Theatre review: Why Am I So Single?

Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss' SIX was very much an outlier in how modern musical theatre hits tend to be made: A small-scale musical written at university and taken to Edinburgh, it currently stands as a long-runner both in the West End and on Broadway, with its fanbase making its songs a streaming juggernaut as well. So with the team a firmly established one, launching a new musical straight into the West End comes with very different expectations, and surely the most high profile theatrical case of Difficult Second Album Syndrome in many years. So the premise of follow-up Why Am I So Single Question Mark feels audacious in just how basic it is: A pair of characters directly and explicitly modelled on Marlow & Moss have a case of Difficult Second Album Syndrome, and decide to base their next musical on their daily lives.

Theatre review: The Secret Life of Bees

Composer Duncan Sheik has developed quite the relationship with the Almeida, what with the premiere of American Psycho and the recent reimagining of Spring Awakening. It's the latter whose musical style immediately comes to mind as his latest show, written with Lynn Nottage (book) and Susan Birkenhead (lyrics) opens. This distinctive musical signature remains throughout, but with the addition of bluegrass, gospel and rock'n'roll flavours in keeping with the time and place of The Secret Life of Bees: In 1964 South Carolina, teenage Lily (Eleanor Worthington-Cox) feels ostracised by the rest of her town, because for reasons she doesn't like to discuss they blame her for the death of her mother, despite the fact that she was a small child at the time. So she's grateful for her family's maid Rosaleen (Abiona Omonua,) who's become her best friend.