[Title of Show] – London Coliseum

Tyrone Huntley, Jenna Russell, Lucie Jones and Marc Elliot in [Title of Show]. Picture: Danny Kaan

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

In true [Title of show] style, the name of the word file I am writing this review in is ‘Tosser’. Tosser is apparently now the word for a fan of [Title of Show]. The unfortunate British meaning of this term is known and acknowledged in the credits of the current version of this American musical, recently broadcast from a rehearsal studio at the London Coliseum, but nevertheless there it is.

I have always liked the idea of this show – two writers writing a musical about two writers writing a musical about two writers writing a musical… The word on the street is that it is meta and therefore niche, but it did run for 102 performances (and 13 previews) in its original Broadway incarnation at the Lyceum Theatre. It’s a smallish Broadway house but that’s still quite an audience.

For me this is also a show about the creative process, and creative relationships, and honesty, and being in the moment which, I would argue, are the show’s more universal themes. I reckon this show is therefore worth seeing even if you are not personally involved in the creative process of musical theatre. It may not be everyone’s Diet Coke (sorry, cup of tea) in its current bare socially distanced online form, but even on Broadway it seems they did it with four chairs and a keyboard and it does lend itself rather well to our current situation.

As the show lyric itself says of itself: “I’d rather be nine people’s favourite thing than a hundred people’s ninth favourite thing…” Plus, as I found out at my viewing, you potentially can also respond directly to the screen and the clever lyrics verbally without being shushed by fellow theatregoers. You can also keep your phone on and, as encouraged by the show’s credits, correspond with fellow Tossers on social media during the show.

The four chairs in the show at the Coliseum themselves have character (all wheeled, all different, all named for the four characters that use them), as do the post-it notes that litter the papered-over mirrors in the rehearsal studio where the show is performed.

Bundles of post-it notes (what is that collective noun?) also stand in as mobile phones in characters’ hands, a detail of Josh Seymour’s simple but fun production I particularly appreciated. There is relatively little technology in this production, though the sound quality is good. There are a few odd camera angles but so be it. One other fun thing in the filming is that in ‘Monkeys and Playbills’ some of the playbills that are stuck to the studio windows and appear in the songs lyrics also appear more clearly on screen. I was gratified to see A Change in the Heir as I worked on that show on its journey to Broadway.

As the show was developing from festival entry to Off-Broadway show to Broadway show, the writers added to it the truth of what was happening as it went, and a few new details have been added for this production. The last time I saw this show was in 2013 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and I don’t think now that it can have been the current version that I saw then but a specifically Edinburgh-relevant cut.

The Coliseum version goes right up to the show arriving on Broadway after a long hiatus where the cast contemplated taking jobs on other shows and recommitting to their day jobs and the writers came through another stage in the creative process. This is all encapsulated in the excruciating but appropriate number ‘Change It, Don’t Change It/Awkward Photo Shoot’. The process of getting the show to Broadway also spawned two series of an extensive and detailed video blog. I imagine, like Be More Chill which featured here in pre-lockdown February, by the time the show got to Broadway it already had a fair amount of Tossers waiting to see it.

The performances in this version are all great. The characters are believable, and the singing is effortlessly good. I hope Jenna Russell enjoyed playing Susan as much as I think she might have. Great to watch someone in musical theatre who can act play a strong character and someone who can sing play someone who is not sure if she can sing and make it all work.

Lucie Jones was also excellent as Heidi as were Marc Elliott and Tyrone Huntley as the show’s writers, Jeff and Hunter. Larry the show’s onstage musical director (played here by Ben Ferguson) helps hold the show and the ensemble together.

Given the process of creating this show, it could only end merely with the choice to end it and the lyric ‘this is the last line of our show’…

Clare Walters