“When I was 17, I had an accident and it changed my life,” says Henry as he circles the stage in his wheelchair.
Based on a memoir by Henry Fraser, who dived into the sea on holiday in 2009 and hit his head on the seabed, this is a big-hearted musical that not only dramatises the impact of the accident on Henry but on his family, who are key to the emotional drama.
Under the direction of Luke Sheppard, there are two Henrys on stage: the 17-year-old aspiring rugby pro before the dive (Jonny Amies) and the current wheelchair-user (Ed Larkin) – representing a bifurcated self. They begin communing and their relationship takes on surprising emotional purchase.
His brothers (Jordan Benjamin, who has a superb voice; along with Jamie Chatterton and Cleve September) are sweetly dorky, albeit with the oddly generic dance moves of a boyband, while his parents (Linzi Hateley and Alasdair Harvey) put on a brave face. This stoical Britishness leads to unspoken trauma, guilt and blame, all unpicked in the show.
Nick Butcher’s music and lyrics (by Butcher and Tom Ling) are strong and catchy, incorporating pop, jazz and gospel alongside big musical ballads. Humour brings kooky touches such a memory from Henry’s fateful holiday while he is heavily drugged. The hallucinatory scene mashes up his hospital surroundings with the beach bar at which he partied. Its surreal giddiness brings flashbacks from Dennis Potter’s The Singing Detective as Dr Graham (Malinda Parris) transforms into a senorita to sing Uma Vida.
The performances are strong too, and Parris is a particular highlight along with Amy Trigg’s plain-speaking physiotherapist (“shit happens,” she sings).
For all its heart, the story of transformation – Henry becomes an artist after teaching himself with utensils held in his mouth – sometimes feels too bright-eyed, with the schmaltz in Joe White’s book lathered so thickly that it flattens things.
Colin Richmond’s set design is largely empty, with atmospheric waves of colour (video design by Luke Halls and lighting by Howard Hudson). Characters bring on some scenery and it is very inventive, but set oddly against big West End stagecraft – platforms juggeringly raised, aerial work in which Henry swings mid-air in his wheelchair – that doesn’t quite unify with the makeshift minimalism.
It is a lovable tearjerker nonetheless with a disarming sweetness and bearing all the signs of being an immense crowd-pleaser.
At @sohoplace, London, until 25 November
