundamental flaw at the heart of the show - this play has no idea what it is. More than that, it doesn’t know what story it wants to tell, or how to tell the story. The result is one of the most frustratingly disjointed pieces of theatre I have ever sat through."
The Guardian
"Dismal attempt to solve mystery of Monroe with Pixie Lott"
Reviewer: Arifa Akbar
"Under the direction of Philip Wm McKinley, Lott struts on to a stage with a bed at its centre – both her place of death and an overused motif for the life of a sex symbol."
Time Out
"Pixie Lott stars as Marilyn Monroe in this stilted, exposition-mired conspiracy thriller"
Reviewer: Andrzej Lukowski
"In part because Lott’s limitations as an actor leave her stranded doing what amounts to a Monroe impression and in part because Cohen clearly thinks subtext is for cowards there’s simply no depth of character here. A ‘real’ Marilyn is constantly alluded to, but her whole life still seems like a performance. Everyone talks in exposition. Lott’s Marilyn never does anything casual or insignificant. The stilted dialogue is simply a cavalcade of modestly interesting facts about her career, marriages and death."
Neither The Guardian nor Time Out attaches a star rating we could read on the page, so both run here on their words alone. If you want to see how a divided press pack compares with a united one, our recent Review Roundup: AS YOU LIKE IT at Shakespeare’s Globe and Review Roundup: HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES at the Old Vic Theatre make instructive reading, as does Review Roundup: ABIGAIL’S PARTY at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
Who Killed Marilyn? is booking at the Emerald Theatre until 29 October 2026.
