Five reasons to see 'Why Am I So Single?' in the West End this summer

Find out why Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s first major musical since SIX should be on your 2024 theatre wish list. Why Am I So Single? opens this August.

If you’re single and ready to mingle, then Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s new show Why Am I So Single? should be on your list of musicals to see in London this summer.

Opening at the Garrick Theatre in August, their new show follows two hopeless singletons and musical theatre writers, who are procrastinating writing a musical by deciding to figure out why they're single.

With a powerhouse writing team, and a cast that includes Jo Foster, Leesa Tulley, and Noah Thomas, the musical is sure to be a hot ticket this summer. Read on to discover more reasons for why this new show for Gen Z isn't one to be missed.

Book Why Am I So Single? tickets on London Theatre.

Why Am I So Single? is from the minds that brought you SIX.

The rise of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss has been meteoric. The musical theatre writers were still students at the University of Cambridge when they penned their hit musical SIX, which explores the lives of Henry VIII’s six wives through a feminist lens and premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2017. The show, which is currently running on Broadway and in the West End, has scooped two Tony Awards, five Olivier Award nominations, and a Grammy nomination. And if that still doesn’t impress you, Moss also made history as the youngest female to direct a musical on Broadway at 26 years old.

Moss and Marlow also collaborated with writer Zak Ghazi-Torbati on comedy cabaret show Hot Gay Time Machine, which is about the important moments in a gay man's life, but Why Am I So Single? is their first major musical since SIX.

Moss and Marlow have taken their time on this project.

The musical theatre duo first came up with the idea for their new musical five years ago, while taking part in a writer’s retreat in Connecticut. Speaking to London Theatre about the experience, Marlow said: “We went away on this writing retreat, and [...] when we got there, we would spend a lot of time drinking and eating sweets and chatting about each other's lives because we'd spent so much time running around doing SIX. There was this one moment where we clicked and were like, ‘What if this is the musical and it’s about friendships and these stories that make up our lives?’”

In 2023, Marlow and Moss hosted a workshop for the show at Sadler’s Wells, inviting audiences to respond critically to the musical. Several details about Why Am I So Single?, including the names of the characters, are still under wraps, with the musical currently going through revisions.

What is more relatable than a show about the perils of modern dating?

The plot revolves around two friends who are hopelessly single and struggling to navigate the complexities of modern romance, in a dating market saturated with apps such as Bumble, Tinder, and Grindr. With the musical making its debut at London’s Garrick Theatre this summer, now is the time for the capital’s lonely singletons to come together for this show about the horrors and hilarity of dating.

There are some exciting faces in the cast.

Initial casting for the musical has been set, and includes Jo Foster, who appeared in the show’s early workshop at Sadler’s Wells and played May in the West End production of & Juliet until 2023. They are also currently starring as Bernie in the Old Vic production of Live Aid musical Just For One Day. Foster will be joined by Leesa Tulley, who was an alternate in the 2022-23 UK tour of SIX — and stepped in last-minute to play Katherine Howard in the West End production for a performance in February — as well as Noah Thomas, who played Jamie New in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in 2021.

Prepare for a pop-filled score.

Artists such as Britney Spears, Adele, and Nicki Minaj hugely inspired Moss and Marlow’s score in SIX. In fact, each Queen gets her own song inspired by the style of a different pop star. So fans of the show will be thrilled to know that pop influences — as well as some other musical styles — will abound in Moss and Marlow’s new musical.

Speaking to London Theatre, Moss said: “A lot of the music we like to listen to and most like to write is contemporary pop styles and it’s been really fun to include lots of other genres as well. So we have a 1930s jazz number, an early Noughties Pussycat Dolls club banger, a disco number, and there’s pastiches from other musicals.”

TodayTix is exclusively offering 5,000 tickets at £45 for early performances of Why Am I So Single?

You can also book Why Am I So Single? tickets on London Theatre.

Photo credit: artwork for Why Am I So Single? (Photo courtesy of production)