A new musical adaptation of One Day is heading to London’s West End
No Leo Woodall though
It’s almost hard to believe that David Nicholls’ heartbreaking love story One Day came out in 2009, given the numerous adaptations and cultural status it holds. The 2024 Netflix adaptation starring Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod caused the whole nation to collectively swoon, root for and cry over the mismatched but soul-destined couple. Now, the novel is heading for another adaptation, heading to London’s West End for a musical.
For anyone who hasn’t seen the film, series, read the book, or been subjected to a friend haphazardly attempt to recall the plot, One Day follows the lives of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley who meet and spend the night together as students on 5th July (St Swithin's Day) in 1988 and follows the ups and downs of their tangled lives across the next twenty years.
The musical is coming down from Edinburgh where it ran in the Lyceum Theatre. It had a pretty starry team behind it, with playwright David Greig wrote the book (he’s also the theatre’s artistic director), Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez responsible for the songs, and Max Webster – whose West End credits include Life of Pi and The Importance of being Ernest – directing.
Two bona-fide West End stars are in the leading the cast, with Jamie Muscato (current Emcee in Cabaret), and Sharon Rose (who you might recognise from Hamilton) taking on the roles of Dexter and Emma. The whole musical will be moving into the Garrick Theatre, starting its run on November 17th and currently has performances scheduled until March 14th.
One Day the musical will be taking over from the West End revival of Mel Brooks' The Producers, which will be wrapping up its run in September.
Anyone who is a fan of industry gossip (read: everyone) will be interested to know the lore behind this show; it drew some controversy in its early Edinburgh run as critics weren’t invited to the run, as the team wanted to keep the reviews (and presumably opinions) fresh for the London transfer. Whilst mysterious, it does mean there’s no real chatter about whether the adaptation is worth a watch, but given the creative team and cast behind it and the fact that the original run was extended by two weeks, it’s looking promising.
Tickets are already on sale, with prices starting at £30 and ranging up to £110 for the smack-bang-in-front-of-the-stage seats.
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