Falling Stars

I'd never heard of this musical before, but apparently it became a viral hit during lockdown? So when the Hayes Theatre put it on several weeks back, I thought it would be worth checking out.

The premise is that six teenagers wind up in limbo after a fatal accident on an amusement park ride - and have to compete in a singing competition for the chance for one of them to return to life.

I had no idea what to expect - was it going to be a downer, or at least bittersweet, or was there any hope of it being ultimately uplifting?

Overall, it was a fairly enjoyable experience. Though it was unsettling to see the characters in school uniforms, which emphasised just how young they were.

It worked well as one act with no intermission. Each character got a song, where we learned about them and their hopes and dreams, and they also revealed more of themselves through their interactions between songs.

Highlights for me were:

* "Noel's Lament" - Noel doesn't want to sing about his unglamorous job at Taco Bell, but about his fantasy alter ego, Monique Gibeau, a tragic prostitute in post-war France. Melodramatic and funny.

* "Space Age Bachelor Man" - Ricky's song about his own fantasy life of being the saviour of sexy alien cat people. Fun and inventive.

* "The Ballad of Jane Doe" - Jane's song about not knowing who she is or what her life was. Haunting and dramatic. (Apparently in the original production, she flies on stage? Here, they used revolving mirrors to create a sense of illusion, and it worked really well.)

When the characters decided to all vote for Jane Doe, because she had no memories and deserved to make some, I hoped that they would be rewarded for their selflessness, and all get a second chance. Well, it didn't turn into that uplifting an ending. But it felt like the right choice, and was emotionally satisfying.

Anyway. It's the kind of story that leaves you thinking, because it doesn't wrap everything up neatly. Why do some people get short lives? There's no answer to that. All you can do is live your life as best you can during your time here on this earth.


But there isn't only darkness and there isn't only light
The colors that we keep within are much more than black and white
I know that every single one of us has got a world inside

Live a thousand years or a single day
Cause no one can ever ever take that world away