The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: a musical with 'foot-stomping soul'

Mark Addy as Harold Fry — An 'exceptional cast' led by Mark Addy as Harold

(Image credit: Manuel Harlan)

Rachel Joyce's novel about a "Bunyanesque modern-day everyman who goes out to post a letter to his terminally-ill, long-lost friend", but ends up walking instead from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed to see her in person, became a bestseller in 2012 and was turned into a film a decade later. This new stage adaptation is infused with the same "syrupy, unabashed sentimentality" as both of those, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian, but it has a "winning twist": a musical score by Passenger (the singer-songwriter Michael Rosenberg) that "blasts the story through with folksy heart and foot-stomping soul". Throw in the vibrant choreography and imaginative staging, and this "idiosyncratic" show has the makings of a "quirky West End transfer".

It's hard to make sense of a 500-mile hike on stage, said Sarah Crompton on WhatsOnStage, but Katy Rudd's production is boosted by stirring video projections and lighting that conjure up landscapes, cathedrals and, finally, the sea. Also crucial are the "strongly sung" performances "from an exceptional cast" led by Mark Addy as Harold. The standout numbers include the "uplifting gospel" of "Walk Upon the Water" (a powerhouse performance by Sharon Rose); "You're F**ked" (sung by Madeleine Worrall as the doctor treating Harold's tired feet); and the soaring "Keep on Walking Mr Fry" ("beautifully sung" by Worrall again, this time playing the part of a nun).

The "irreverence" of some of the songs punctures the possible "mawkishness" of a story about a man who walks the length of England alone in yachting shoes without being mugged or facing "any other serious mishap", said Rachel Halliburton in The Times. By bringing a "sense of myth" to Harold's quest – the evening starts with a Pan-like figure singing a lament for his life – this "captivating" production "gives potency to his belief that by walking to Berwick he can save the cancer-stricken Queenie", who turns out to be the key to his troubled relationship with his wife and son. It would "take a heart of Antarctic ice not to be moved by how this unravels". Let's hope "Harold's next stop will be in London".