Can't get it out of my head

A knockout musical number that's still ringing around my brain, and other excellent things to see this week and beyond in London

Jo Foster with the Why Am I So Single? ensemble. Photo: Danny Kaan

Note: versions of the theatre reviews in this post first appeared in The Observer last Sunday, you can read them all in full here. 

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“Good food. Good coffee. Great conversation”. Ah yes, those unique interests that every man on every dating app ever somehow thinks will make him stand out in the ‘Meet Market’ - as it’s winningly described in a punchy number (which made the audience howl with recognition when I saw it) in the new musical Why Am I So Single? at the Garrick until February 13.

It’s a sweet, silly, deceptively smart and surprisingly moving show by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss (the team behind the global hit Six, which is thoroughly enjoyable) about two late-millennial besties, both scarred by the modern dating experience. 

I admit that for the first few minutes, I was alarmed. Six was a miraculous hit that nobody could have predicted - they’re very young still, and a ‘big fancy musical’ is a mammoth and expensive ask. As a cheesy voiceover announced it to be about two young musical theatre-makers writing their first big commission, with avatars of themselves in the leading roles, I thought DEAR GOD NO. By the end of the titular opening number, I was all-in. 

The writing is pin-sharp. Stuffed with pop culture references, from Tracey Emin’s bed to LinkedIn, it pulls you up repeatedly with its intelligence and wit as Nancy (Leesa Tulley, exuding warmth) and Oliver (Jo Foster, hugely charismatic with an astonishing voice), try to work out what is wrong with them, fuelled by Sainsbury’s Prosecco. Also yes, their names are part of a running joke about their favourite musical, which sounds annoying but actually just gets funnier.

The magpie music knowhow that underpinned Six is on display again, with a 90s rock banger, a big 80s musical number, a slinky nod to Marilyn Monroe/Madonna (sung by Oliver, a queer person, about only dating closeted men who won’t acknowledge him/them in public) and an incendiary disco track that is still in my head.

Noah Thomas, who plays the pair’s pal Artie, nails a cathartic song called C U Never that may have ended a few situationships in the interval. Oh and there’s one called Men Are Trash, which is very funny.