I am a sucker for a quixotic musical folly, and there are few musical theatre shows in London more quixotic or foolish than ‘Why Am I So Single?’, the second show from Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, writers of sleeper megahit ‘Six’.
It follows fictionalised versions of… Moss and Marlow: semi-grounded Nancy (Leesa Tully) and ludicrously OTT, indecisive-of-pronouns Oliver (Jo Foster). They’re BFFs, trying to write a musical together. Cheerily disregarding the fourth wall, they inform us that it’s a musical about themselves, except they’ve swapped everyone’s names for characters from ‘Oliver!’ – hence they have an agent named Fay Ginn and a sardonic bisexual pal called Art Fuldodger. Quite how autobiographically accurate any of this is it’s impossible to say, but it’s fairly apparent from the programme notes – heck, the programme photos – that it’s pretty close.
In fact Nancy and Oliver’s attempts to pen a fresh hit are only a vague backdrop to ‘Why Am I So Single?’, which as the title suggests is heavily based on the duo pondering why they are in fact so single.
It does not need two-and-a-half hours to answer this question, which is why ‘Why Am I So Single?’ comes across as an endearingly quirky but preposterously self-indulgent parade of set-piece musical numbers with about three minutes of actual story in between.
What is admirable in a slightly kamikaze way is the extent to which Moss and Marlow knowingly lean into the indulgence: the first half closes out to a ludicrous song called ‘Interlude in B Minor’ about the pair being freaked out that a bee has just flown into Oliver’s apartment. With its brazen, ‘Simpsons’-esque ‘there’s a bee, there’s a bee!’ chorus, it is obvious the pair are aware how silly this is – it’s a pastiche of confected melodrama in musicals that also cheerily draws attention to the fact that not a lot is happening in this one. Still, it’s possible to find it amusing that it’s sending itself up while also thinking it might be better if it didn’t actually have to.
‘Six’ exhibited similarly arch meta humour but it was also an aggressively tight 80-minutes – the follow up could really do with that sort of economy. Nancy and Oliver are decent company, especially Foster’s flamboyantly loserish Olivier. But after two-and-a-half hours with them I didn’t feel significantly more involved than I did at the start. Part of the problem is that Moss and Marlow are determined to make their on-stage proxies #relatable – they come across as generic quirky BFFs living regular lives, when it might have been more interesting if they were struggling to adjust to life after writing an enormously successful musical about the wives of Henry VIII.
The frustration is that meandering as the whole is, the songs are largely great. So many modern musicals are decent enough as stage plays but can’t muster a single memorable tune. ‘Why Am I So Single?’ is crammed with them: as evidenced by ‘Six’, Moss and Marlow are unparalleled when it comes to cross pollinating show tunes with club bangers – songs like ‘8 Dates’ and ‘Meet Market’ feel like they deserve a bigger audience than this curio of a show will get. ‘Just In Case’ is an exquisitely sculpted ballad sung with real feeling by Tulley – but the show frames it so vaguely it’s hard to exactly work out in what context Nancy is actually singing it. And did I also mention that there was a song about a bee?
Good tunes, good cheer and good vibes from Moss’s larky, energetic direction – that makes extremely imaginative use of the ensemble – mean it all goes down quite agreeably. But ultimately Moss and Marlow’s rambling tribute to their own friendship seems unlikely to have the staying power of its predecessor: a curio, not a classic.
