Album review: WHY AM I SO SINGLE? Original Cast Album
The challenge for any composer with a breakout success is how to follow up. Richard O’Brien’s iconic 1973 musical The Rocky Horror Show has become a cult stage show that still draws record audiences over fifty years later but was never able to follow up with a show of equal status. So, when Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss enjoyed phenomenal success with their first musical, the highly original SIX which launched in 2017 and still regularly sells out on tour, they faced the huge task of the how to follow up on that success. The answer they developed was to borrow from so many musical successes in a meta theatrical semi-autobiographical modern romp thorough musical genres and the difficulties of dating in a social media world. It will appeal to the millennial generation, but can it break out to a wider theatre audience who might get all the embedded parody and references?
Its West End run was cut short in February this year suggesting that it had not yet made that breakthrough or that it still needed another round of development to connect with the wider audience. When we reviewed in September, we loved the show giving it five stars and describing it as “wonderful, wholesome and heartwarming show that is sure to bring a smile to your face whatever your dating status”. In our minds, to achieve the status of SIX, it needs to find a way to reach the generation who have long since forgotten dating completely but love musical theatre of the past fifty years!
One way to reach a wider audience is to release a cast album, or what used to be called a concept album when Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice launched Jesus Christ Superstar in the seventies, or when Rice launched Chess in the eighties. There is no doubt that familiarity with the score helps people give a show a try and ultimately makes the experience more enjoyable when you know some of the tunes. So, the launch on the 14 March of the cast album of Why Am I So Single? is a step along that pathway and this reviewer is a musical theatre lover who did not see the album’s stage show.
The musical is hugely derivative, appearing to draw from many sources. To begin with, the musical has a similar feel to Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s 2006 musical [title of show] which chronicles the creation of a musical. More obviously is its constant honouring of the wonderful Lionel Bart musical Oliver! with the central characters called Oliver and Nancy; The Act 1 song ‘Meet Market’ echoing the brilliant ‘Who Will Buy?’ in its opening, and the Act 2 song ‘Clubs Glorious Clubs’ drawing inspiration in its title from one Oliver! song and in its lyrics to another, ‘Consider Yourself’. In ‘Why I Am Still Reprising?’, they actually include the music of ‘I’d Do Anything’ and in ‘Just In Case’, they features a mash up of several original tunes. It is a story of friendship and love, just like Nancy had with young orphan Oliver.
As you listen to the album, you naturally speculate where else they drew inspiration from! They start the show with a doorbell ringing which naturally made us recall ‘Hello’ from The Book of Mormon; in ‘No Questions’, they refer to the Kit Kat Club from Cabaret; in ‘Disco Ball’, we were reminded of Saturday Night Fever; and in the Act 1 Finale Interlude in ‘B Minor’, the operatic tones suggested The Phantom of the Opera. There was a touch of Bridget Jones about the sentiments in ‘Eight Dates’. It is a wide mix of musical styles; surprisingly good and accessible on a first listen which earned it a WhatsOnStage Best Musical nomination. However, a word of warning, most songs are littered with oft repeated swearing which somewhat limits the impact of the word and restricts its audience appeal. The music is quirky, largely upbeat, poppy, and fun but the plaintiff, ‘Lost’, has a more emotional appeal as Nancy reflects on her father’s death.
As the album concludes, the characters return to the start of the show when they discussed that they wanted to write something “audiences will actually think it is worth watching “ and not “just the riff raff at the Garrick”, and this album is one way of promoting that sentiment and widening its appeal. The album includes a bonus track of ‘Men Are Trash’ with Patti LuPone who played Nancy on Broadway in 1984. This album works in widening the shows appeal. The millennial generation will be attracted by the basic story, SIX fans will be interested in the composers’ next work, Oliver! fans will love the musical references in the show, and any lover of musical theatre should give it a chance, enjoy its witty parody and support the development of another British musical.
We urge you to give it a try by starting with listening to the familiar tune of the bonus version of ‘Just In Case’. It may not be quite up to Lionel Bart’s original, as fresh and innovative as SIX, or have the longevity of Rocky Horror Show but we think you will enjoy getting to know it.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
The Why Am I So Single? Original Cast Album is now available for download here.