(Bloomberg) -- No longer fixated on the ghosts of the past, fans of Six creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss may now find themselves haunted by more modern terrors: dating apps.
The new musical Why Am I So Single? is a hilarious romp about two twentysomething best friends living in London—a topic Marlow and Moss know a bit about.
The duo’s latest musical concerns Oliver (Jo Foster) and Nancy (Leesa Tulley), who are struggling both to write a new musical and to find romantic love in the era of Tinder. It’s a relatable premise for anyone who’s ever swiped left on an app or bemoaned their own relationship status with a friend over a glass of Prosecco and a Netflix marathon.
The catchy pop-music songs include the tap-dance number C U Never (about a date that goes radio silent when it comes to making plans) and a rock-tinged riff about Ross and Rachel from Friends called I Got Off the Plane. At a press performance in mid-September, the audience, some of whom were wearing Six merchandise, were on their feet cheering the star turn of nonbinary lead Foster.
“There was quite a bit of pressure after Six,” says Moss, 30, speaking to Bloomberg at the Garrick Theatre ahead of the show’s opening night. “We did this thing that had a bigger impact than we could have ever guessed.”
Marlow, 29, agrees: “We had a show on in the West End in our mid-20s—that’s practically unheard of and we don’t take that for granted. That’s because a huge risk was taken on us at a young age.”
Marlow and Moss met at the University of Cambridge and wrote Six for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017. The musical, about the six wives of Henry VIII, became a massive critical and commercial success, transferring to the West End and then Broadway, where Moss became the youngest woman to direct a show. Six ended up winning two Tony Awards for its ongoing Broadway run, including best original score, making them the youngest-ever recipients of the award and Marlow the first openly nonbinary person to win.
Marlow says the inspiration for Why Am I So Single? came when the duo were at a writing retreat, procrastinating from writing and catching up about each other’s love lives. They ended up deciding that the topics they hit upon in their catch-up, like dating and friendship, were fertile ground for inspiring their next show.
“The love stories that we deem important enough to have epic dance and musical numbers are often romances,” says Marlow. “But we wanted to do something where a friendship was the main love story.”
“Part of the conceit of the show is that these two writers are going to make a big fancy musical, but what we want to write about is our pathetic little dating lives, and we’re going to dress it up with these big musical numbers to make people think it’s worth watching,” jokes Marlow.
They say a lot of the numbers draw inspiration from other big musicals, including one inspired by Marilyn Monroe and old Hollywood. (Foster does a quick change on stage to become Marilyn in the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes dress, being carried around the stage by food delivery drivers holding pizza boxes.)
The show is inspired by their own lives and personal experiences, but Marlow and Moss say it’s not strictly autobiographical.
As to who they want to see their new project, Moss and Marlow hope it’ll have wide appeal beyond fans of Six and people in their age group—what Marlow calls the “Gen Z-millennial cusp”—who are fed up with the ins and outs of modern dating.
“People who grew up in the ’90s will get a lot of the references, and there are jokes for musical theater superfans in this, but the themes of platonic love and navigating the horrors of life with people who see you better than anyone are quite universal,” says Marlow.
“I think on the outside that it looks like this will be for a very specific kind of narrow audience,” says Moss. “But I do feel like if people have ever felt lonely, or ‘thank God for my friends,’ this show is for them and they should come and see it.”
Why Am I So Single? is booking through Feb. 13, 2025.
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