★★★★★

“balances spectacle with subtlety, and resonates with emotional depth”

The chances we miss often haunt us hardest. ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ is a tender, heartbreaking, profoundly human new musical offering new chances for those brave enough to take them.

Weighed down by years of regret, Harold Fry learns an old friend is dying. Though initially hesitant, Harold realises there may be time to put one thing right. So begins an unexpected journey, rekindling the joys of living on the way. But can he reach her in time – and what truths await if he does?

Rachel Joyce’s ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’, adapted with Peter Darling and Katy Rudd, with dramaturgy by Nick Sidi, is a profound exploration of pain, forgiveness and renewal. A strikingly honesty portrait of self made prisons, it creates and unravels Harold’s uneasy mythology with impressive insight. Yet for all its gravity, it glows with warmth and humour. The writing, rich in subtext, excels at showing rather than telling – though later exchanges feel less nuanced, such as Maureen’s sudden absolution from a stranger and Kate’s unlikely departure from the pilgrimage. However, Harold and Maureen’s final scene restores the play’s understated humanity, closing with an authentic and unforgettable resonance.

Katy Rudd’s award winning direction, with Jamie Manton and Nicky Allpress, evolves with Harold. Early Brechtian elements – deconstructed set, ever-present ensemble, freezeframes – evoke a fractured existence, while later scenes bring realism and new life. The Balladeer’s shapeshifting nature is seeded with care, haunting Harold before vanishing at key moments. Chris Fisher’s illusions are brilliantly unsettling, while Timo Tatzber’s puppeteering is irresistibly endearing. Overall, the production balances spectacle with subtlety, and resonates with emotional depth.

With music and lyrics by Passenger, and additional contributions from Jeremy Holland Smith and Phil Bateman, the score is delicious, weaving country, smooth jazz, and pop into a cohesive folk sound. The careful construction builds and eases tension beautifully, with surprise chords underscoring emotional breakthroughs. Beautiful harmonies abound, including with the dog! The orchestra brings the score vividly to life under the baton of musical director Chris Poon and deputy Caitlin Morgan.

Tom Jackson Greaves’ choreography, assisted by Nell Martin and Edwin Ray, cleverly contrasts stillness with full blooded ensemble movement, weaving a rich mix of styles that celebrate the many paths to joy and fulfilment.

Samuel Wyer’s design, with Joseph Bisat Marshall (associate set and costume), Paule Constable (lighting), and Ash J Woodward (video), is cohesive, polished, and rich in symbolism. Circles recur from the proscenium arch to the performance space to the barrels, evoking cycles of change and unity. The barrels themselves carry additional meaning, while the circular arch becomes the frame through which we view Harold’s life. The tonal palette reveals stark differences, with Harold’s muted greys giving way to vivid sunsets, while Maureen stays stuck. Blake’s influence in the intense watercolour skies is clear. The only slight drawback is the sound design by Ian Dickinson and Gareth Tucker for Autograph, with voices occasionally struggling against orchestral swells. Still, the overall design grounds and drives the narrative with striking beauty.

The cast is outstanding. Mark Addy nails Harold Fry’s mix of bumbling charm and sincerity with no nonsense wit and warm vocals. Jenna Russell gives a beautifully nuanced Maureen Fry, compressing decades of resentment into a faded figure with crystalline vocals. Noah Mullins makes a dazzling West End debut as the commandingly mercurial Balladeer, delivering stunning vocals. The whole ensemble shines with vivid characterisations, powerful singing, and Tatzber’s enchanting puppetry.

Catch ‘The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry’ while you can – this is a journey you won’t want to miss.

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN at the New Wimbledon Theatre

★★

“the full, immensely talented, company give it their all as they wade through the likes of Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, Hall & Oates, Status Quo… and the list goes on”

Picture the scene; in some non-descript boardroom as the initial production meeting for a new musical unfolds. As is the current trend, a successful movie is on the table undergoing the duke box treatment. The person, or persons (no one is actually credited), responsible for compiling the song list has their mind elsewhere. Or, more likely, they didn’t even show up for the brief. The memo in their inbox was enough. It’s the nineteen-eighties!

