We were recently afforded a sneak peek into the world of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: singer and songwriter Passenger, who has written the songs for this show, performed an intimate preview gig in London which we were fortunate enough to attend. As such, going into the theatre, we already had a sense of the songs we were about to hear, as well as a reasonable idea of the story. Given this, we were really quite surprised by just how invested we felt in these characters, and how impactful the show’s emotional twists and turns were – at one point we were moved to tears, even though we knew what was coming.
Unsurprisingly, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry involves the titular Harold (Mark Addy, who is excellent) going for a very long walk; he unexpectedly receives a letter from a former colleague and, learning that she is now in a hospice, decides to embark on the journey to Berwick-upon-Tweed to visit her, much to the chagrin of his wife Maureen (the always wonderful Jenna Russell). Of course, it’s not literally about the walk itself, and more about the journey he goes on to learn about and rediscover himself; it affords a period of reflection for his wife, too.
There’s a lot here to enjoy – for starters, the songs are excellent. From the hilarious, expletive-laden ‘Out of Luck’, to emotional confessional ‘Dear Girl in the Garage’ and the wonderfully uplifting ‘Keep on Walking, Mr Fry’, these are songs that will stay with us for a long, long time; it’s rare to find a new musical with this many memorable tunes. It looks great, too, with some fantastic set-pieces – we particularly enjoyed a car wash scene created entirely through inspired costumes and choreography. While the story itself is often rather poignant, there are plenty of playful, humorous moments like this scattered throughout.
Oh – and there is a (fleeting) LGBTQ+ subplot involving one of the characters Harold encounters on his journey. It only lasts a few minutes, but it’s terrific fun and we’re always happy to see more queer representation.
We thoroughly enjoyed our evening with The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: it’s a truly charming new musical, full of warmth and humour, with some cracking tunes thrown in. There is some impressive singing talent within the cast, too; we were particularly taken with Noah Mullins, making their West End debut as The Balladeer. Well worth checking out.
GAY TIMES gives The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – 4/5
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