Why Am I So Single? - Garrick

[showtoones]

Does anyone know which performances the alternates are scheduled to do?

[Seriously]

For me, the real star of Six is Tom Curran's track arrangements.

[max]

A huge hit, I'm guessing. The natural follow on from 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie'. Where that show explored discovering & revealing who you are during school days, this is what you do with that self once school structures are gone and you have to find new ones. [tbf Jamie already finds his tribe outside of school].

There's an open rehearsal on YouTube that has all of the 'dates' song and other material shown for the first time. I quite like the line after being stood up attending a Van Gogh exhibition: "I won't cut off my ear for men who don't appear". I really like the use of lyrics being absent where they filled gaps in a previous verse, representing the awkward chasm when your WhatsApp messages aren't replied to. That's good writing.

I know I'll find it grating that the audience will be cheering before anything's happened - to show we've all come to 'the right musical' and that we all agree with everything representation wise. Thing is, I probably DO agree - I just don't want to 'buy the T Shirt ' before seeing the show (in life generally). But getting on my high horse would just mean I won't be seeing many new musicals (perhaps ever again if this is the new way). I got over it okay with 'Babies'; and the first time I felt it strongly was a board favourite: 'Fun Home' at the Young Vic

[ladidah]

I'm so interested to see what everyone makes of this, it seems weirdly old fashioned to me.

[FairyGodmother]

I love a clever patter song, lots of Gilbert & Sullivan in my youth.

It will be interesting to see how they write when they're not doing a take off of known singers. That gives you a starting point for your style, where this is much more open.

[Paulw]

I’m there tonight and don’t know what to expect apart from the OTT response at the end of every song as if it were a Taylor Swift concert!

[BVM]

This thread is wild!

(Probs more interesting than the actual show. Which I’m sure will be fine btw. Don’t think it’s really aimed at the demographic on here).

[kallyloo]

Aug 27, 2024 10:54:57 GMT BVM said:

This thread is wild!

(Probs more interesting than the actual show. Which I’m sure will be fine btw. Don’t think it’s really aimed at the demographic on here).

Don’t care going anyway, and it counts if you’re young at heart. lol

[BurlyBeaR]

Poll added.

[sam22]

I thoughtthe first show was tonight? Was there a matinee today? I see we have one 5 star review already

[danb]

Aug 27, 2024 18:30:24 GMT sam22 said:

I thoughtthe first show was tonight? Was there a matinee today? I see we have one 5 star review already

Noooo, just somebody with psychic powers. (although there may have been several invited Dress runs).

[sophia]

Show stop during act 2 - problem with the sound system. So far the show is very similar to last year’s workshop (but obviously with costumes, sets etc now). The ensemble are still playing household objects though. Some changes from act 1: the ‘Ross and Rachel’ song is a completely different song but conveying the same thing, there is choreography with trolleys in the Meat Market song, they now have just one friend character played by Noah Thomas who sings the Literally Bye tap number that was previously sung by Millie O’Connell.

[greatauntedna]

So good! It could lose 5 or 10 minutes and I think they’ve changed Leesa’s last song a lot, it’s quite clunky now.

[max]

I can only report on Merch. Heading home from 'Hello Dolly!' I saw someone with a black tote bag with the legend...

"Boring job but he was pretty" in white

"Why am I so single?" below in red

I guess the answer is "because you're judgemental and shallow" which is quite a fun self-mocking thing to provoke with a bag. Unless the expected reaction is "You okay hun?, I hear you" or "Preach girlfriend" ; )

[Paulw]

Having gone last night and not quite knowing what to expect I was able to go in with an open mind and no preconceived ideas apart from there expected over cheering etc… after every song!

When walking across from Leicester Square I notices the queue was well down Charring Cross Road which I have never seen before at The Garrick it moved fairly quickly so I was a bit sceptical as to if it was planned to do that to be noticed! Foyer had the usual merch stand with a selection of stuff from the off priced the same as most places.

Onto the show itself, blimey this is long a complete polar opposite to Six even with the 20 minute show stop the curtain came down at 10:44! For those that don’t know the book its basically a parody of themselves having a musical about them writing the musical getting sidetrack about why they are so single!

The first half plodded along and I thought was very slow paced (which was commented on from the people behind me so I knew it wasn’t just me!) The songs were the usual chart/pop copies as Six is. 8 Dates is basically Ex-Wives from Six for those that haven’t heard it, It seemed that there was more dialogue than songs which carried on right the way through which added to the overall slow pace. Now it’s the bit that surprised me which was the use of the F word! It seemed that they couldn’t go 2 minutes without it being used and even 2 songs where it featured heavily, I am no prude and don’t mind the use of language (if its in context to the text) but this just seemed to be thrown out at every opportunity just like a kid would do in the playground when they first learned the word and didn’t know how or when to use it. It seemed that they tried to do a Dear Bill type song in there to get extended applause witch didn’t have the same tone or delivery as Dear Bill but you guessed it the fangirls lapped it up and it got its extended applause! I think I said to someone at the interval the gags in Six look sophisticated in comparison to this.

The 2nd half was even more slow paced than the first and then came the show stop, there were click through the sound system from the start of the 2nd half and they got gradually worse until the stop, it sounded like an electrical earth problem to me rather than the mics (like when you switch something on and it pops through speaker when you switch something else on) they brought the (I think!) the stage manager out to say problems we will start as soon as possible by her 3rd time she really was milking it with the cheering from the audience! After the restart it just plodded its way through to what I thought was going to be the end with a song about how bad men are! I am not quite sure that is a good message to be portraying and writing a song about it as an audience clapping along type thing. But no there was another 10/15 minutes to go after that before reaching an average at best finale song.

