Little Voice

Bess is kind and anxious, a combination that often results in her taking on too many of everyone else’s problems. But when she sings, it’s entirely her own story, and breathtaking. That Bess is genuinely talented takes a huge burden of proof off the show. O’Grady brings an eminent warmth, not to mention a singing voice reminiscent of Bareilles’ that fills every inch of the screen, to the role.

Little Voice may not be a breakout, but it does join a diverse and growing chorus of Apple original series whose platform is still struggling to find an “it” factor of its own.

Little Voice is a sweet, warm-hearted show, filled with natural performances and dotted with lovely songs. Its general willingness to leave story threads dangling makes the viewer feel she’s been dropped into a true-ish tale of modern bohemia.

[Little Voice tells] its starry-eyed story in brisk half-hour chapters that fly by so quickly you may not have time to be embarrassed by the occasional tear that gets jerked. [20 Jul - 2 Aug 2020, p.8]

[Little Voice] is infused with enough sentimentality and idealism to make it an easy, uplifting watch, at least for those who won’t find all that uplift too cloying. The show’s gentle, heartfelt tone completely matches Bess’s musical style.

Some of Little Voice‘s saccharine might get you in a grumpy mood, but Bareilles’ music and O’Grady’s performance will help with alleviate those grumpies pretty quickly.

Little Voice is upfront about what it is: not just earnest, but charming, and more successful than not at exploring the inner life of a woman who can write songs that sound a lot like they’ve been on the radio for years.

There’s both too much and not enough to Little Voice. Still, the show’s good intentions, catchy tunes, and likable young cast smooth over some of the rough spots, particularly as the season progresses.

Really, the show might well have been called “Everybody Loves Bess (but Bess).” All this adoration will create tension and conflict and episodes of inchoate moodiness among them, of an almost secondary-school intensity, and at times expressed exactly in the terms of a music video — which is to say, there is an audience for it.

At moments during the nine-episode season, I cringed at the clichés and the sincerity and the cutesiness (except all the doggie cutesiness which is authentically cute, end of story). But there are a few embellishments around the bland romcom formula that are appealing in “Little Voice,” and ultimately I wasn’t unhappy that I watched.

There’s little enough realism intruding on “Little Voice,” though, to make it something of an escapist treat, and a musical one. ... It’s uncertain, though, whether “Little Voice” can overcome its inconsistencies. ... [Louie's] also something of a bad stereotype, as an obsessive-compulsive musical-theater buff who is rendered unemployable by his temperament. Bess the character has a similar problem, though it engenders less sympathy.

It's very, very earnest and sometimes very, very clunky. Those caught up in its earnestness will forgive the clunkiness. I only sometimes did. ... There are fine supporting turns from Luke Kirby (acting Bess' two love interests off the screen even in a smarmy role), Ned Eisenberg and a wordless yet wonderful June Squibb. With Nelson behind the camera on the pilot and several subsequent episodes, Little Voice is a good New York show.

In fairness, this fairy-tale ambience is intrinsic to the show, and you may find it charming in its own right. But the story elements Bareilles and Nelson provide over the nine-episode season (three will be available Friday) don’t have enough originality or energy to get you sufficiently invested in the fantasy.

Great musical TV needs tunes we want to hear. But Bess’s efforts are weedy little numbers, the kind of thing you hear in the corner of a quiet bar rather than indicators of misunderstood genius. In television, as in music, not every hopeful has what it takes.

Nelson and Bareilles leave no cliche unexplored in their efforts to manufacture some dramatic tension. When their first attempt – Bess's crippling stage fright and a laughably unbelievable tendency to tell dad jokes onstage – proves too flimsy, their ambition grows.

At one point in the series, a music executive condescendingly describes Bess’s music as “darling.” While that’s intended as a dubious insult, it captures the twee, navel-gazing tone of Little Voice.