Writers: Christopher J Orton and Jon Robyns
Director: Julie Atherton
Despite its postmodern structure where scenes are presented out of order, Then, Now & Next remains a curiously old-fashioned chamber musical. Just a cast of five tells the story of Alex, a woman whose grief prevents her from moving forward. Written by two members of the new generation of West End royalty, Christopher J Orton and Jon Robyns, their musical is perfectly fine, but it lacks depth and character.
That’s not to say it’s bland; indeed, on the contrary, it’s often very funny and occasionally sweet, but the story, for all its jumping forward and backwards in time, is not dramatic enough. Instead, Then, Now & Next is a gentle domestic comedy, and its fragmented nature means that we learn little of the three main protagonists.
Very soon into the musical’s first half, we discover that Alex’s old boyfriend has died and the sound of squealing tyres that punctuates nearly every scene change would suggest that he was killed in a car crash. Is Alex’s memory of him too keen? Is Stephen’s death five years ago the reason that Alex won’t accept the repeated requests to marry from new boyfriend Peter?
Unravelling back in time, we see Alex happy with Stephen and then happy – but perhaps less happy – with Peter. One meet-cute occurs deep in the first half while the other first meeting takes place at the start of the second. It’s a nice touch to place these joyful moments in different places, breaking up the traditional narrative of bereavement. But the structure means there is little for us to discover; we know Stephen has died and with no other plot developments there is little else for us to know.
Fortunately, all the performers are excellent so it’s easy to forgive the story’s shortcomings. As Alex, Alice Fearn is in almost every scene and she does well to quickly exchange positions in her character’s arc. For her first two songs, she almost speaks rather than sings – perhaps to show how grief has broken her – but then, after these, she’s allowed to attack them with more vigour and she has a nice Country Music tenor to her voice. However, director Julie Atherton makes sure that each actor remains in character.
Peter Hannah gives Peter a puppy-like cheerfulness but it’s difficult to warm to his desperation to get married. More likeable and less complex is Stephen, played by Joaquin Pedro Valdes in particularly good voice. However, they all are upstaged by the comic turns by Justin Brett and Tori Allen-Martin who play all the other roles, including for Brett, a very unbelievable ‘gay saviour’ character at the end. And Allen-Martin’s crazy Essex dancer steals the show. However, these broad humorous interludes threaten to undermine the seriousness and intimacy of the story.
The songs, very much mined from the seams of musical theatre, are pleasant enough with the last song of the first half, about not going home, being one of the highlights. Also bouncy is She’s Mine where Hannah and Valdes get to duet. A live four-piece band sits on top of Bob Sterrett’s white set, which looks like something artist Rachel Whiteread would make. The balance between the music and the vocals is managed perfectly, sometimes a problem in small venues, so the lyrics are always clear.
At the end of the show, Alex tells someone that she is fine and the reply is that being fine is sometimes fine. And this sums up Then, Now & Next precisely. It’s fine, but it won’t set the world alight.
Runs until 29 July 2023
