“No one’s writing a musical about a big love story between friends,” composer and lyricist Lucy Moss tells me, matter-of-factly. And she’s right; I can’t think of the last time I saw a stage show that didn’t centre on – or at least end with – the main character completing a quest for romance.
It’s not just onstage where Moss and her Six The Musical writing partner Toby Marlow feel romance, often of the heterosexual kind, is prioritised above everything. They hear it among their mates, too. “You can be sat there, opposite this friend who understands you on a level deeper than you’ll ever understand yourself, being like, ‘Oh my God, why is there no one here for me ever in the world ever?’ And the person opposite you who completes your life is like, ‘You’re so right. I also feel so alone,’” Marlow says.
When millennial musical theatre writers Moss and Marlow began working on the follow-up to their smash hit Six, it wasn’t with the express intention of uprooting those ideas about romance and singleness. Initially, the pair felt bogged down by the weight of producing something of equal cultural significance. But soon, they realised that, ultimately, nothing mattered to them more than gossiping about their dating lives with their women and queer friends – or the “gaybies, ladies and theydies”, as Moss, who’s also directing the show, fondly calls them.
Those conversations inspired Moss and Marlow to write Why Am I So Single?, which is currently playing at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End. The central concept is simple, but one many will recognise: two perpetually single BFFs, Nancy (played by Leesa Tulley) and Oliver (Jo Foster), perched on a sofa, drinking prosecco and eating pizza while talking about the highs and horrors of dating.
Writing it was, frankly, a challenge for Moss and Marlow. After all, they first penned Six, a musical imagining the wives of King Henry VIII as a girl band, when they were back at university in 2017. Then, their cast was their fellow students; their ideal audience members were Edinburgh Fringe punters. That the show would go on to run in the West End and Broadway and tour the world is still “mind-boggling”, Marlow says. “It was never intended to do that.”
To audiences, Six was a game-changer, but the lack of expectations made its success all the sweeter. When it came to writing a second musical, there was a lot more pressure on Moss and Marlow. So in 2019, the friends booked into a writers’ retreat to work on an “important” new show. But soon quality writing time descended into a much needed “big gossipy chat session”, as Moss puts it. “We were just like, ‘Wait, hang on a second. How are you?’” she recalls.
To some people, their nattering might sound insignificant or trivial. But Marlow says it took their friendship “a level higher and level deeper in this really amazing, powerful way”. Plus, Moss wants to make it clear, triviality is no bad thing. “The idea of gossiping with my friend about some trivial romantic interaction that’s happened to me brings me more joy than anything else in the world,” she says, with defiance.
From those conversations, Why Am I So Single? was conceived. That the show’s Gen-Z protagonists are two musical theatre writers struggling to write a “big fancy musical” when all they can think about are their “pathetic little dating lives” adds a whole other layer of metatheatricality.
On paper, writing two characters inspired by their own experiences is the ultimate act of artistic vulnerability. And when the pair started writing the show in 2019, Marlow admits it was pretty autobiographical. But even by the time they’d properly started working out the production in 2021, their lives “had already changed so much”, Moss stresses, adding: “These really feel like versions of ourselves and our friends from five years ago.”
Given the success of Six, it’s impressive to see Moss and Marlow follow it up with a show on a subject that means a lot to them, but society generally doesn’t perceive to hold much value. Moss isn’t hellbent on changing people’s minds. “So much of our world is set up to make you feel bad about the things that you enjoy – especially as queer people, especially as women,” she says. Marlow agrees; Why Am I So Single? is their attempt to “validate the feelings” of people who’ve been long told to dismiss them. Moss nods, smiling. “I want people to come for something fun, and then feel like they’ve had their heart filled up.”
Why Am I So Single? is showing at the Garrick Theatre in London now
Isobel Lewis is a culture journalist based in London, who specialises in stand-up comedy. She writes for publications including The New York Times, The Guardian and Time Out
