Why Am I So Single? ★★★★★

Why Am I So Single?, the musical which opened this week at London’s Garrick Theatre, centres on two best friends in their twenties, Nancy (Leesa Tulley) and Oliver (Jo Foster), who are writing a musical together whilst navigating the peaks and pitfalls of modern dating, and even more evidently, the joys and strains of a platonic relationship with your bestie.

It’s no secret that brand-new musicals can be hit or miss. Unknowns can write a show which win awards and become a worldwide success, but lightning doesn’t always strike twice. Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss are hoping it does for them though, after the runaway success of their musical SIX. It’s a delight to report, they have made a noble job of this show, whilst bearing the weight of expectation from what has come before. Examining this journey for fellow musical-theatre creators, when you take the chronology of, say, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals as an example, from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in 1968, Evita, Cats, Phantom of the Opera, all the way to Cinderella in 2021, one hit certainly isn’t a guarantee of critical or commercial success. Phantom of the Opera received a very poor reviews in 1986 and went on to run for 35 years on Broadway, is still running after 38 years in the West End and has grossed more than £1 billon in the box office in that time.

So what chance does Why Am I So Single? have of doing a double for Moss and Marlow?

In the (happily) crowded field of contemporary musical theatre, just like SIX did at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe, this show emerges as fresh, insightful and showcases a keen understanding of modern friendships and those deeper relationships, portrayed sleekly through the knack for catchy and innovative songs, for which these two writers are becoming known.

Despite its somewhat downbeat title, this show is filled to bursting with energetic upbeat songs and a hilarious book to match, and there could be no better casting for the two lead roles than to pair all of that with the mastery of Leesa Tulley and Jo Foster’s talents.

At the risk of sounding like Graham Norton in 2008, Tulley truly embodies the role of Nancy. Her honest and natural performance, combined with her profoundly impressive vocal range and tone, makes every scene a joy to watch. Similarly, Foster boasts the most incredible vocal dexterity from one song to the next, their Northern charm and perfect comic timing just oozes superstar quality every minute they’re on stage.

As Ensemble stage time goes, this show is getting every penny from its young and animated supporting cast. Lucy Moss (also the Director), Moi Tran (Set Designer) and Max John (Costume) have done an ingenious job of bringing Nancy and Oliver’s flat alive with the ensemble playing household objects during the songs, only for them to be seamlessly turned back to inanimate objects, being smart not to over do the joke (and give the cast time to change back into playing people). The conceipt is funny, clever and keeps the audience immersed in the action throughout.

The whole show is a satirical reflection of Moss and Marlow’s own lives and while the meta is clear, it doesn’t feel like an ego trip which could be a trap for the successful duo trying to replicate success. The show stays on the right side of ‘laugh along with/at us’ rather than ‘look at me’. Score highlights are the songs Disco Ball (the title says it all), and Lost, a heartbreaking ballad expertly and evocatively delivered by Tulley.stage

Producers have spared no expense on this show: it is bold and great quality, which would have been a risk given the more tried and tested path of taking it to a smaller fringe venue before coming into the West End. That strategy, could, however, have helped garner the show a faithful following before jumping into a 700 plus-seater theatre. Just like everything else about this show though, confidence is certainly not something this creative team are lacking!

The root of any question mark over this well-penned, witty, clever and ingeniously-staged new musical isn’t the show – an easy 5 stars for us. Any issue seems to emanate from the marketing campaign. It barely shines bright enough to be noticed.

Every visual asset, from the poster to the Instagram reels, seems to have been designed and aimed at the Gen-Z audiences who have flocked to see Moss and Marlow’s smash hit SIX, but this feels like a strategic misstep which could put at risk its longevity on the West End stage.

At the core of this show, in its very DNA, is friendship. What a perfect USP right now -in being the one show in the West End which is entirely focussed on the beautiful relationship between best friends. We all have that one person in our lives who is there, through the good and the bad, endless hours on the sofa, hungover, watching the sitcom Friends on repeat, hours after being our wing person in bars or clubs up and down the country. The one that knows the best and the worst of us and stays nonetheless – and the one we’d repay with that exact same loyalty. And it is those couples, those pairings or maybe even trios who this show is for.

It is so plain to see that the audience who will love Why Am I So Single? the most is not necessarily the same who loved SIX. It won’t attract the schools who are making an excuse for a group trip because the Tudors are on the national curriculum. It won’t attract the school and college-age kids who get to enjoy the occasional trip to the theatre with their parents.

This is unapologetically a Millennial and Gen X show. They have that best friend who they never see enough of and this show is the perfect reason to get together. They have lived enough life to love every detail of this brilliant show, which is literally written about, and by, people just like them.

Go see this one. Text that bestie who you’ve been too busy to see for a while because of work, or life, or whatever amorphous reason. Buy yourself one of the camp cocktails in the bar, and make new memories together. You won’t regret it.