Why Am I So Single  
Garrick Theatre

 

When the email arrived about Why Am I So Single? this writer assumed that HR was sending me on yet another self improvement course. Queerguru HR are a bit judgmental but they do make sure we use the crazy good mental health care benefits provided by our international media conglomerate.

Turns out Why Am I So Single is the new musical by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the team behind the big hit SIX. And, it’s quite obvious that this fizzingly madcap and satirically meta show is about to be one too. It’s the story of two friends, Nancy (Leesa Tulley) and Oliver (Jo Foster), projections of the writers with their names changed to protect the guilty. It’s also a reference to their shared favourite musical Oliver! In a WIll & Grace type codependent relationship they torture themselves trying to understand why they are constantly left on the shelf by Love, that old pickpocket of happiness.

We follow Nancy and Oliver through the Meet Market of hookup apps, terrible first and last dates, rejections, misunderstandings and the futility of trying to find out what you want through other people. It’s revealed that gender non committal Oliver is trying to hide their learned shame behind a disco ball of entertainingly fabulous disdain and that Nancy might be more focused on grief of losing a loved one than opening up her heart to find a new lover. But the real love story is between the two of them, friends who despite their obvious flaws are able to truly see each other in a way they have never let anyone else.

The first half roars at an overwhelming pace. Funny, sly and clever, The music and lyrics are original, it’s not a jukebox musical, but they play with references to pop music and to pop culture. In one number a cavalcade of Ross and Rachels represent the cliches of romantic love, acting as sources of inspiration and despair. In a show that frequently breaks the fourth wall the allusions to pop culture love come at giddying speed. It works but they could be savoured a little more. The songs are a treat, memorable and accessible but delivered with finesse and containing as many punch lines as the snappy dialogue. The performances by Foster and Tulley are a triumph of frailty and fierceness with both having wonderful singing voices riven with humanity not just theatrics. The theatrics, though, are magnificent with performers stealing the show as curtains, fridges and pot plants. The set alone got some belly laughs.

Although the moral of the story is predictable, a lesson in romantic love versus loving our friends and ourselves, this musical still manages to make the obvious dazzling. It’s over the top but the writers have enough guile to know when to push the emotional buttons and when to thumb their noses at those same emotions. Love deserves this show, this show deserves love.

 

 

 

Queerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA and cultural STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day