It’s difficult to decide whether the music is shoehorned into the book, or the thin wisps of script have been tacked onto a compilation CD from somebody’s forty-year-old record collection. Whichever, the result is a union that makes little sense. “An Officer and a Gentleman – the Musical” might have been a good idea at the time, but nobody has really thought it through.

Based on the successful romantic drama film starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger, the musical adaptation’s book is by Douglas Day Stewart and Sharleen Cooper Cohen (Stewart wrote the original film, based on his own experiences as a Naval Aviation Officer Candidate). It was four decades ago now, and very much of its time. There was a toughness underlying the romance and it delved into the lives of down-trodden characters. Although faithful to the original story, the inclusion of the musical numbers in Nikolai Foster’s revival displaces depth of character leaving us with a sense of bemusement as each anthemic chorus blasts its way into the auditorium.

Behind the wall of sound, the story follows Zack Mayo (Luke Baker) through his training as an aviation officer. Whilst continually in conflict with the hard-hitting, sadistic Sergeant Foley (Jamal Kane Crawford) he finds solace, and love (of sorts), in local factory worker Paula Pokrifki (Georgia Lennon). Meanwhile fellow candidate, Sid Worley (Paul French) starts dating Paula’s best friend Lynette Pomeroy (Sinead Long). Both men have been forewarned that local girls will use pregnancy to entrap an officer, seeking a way out of their humdrum lives. This forms a sizeable chunk of the narrative, steering one of the officers towards tragedy, while the other heads off towards his climactic happy ending.

The presentation, it has to be said, is impressive. Michael Taylor’s set mixes warm neons with imposing industrial frameworks while Ben Cracknell’s lighting creates the moods that the banal dialogue fails to convey. There are some odd choices in the songs’ arrangements, but Musical Director Christopher Duffy and his five-piece band pull it off like they’re playing to Wembley’s Twin Towers (remember – it’s the eighties!). Joanna Goodwin’s choreography is a real spectacle, although again, there’s little to suggest that she’d read the script. And the full, immensely talented, company give it their all as they wade through the likes of Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, Hall & Oates, Status Quo… and the list goes on. And as the show goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult to match what we are hearing with what we are seeing. We wonder how Hall & Oates’ ironic ditty, ‘Family Man’, can underscore tragic (and fatal) heartbreak. An awkward dinner date precedes Heart’s ‘Alone’, delivered with disproportionate bombast. Histrionics has indeed overthrown emotion in this disjointed patchwork of a variety show.

Douglas Day Stewart’s film just happened to be written, released and set in the eighties. But at the time it didn’t define the decade. It seems bizarre that Stewart would allow the level of disrespect to his writing that is being shown here. Never mind the anticipated accusations that the story is inherently dated and misogynous. It’s just homogenous. Which is a shame as it has the potential to court controversy and inspire debate. Instead, we have Helen Reddy’s ‘I Am Woman’, juxtaposed with James Brown’s ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World’, drained of the lyric’s original meaning. On the plus side, though, the songs are all crowd pleasers, and there is passion in the performances; even if nowhere else.

THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY

Theatre Royal Haymarket

★★★★★

“balances spectacle with subtlety, and resonates with emotional depth”

THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY

Theatre Royal Haymarket

Reviewed on 10th February 2026

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Tristram Kenton

THE UNLIKELY

THE UNLIKELY

THE UNLIKELY

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN at the New Wimbledon Theatre

★★

“the full, immensely talented, company give it their all as they wade through the likes of Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie, Hall & Oates, Status Quo… and the list goes on”

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN at the New Wimbledon Theatre then UK Tour continues

Reviewed on 2nd April 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marc Brenner

Best shows in March 2024:

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN

JOIN US