The set was very basic and wouldn’t have looked out of place in an episode of the Simpsons, lighting was good and effective even if those on stage were in slightly wrong places at times to light them up properly (but that will be ironed out as it was first preview)

Audience was as I expected with the whooping and applause after every song and got the usual forced standing ovation from the fangirls in the front row which rippled back. The audience demographic was the biggest surprise as it was very mixed and varying ages which did surprise me as I expected it to be a lot younger.

The swing/alternates were all watching from the boxes and were supportive right till the end of their fellow cast members on stage which was nice to see.

For those interested here are my timings from last night, like I said its long!

Act 1 - 7:35-8:50
Act 2 - 9:15-9:37
Act 2 restart - 9:56-10:44

As it was the first preview I have purposely not named or commented on any persons performance and just outlined the show itself. Only 2 stars for me (at the moment) One for the cast and one for Jo Foster (They did absolutely smash it), it needs work and if this had been at somewhere like Southwark or The Other Palace I think it would have got a better rating but for a big ish west end house this needs a lot more work.

[coco]

Went to see last night's show only because I grabbed a cheap ticket and regret doing so, as I was not interested in the show. Clearly, I was not its targeted audience. I think from last night's response, it's well received. Lots of laughs and applause after every number, but maybe because most people who booked the first preview would be really into the show in the first place.

Lots of musical culture and modern-day pop culture references here and there, and the numbers include lots of different dance routines and styles. It's just, for me, when the show is trying to put so many things into one show, it's losing its authenticity. And a lot of the tricks are too fringy for me, except in a fringe show, it only lasts about one hour, so the charm and freshness could still last. For a show over two hours and a half, I got bored before the first half was finished.

I am sure some people would love this play, playful and amusing, and I do find some numbers are cleverly choreographed, such as the Meat Shop, but overall, it's just not my cup of tea.

Btw, sometimes, I think of the Fangirls at Lyric Hammersmith while I am watching this, and for me, Fangirls brings more joy even though it contains major flaws in the script.

[BVM]

Lol re the phantom 5 star reviews. It’s the opposite of an ALW first preview!

The Six fangirls I guess…..

[Paulw]

Aug 28, 2024 9:16:05 GMT BVM said:

Lol re the phantom 5 star reviews. It’s the opposite of an ALW first preview!

The Six fangirls I guess…..

I think so, they stood out a mile last night with the (newly bought) t-shirts on and parading around with the tote bags!

[BVM]

Aug 28, 2024 9:20:46 GMT Paulw said:

Aug 28, 2024 9:16:05 GMT BVM said:

Lol re the phantom 5 star reviews. It’s the opposite of an ALW first preview!

The Six fangirls I guess…..

I think so, they stood out a mile last night with the (newly bought) t-shirts on and parading around with the tote bags!

Haha.

If I ever go I’ll wait for a discount on a Tuesday in term time!

[Paulw]

Aug 28, 2024 9:22:30 GMT BVM said:

Aug 28, 2024 9:20:46 GMT Paulw said:

I think so, they stood out a mile last night with the (newly bought) t-shirts on and parading around with the tote bags!

Haha.

If I ever go I’ll wait for a discount on a Tuesday in term time!

And a matinee!

[ladidah]

It sounds way too long, which is funny when Six is so short (and benefits massively)

[BurlyBeaR]

Aug 28, 2024 8:35:33 GMT Paulw said:

As it was the first preview I have purposely not named or commented on any persons performance and just outlined the show itself. Only 2 stars for me (at the moment) One for the cast and one for Jo Foster (They did absolutely smash it), it needs work and if this had been at somewhere like Southwark or The Other Palace I think it would have got a better rating but for a big ish west end house this needs a lot more work.

But isn’t that what the workshops at the Sadlers Wells were for? 

It sounds absolutely dreadful. 

[sophia]

A friend I was with last night pointed out some similarities with A Strange Loop which I hadn’t considered: it’s very meta, it’s kind of about trying to write a musical but is actually more about struggling to find love, there’s a song about dating apps (Exile in Gayville/ Meat Market) in which the ensemble play people on the apps and Jo Foster’s character receives abuse for not looking a certain way…

[hamletothello]

I saw this too last night and left at the show stop in the second act. I couldn't bear any more. It needs so much work. All songs cut by 40%. Filler songs (the bee song at the end of act 1) removed altogether. Less repetition (the ongoing pronoun joke got tired very quickly). Fewer profanities where they add nothing. Better sound mixing. Better set with slicker changes. I agree with others that it does not belong in a West End commercial theatre. It would work so much better in Southwark or Stratford East. I so wanted this to be a great follow-up to 'Six' but it is lacking in so many departments. I would hate to think what the Broadway critics/audiences would make of it.

[coco]

Aug 28, 2024 9:57:20 GMT hamletothello said:

I saw this too last night and left at the show stop in the second act. I couldn't bear any more. It needs so much work. All songs cut by 40%. Filler songs (the bee song at the end of act 1) removed altogether. Less repetition (the ongoing pronoun joke got tired very quickly). Fewer profanities where they add nothing. Better sound mixing. Better set with slicker changes. I agree with others that it does not belong in a West End commercial theatre. It would work so much better in Southwark or Stratford East. I so wanted this to be a great follow-up to 'Six' but it is lacking in so many departments. I would hate to think what the Broadway critics/audiences would make of it.

The bee song is just coming out of no where and didn't serve any real function in the script. Total waste of time. I checked my watch several times and couldn't believe they conveyed so little message in nearly 80 minutes.