I read David Nicholls’ One Day years ago and fell in love with Em and Dex. Funny, frustrating, and ever so relatable, they became two people whose lives I was completely invested in. I enjoyed the film with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, but the fantastic Netflix series with Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall gave their story room to really breathe and made me fall for them all over again. Naturally, I was beyond excited to hear a musical was coming. Then I went along to the rehearsal room last Thursday, watched Jamie Muscato and Sharon Rose perform three songs, and my excitement leapt to the next level!

Following Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew on the same date each year is such a beautifully simple idea, but it gives us so much: friendship, terrible timing, missed opportunities, and two people who almost feel like your friends. You want to give them advice. You want to shake them. Above all, you want things to work out for them.

Jamie Muscato plays Dexter, opposite Sharon Rose as Emma, and getting to hear them singing in the rehearsal room was such a delight. Three songs. That was all we were given, but it was enough to have everyone there desperate for the rest of the show.

There’s something so exciting about hearing music from a new musical when you already care about the story it’s telling. You know these characters, you have your own relationship with them, and suddenly there’s another way into their world. I told them during the Q&A that I’d been very moved. Even hearing the songs out of context, knowing the story meant I was right there with them.

I also asked Muscato about Dexter’s struggle with self-acceptance, because he’s such a complicated character to get right. ‘He deals with his self-doubt with overconfidence,’ he explained. That feels like such a good way of understanding Dex: someone who puts himself in situations where everyone is looking at him, then discovers he can’t quite handle it.

Both actors have read the novel, and Muscato explained that they’re finding their own versions of these characters rather than trying to recreate the screen performances. Rose spoke about the time they’d spent together in rehearsals, particularly during movement sessions with choreographer Carrie-Anne Ingrouille, building an understanding of how to rely on each other on stage.

The musical has a book by David Greig, music and lyrics by Abner and Amanda Ramirez of Johnnyswim, additional material by Jeremy Sams, and direction by Max Webster. Following its premiere at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre, it now heads to the West End’s Garrick Theatre.

Hearing the composers talk about their connection to the story was lovely. Abner saw something of his own relationship with Amanda in Em and Dex. What interested him went beyond whether they would get together romantically: he felt these were two people who were meant to be in each other’s lives, whatever form that took. For a story that can so easily be summed up as a will-they-won’t-they romance, that feels like a particularly thoughtful starting point.

There was also a lovely glimpse into how the score began. Asked which song might become the one people would most want to sing, Muscato immediately picked ‘Blackbirds’. Abner described it as the musical’s emotional centre, explaining that a few notes Amanda played at the piano had unlocked the sound of the show for them.

And while those of us who know the story might already be preparing ourselves emotionally, Ingrouille said one of the pleasures of the Edinburgh run was hearing just how much laughter there was. Apparently, there was even a proposal. Webster also revealed that the team have been developing the production for London, with new songs and scenes.

With a story this loved, there’s inevitably a lot of anticipation around a new adaptation. I’m very much part of that excitement. The book means a lot to me, the television series was wonderful, and Thursday’s visit has only made me more impatient to experience it all again in a theatre.

Obviously, three songs can only give you a taste of a whole show. But what a taste. Hearing Muscato and Rose perform was incredible, and if the aim was to send us away wanting more, consider that fully achieved.

One Day: The Musical begins performances at London’s Garrick Theatre on 17 November 2026.

Book tickets at onedaymusical.com

Words by Nick Barr

Photography by Pamela Raith