Review by Daz Gale
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical has opened in London… sort of. Fresh from success at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe and sell-out runs at Soho Theatre, Flo & Joan’s One Man Musical opens at Underbelly Boulevard for its biggest run yet. Would this prove to be a Superstar of a show or would it need to be renamed Bad One Man Musical?
Andrew Lloyd Webber is working on a new show. He’s done Cats, he’s done steam engines. What could be the next random and weird subject for the self-proclaimed “King of the musicools”? Himself, of course. That’s the premise of One Man Musical which sees the Lord take centre stage to recount the highs and higher highs (he’s never put a foot wrong obviously) of his life and illustrious career thus far. This is of course unauthorised and a parody of the man himself, with creators Flo & Joan describing the show in the opening number as a “legal minefield”.

Written by sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey, better known as Flo & Joan, One Man Musical crams everything into a relentless 75 minutes with the only brief reprieve the minute old Andy is off stage for an elaborate outfit change. The writing is frequently hilarious, getting a laugh in the opening moments and never letting up once the concept and tone has been established. The music allows for brief familiar moments of classic ALW songs (very brief though to not be sued) with titles such as ‘No One Says No To Andrew’ and an entire number devoted to Lin Manuel Miranda, this is satire at its finest.
While the essence of One Man Musical remains the same, each run has been updated to reflect its surroundings with the rather beautiful and still fairly new Underbelly Boulevard (or “disinfected strip club turned spaceship” as Andrew so affectionately calls it, being the butt of many a joke during the show. This did give rise to possibly my favourite one-liner of the night, referring to the chairs in the theatre, “If I wanted to sit on something orange and squeaky, I’d ring Bonnie Langford”. That sets the tone for the comedy – if you love musical theatre references and a bit of stupidity, this may well be the show for you.

Who is the one man in question, I hear you cry? Sadly, the Lord himself was too busy making revisions to his upcoming revival ‘Badder Cinderella: This Time, She’s Even Badderer’ so it fell to George Fouracres to take on the role of old Andy himself. Larger-than-life, over-the-top and exaggerated, his ability to change the volume of a sentence midWAY through caused no end of hilarity as did his deliberately not always pitch perfect vocals. In a performance that felt like a cross between Mark Heap from Green Wing and Matt Berry, Fouracres delivered a fantastic turn with a flawless knack for comic timing. A dash of improvisation and some hilarious audience interaction made his performance feel as chaotic, messy and dangerous as the first preview of a brand new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical – and I was here for it.
Flo & Joan accompany the one man as the “orchestra”, situated behind Andrew Lloyd Webber on stage much to his disgust, and one of the most humorous rants of the evening as the slugs (his words, not mine) crawled up from their pit. Though they never dare to upstage the one man himself, their knowing looks to each other, moments of assisting with wardrobe needs and reactions to Lloyd Webber’s outbursts proved an extra dimension to the musical – though it is Flo & Joan’s writing in both the book and lyrics that proved so intoxicating.

Georgie Staight’s direction amplified Flo & Joan’s writing to create comedy brilliance throughout with Rhys Thomas lighting design came into its own on a clubby ode to Cats (yes, you read that right). Though Andrew bemoaned the £50 budget for the set with the iconic line “This sign we got from Temu”, Isobel Nicolson’s design was worth much more than that with an inspired use of props, including the best performance from a bag of rice you are likely to see on stage this year. If only that was its own category at the Oliviers.
If you are a lover of musical theatre, you will love One Man Musical.
If you love Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, you will love One Man Musical.
If you’ve ever sat through an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, groaned and thought to yourself “What fresh Hell is this?”, you will ADORE One Man Musical.
Fabulously funny and sensationally silly, it really delivers a much needed shot of joy with Flo & Joan’s writing and George Fouracres’ performance entertaining at all times. When it comes to satires about musical theatre, this show really is the Lord of them all. I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ll see of One Man Musical and it will continue to grow to bigger and better things in the years to come. I for one can’t wait for the eventual Jamie Lloyd production.
One Man Musical plays at Underbelly Boulevard until 2nd March. Tickets from www.underbellyboulevard.com