Theatre
Review
Review: Why Am I So Single?
The new show at the Garrick is the perfect mix of humour and heart
What kind of topics are important enough to write a musical about? That’s the question plaguing musical theatre writers and best friends Nancy and Oliver in Why Am I So Single? – or rather, one of two questions. Faced with the task of coming up with a big, fancy musical for the folks at the Garrick, they meet up in Oliver’s flat and try to focus on their creative process, only to be sidetracked by an analysis of their dating lives.
It’s a domestic comedy that, through creative staging and a truly excellent use of chorus, takes audiences from Oliver’s sofa to trendy brunch spots, student union club nights and the dating app meat market. The musical is self-aware about its small scope – Act One’s closer is a deliciously overdramatic number about trying to get a bee out of the flat – but resists getting too heavy handed about what this signifies. Instead, it’s wonderfully silly, as it needs to be, with just a couple of well-placed gut punch moments.
Leads Jo Foster (Oliver) and Leesa Tulley (Nancy) have the kind of warm, comfortable chemistry more often found in multi-season sitcoms than on the West End stage. A formidable duo, they lead the production with conviction and serious comedic chops. There’s an astonishing amount of vocal power on display from both, and each play their personal revelations to perfection – Jo Foster’s frantically glittery number about the queer experience is a particular standout. This is still very much a chorus show, though, and the wider cast embody everything from anthropomorphic furniture to sleazy Tinder cruisers.
It’s the material that really allows them all to shine – Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss have refined their craft since the already excellent Six. The score and book are consistently hilarious, easily one of the funniest honest to goodness musicals to hit the West End stage in a while, with lots of winks and waves to London’s wider theatre scene and a general loving embrace of Gen Z culture. Ultimately, though, there’s a lot of heart running through this show, and it truly does what it sets out to achieve. There will be a lot of best friends dragging each other to this one – and possibly some slightly awkward first dates.
