[title of show] was one of those that I knew a little about and had seen and heard some good buzz, but it had remained under my radar. I couldn’t see the show when it ran at the Landor with Simon Bailey and Scott Garnham because the space wasn’t accessible to me in my wheelchair, but as is becoming a theme with lockdown given the Leave A Light On series, Songs For A New World and my long overdue introduction to Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years, Lambert Jackson Productions are coming through to continue to enrich my musical theatre education with a stream of the show from the London Coliseum’s Chorus Rehearsal Room featuring Tyrone Huntley, Marc Elliott, Lucie Jones and Jenna Russell.

The show follows “two nobodies in New York” Jeff (Elliott) and Hunter (Huntley) and their journey to submit a show to the New York Musical Theatre Festival in three weeks time, with dreams of Broadway! They’re joined by their pals Susan (Russell) and Heidi (Jones) and what follows is a joyous tonic and toast to musical theatre and the industry as a whole.

It took me a while to settle into the meta nature of the piece (it’s a show about its own creative origins), but once I settled into the rhythm, I found it to be incredibly witty and insightful. It’s choc full to the brim with references to other composers, shows and the creative process (finding your note, how a track in a cast can often encompass a mad amount of roles, etcetera) that when they land well, I properly belly laughed. My favourite was “An Original Musical”, a duet between Jeff and a foul mouthed sock puppet about how hard it seemingly is to write an original piece of work, a debate that springs to my mind every time I see the latest film to musical adaptation announced and I scroll through my social media platforms! Susan’s motivator: “Die Vampire Die!” struck close to home too, as someone who adores being creative but battles with self doubt and feeling unworthy… my novel is still in the drawer! It also makes some really poignant observations about artistic integrity, friendship, holding yourself accountable and self belief. That combination along with the humour meant I was kept engaged even on those small points where I felt things lagged or don’t land as well as they may; I couldn’t help thinking that for a piece about theatre, it needs that space, that shared energy and sense of community that theatre folk share to reach its full potential, like the differences in making the piece in the filmed format loses something.

That being said, the cast are exceptional and the harmonies in particular are delicious! It was a particular pleasure to see Marc again (my last opportunity was way back in 2014 in City of Angels) as his sweet, insecure Jeff shines and shares endearing chemistry with Tyrone’s ever loveable Hunter. Lucie Jones shines as aspiring starlet Heidi, and I’m so grateful to have finally seen her perform as her vocal is astonishing, and Jenna Russell’s sparky, dry witted Susan ensured a smile was never far away! The score, packed with cheeky uptempo numbers and already full of fun feels elevated by the chemistry of our leading four.

It felt massively cathartic to be watching [title of show] at a time where the industry is struggling; it reminded me of everything I love about it and spoke to me so much as a self doubting creative type, but most of all I felt revitalised: I’m going away to get my novel out of the drawer!