Why Am I So Single?
Omnibus Theatre • 27th August - 8th September
I was first introduced to the theatrical exploits of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss back in 2018 when I had the pleasure of seeing their first show, Hot Gay Time Machine at Crazy Coqs, the intimate yet stylish live music and cabaret venue located inside Brasserie Zédel in London’s Soho. Written by the pair (along with Zak Ghazi-Torbati), when they were students at Cambridge, Moss and Marlow continued their partnership to co-write the smash hit musical SIX, which opened in London’s West End in July 2019, (and still continues to play to packed houses at London’s Vaudeville Theatre, currently booking right through until Nov 2025).
With both shows having received five star reviews from Jack The Lad, (oh yes, and SIX’s five Olivier Award nominations and a Tony Award for best original score), there’s no doubt that the question on many people’s minds at the press night for their latest show, Why Am I So Single?, was almost certainly whether these musical theatre wunderkind’s would be able to recreate the same magic that turned SIX into a global success, (currently playing in eight different countries at the time of this review), and thus secure themselves a Jack The Lad five-star hat-trick in the process?
Things certainly get off to a good start with Oliver (Jo Foster) and best friend Nancy (Leesa Tulley) immediately smashing down the fourth wall after a big opening number, to help the audience, “contextualise what you’ve just seen!”. This opening is as bold a statement of intent as I have seen in any musical and performed at a scale often reserved for a show’s finale… except thankfully this night had just begun. Things calm down briefly as we watch the two friends take their place on the sofa, drink prosecco and dissect their chaotic lives, but it’s a journey soon accompanied once again by one sensational song after another, (Marlow and Moss have certainly lost none of their songwriting skills since SIX, effortlessly skipping between a number of genres, incorporating power pop, disco and even a bit of nineties grunge thrown in for good measure!). All of this is accompanied by some equally impressive choreography (Ellen Kane) performed by an energetic ensemble cast who are imaginatively introduced on stage as living representations of the furniture in Olivers flat! (Joshian Angelo Omana doing a particularly good turn as a fridge, no doubt putting to good use some of the more random drama school exercises he may have encountered during training). Far from being cookie-cutter background artists, each one of the 9 strong ensemble are able to make their own individual mark throughout the show, (Ran Marner making a particularly impressive professional stage debut), as well as setting the stage on fire when they come together to dance, as one, in a slew of faultlessly realised routines and, with the addition of Noah Thomas as good friend Artie, the show’s foundations are firmly in place.
As the fourth wall continues to go up and down like a yo-yo throughout, “I’m sorry… I got caught up in a musical theatre flashback again!”, so the story takes on an even more meta twist as we find the characters of Oliver and Nancy struggling to find the subject for the musical they have been commissioned to write. Strange then that the last time I found myself sitting in the Garrick Theatre was for the equally meta ‘Rob Madge’s Regards To Broadway’, (Jack The Lad Issue 38) itself a surprisingly funny deconstruction of the workings of musical theatre given it was the true story of how his own hugely successful show, My Son’s A Queer, had been cancelled just two weeks before it was due to open on Broadway. (Trust me, Regards To Broadway was a lot funnier than it sounds!)
Where as Madge’s autobiographical musical ruminations was only ever designed to be performed as a one-off event, (which I count myself lucky to have been in the audience for), Why Am I So Single? has been written and installed in The Garrick for a full run, (booking until 13th February 2025), and as such has been afforded a rather more lavish bright, colourful, and versatile set, it being complete with shape shifting props, scene shifting walls (Set Design by Moi Tran) and a sumptuous lighting design. (Jai Morjaria), the ingenuity of which is enough to put a smile on your face on its own, and thus providing the perfect canvas for Marlow and Moss’s musing on the world of Gen Z dating.
How much Marlow and Moss rely on fact over fiction, as their characters reflect on the disastrous dating experiences that have left them single, remains unclear, (one hopes they’ve had slightly better luck than Oliver and Nancy), and whilst, despite tongue firmly in cheek, some might find this all just a tad to self-indulgent, this remains as much a heart-warming story of friendship as it is about the couples disastrous dating histories, and with that switch in focus comes a distinct change in pace during the second half and as such the energy edges towards a more reflective tone after the interval, (made all the more noticeable by the explosive, and hilarious, end to act I), but by this point we are more than sufficiently invested in Oliver and Nancy as characters rather than just being a conduit through which a whole young generation’s struggles with life, love, commitment and identity is being channelled. It also gives the two leads a chance to really show off their vocal range, Jo Foster never more impressive than during Disco Ball, and Leesa Tulley equally captivating during her own solo ballad Just In Case.
Despite the show’s warm heart, incredible songs and energetic cast, I suspect it’s progressive look at the fairly specific, yet far from easy task of negotiating friendship, gender-identity, sexuality and love as a young twenty-something is likely to confine Why Am I So Single? to a rather more limited run on the margins of the mainstream compared to the runaway success of SIX, but I defy anyone, no matter their age or status, to leave the theatre without a huge smile on their face and that rare feeling of having seen something very special indeed given this show’s ability to both raise the roof and lift the spirits!
★★★★★
review: Simon J. Webb
photographs: Danny Kaan