We Aren’t Kids Anymore. Savoy Theatre.

“We should get all our dirty laundry out and see how far it goes”, the ensemble croons in the penultimate song of Drew Gasparini’s song-cycle-turned-musical We Aren’t Kids Anymore. In the one-off world premiere of the show, nestled between performances of Mean Girls at the Savoy Theatre, the dirty laundry goes on for about 87 minutes.

Gasparini is known for his emotionally raw, personal, and deeply introspective lyrics, and it is fair to say he delivers confessional self-awareness in spades. Anticipate a dozen-and-a-half contemporary tunes about the writers’ grief, vulnerability, self-doubt, drug and alcohol use, mental health challenges, and complicated relationships. “Masturbating helps remind me I’m on my own”, one of the lyrics informs us. Indeed, there are more references to wanking in We Aren’t Kids Anymore than in your common or garden West End musical, an indication of the introspective, self-revelatory territory we are in here. It is as if the writer feels that filters are for other people.

Gasparini’s musical theatre pop-rock song cycle, enthused with attractive driving beats, catchy guitar-based tunes, and pleasing anthemic choruses, premiered in 2019. A successful studio cast album followed in 2020. Despite heavy-weight performances and serious production talent, including director Jake Smith and concept designer Richard Fitch, opinions will vary on how successful the evolution into a fully-fledged musical has been.

Gasparini’s journey of self-discovery, though touching and heartfelt, lacks an obvious narrative direction and struggles to convey anything broader about growing up beyond one man’s experiences. The experience of waking up in a snowstorm from a cocaine-induced coma and pondering, “Am I letting down a younger version of myself?” is pithily rendered in song, but is there any wider resonance? Ultimately, one cannot help but feel that this is just about Drew Gasparini. We Aren’t Kids Anymore is really ‘I’m not a kid anymore and I’m here to tell you about it’.

Except this is not just about one Drew. Gasparini is large; he contains multitudes. Drawn from West End musical royalty, we get five interacting Drews onstage during the show, each showcasing various aspects of the same multifaceted person. Plus, an extra Drew offstage as the swing in case any of the quintet of other Drews is unavailable. The mix of the performers’ genders and ages adds a tone of welcome inclusivity to the piece.

The performances are mostly impeccable and shine particularly in the ensemble choral numbers. Cassius Hackforth sings beautifully as a younger Drew, most obviously in the jazzy second number, “Hi, My Name Is Drew,” and the beautifully rendered hymn to a much-missed mother, “Mom Could Play Guitar.” The stunning Melanie La Barrie, fresh from Hadestown, gives us a sassy older Drew in an anthemic ballad about the pitfalls of believing that using pills, powders, and drink makes one a likeable person.

Trans comedian and content creator Dylan Mulvaney, in their West End debut, demonstrates a stonkingly vocal good range in a tune about falling in love, “there you are like a perfect day, slightly enigmatic, off-the-cuff, sporadic”, they tell us. Olivier-nominated Aimee Atkinson gives us the tough, non-nonsense Drew in the subsequent bitter break-up song I Wish I Never Met You. Nigel Harman serves as an older, wiser, more contemplative Drew.

There is little traditional storyline to We Aren’t Kids Anymore, which means dramatic tension is largely absent. We do get to learn that Drew loves his mum and dad (“Babies who had babies”), adores his elder brother and younger sister, is an optimist who worries about success (“I’m living on the edge of where I’m meant to be”), and frets about what he will leave behind him. Whether all this makes for a fully-fledged piece of musical theatre, rather than an appealing apologia set in a song-cycle, is debatable.

Book, Music and Lyrics:   Drew Gasparini

Director:   Jake Smith