Nearlyweds The Musical

Nearlyweds is the new comedy musical written and directed by Jasmine Alice. We meet bride-to-be Lily on the morning of her wedding, she is a timid woman, a chronic people pleaser, but one phone call from her soon to be Mother In Law changes all that. She flees her wedding and her life takes a new course. We are then introduced to Jake, a groom who gets caught cheating and who’s wife airs their dirty laundry in front of all their family at their reception. Jake and Lily are connected by hapless Brian, the brother of Jake, an accountant at a diamond company Lily finds work at following her relocation to London.

The story is one of friendship and love but it does get a little complicated at times and the ending doesn’t satisfy as much as I would like. The two stories of Lily and Jake work well separately, the bringing together of them feels a little shoe-horned in and unnecessary.

There is clever use of projection to help set each scene, from planes to offices it adds another element to what is otherwise a limited space. The direction is clear and there is a vision for the piece as a comedy musical which comes through strongly. I do feel the use of an audience member to participate in the ‘speed dating’ section was underused and it would have been great to see the audience member used more to comedy effect here.

Nearlyweds has some wonderful songs, though due to some tech issues at the venue some of the lyrics were lost and sadly that meant some jokes didn’t land as they should have, but there were some fabulous ballads which certainly stole the show, especially Ollie Wray singing ‘Me and My Little One’. Katherine Leyva shines as Gayle, the funny best friend of Lily, her vocal talents are really utilised well on ‘Brian From Accounting’

Nearlyweds is nearly brilliant, with some tightening of the story and possibly even an extension to run time to allow for more opportunities if character development it could be perfect. It is well worth a watch as part of any fringe schedule!