What a grand idea! This new musical from Jack Godfrey and Ellie Coote turns the relationship between the planet and people into a rom-com. The love affair between Earth and Hugh(manity) is a delightfully crazy conceit, deployed with a sense of fun as well as purpose. It’s so successful that the show should go global.
Danielle Steers takes the lead as a lonely planet Earth. Amour with amoebas doesn’t offer much reward. And as for a dalliance with dinosaurs, well, we know how that ends. From the start, Godfrey’s smart lyrics and pop tunes are well matched and Steers’ singing is strong. There’s a lot of scope for original rhymes and you sense a great deal of fun was had in the show’s making.
Soon Morgan Gregory arrives as Humanity, bubbling with energy and ideas. Coote’s book plays with making the courtship cute. Gregory has a harder role – how humanity is changing is the debate (as well as questions around sincerity) – and there are moments in Coote’s book that come close to a checklist. But a twist about travel is good and it isn’t the fault of Hot Mess that we know where the story is going.
Coote’s energetic direction makes up for the problem of predictability. Mankind probably gets too much credit – maybe that’s part of trying to keep the show positive for as long as possible. But preaching is avoided and a downbeat ending handled with humour so we don’t all leave the theatre depressed. With some fantasy, Earth does well in the end – as she should – and Steers is triumphant.
Until 6 September 2026
Photo by Pamela Raith