How do you follow a megahit like “Six”? That’s been the question facing Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss since their musical – a retelling of the fate of Henry VIII’s wives, presented in the style of a pop concert – “took the world by storm” six years ago. Their answer, said Sarah Crompton on What’s on Stage, is that you write about what you know. “Why Am I So Single?” is about two young writers – best friends and plainly based on Marlow and Moss – who are trying to write a musical while agonising about their unhappy love lives.
A warm, generous “hymn” to the joys of friendship, the show overflows with ideas. Not all of them land, and it lacks the broad appeal of “Six”, but “it feels like a hit”.
I was dubious about the meta-ness of the concept, and for the first few minutes “I wanted to bolt”, said Nancy Durrant in The Observer. But “by the end of the titular opening number, I was all in”. This is a “sweet, silly, deceptively smart and surprisingly moving show”. It tackles its themes with “intelligence and wit”, and is beautifully performed by Leesa Tulley, “exuding warmth” as Nancy, and Jo Foster as her non-binary friend Oliver.
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The production is aimed squarely at “the girls, gays and theys”, said Alice Saville in The Independent. “If that phrase sets your teeth on edge for any reason, this show definitely won’t be your (appropriately bedazzled) bag.” It’s fun, but extremely lightweight, and it rather overstays its welcome; the endless callbacks and in-jokes are really “no substitute for a satisfying storyline”.
“Why Am I So Single?” is not in the same league as “Six”, agreed Dominic Cavendish in The Telegraph. It certainly confirms the writers’ talent, but “only fitfully attains the same charge”.
What elevates the production is the score, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian, which ranges from rap and disco to rock and musical ballad – via a “fabulous” tap number. “Every song is a powerhouse”, even the “preposterous” Interlude in B Minor, about a bee in the pair’s flat. But overall, one yearns for “less archness and greater momentum”.
