The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a new musical with music written by Passenger and book by Rachel Joyce, adapted from Joyce’s original novel. The story follows the journey of a man as he endeavors to walk the length of England to visit a dying friend. It is filled with inspirational life lessons and a tender exploration of grief.
What I liked
The overall design style of the show is lovely, with fantastic simplistic set design, pop, gospel and folk influence in the music, and really fun choreography throughout. The set utilised a projected back wall and it was very eloquently used throughout, in what I think is a very clever use of a digital element given the show’s nature is of ever changing scenery.
I had a few favourite songs, mostly in Act 2 with the exception of “Keep on Walking Mr Fry” nearing the end of Act 1 which was absolutely gorgeous. I felt moved in a similar way that “Dear Bill” did in Operation Mincemeat. “Such a Simple Thing” sung by Maureen, played by Jenna Russel, was probably my favourite of the whole show however, it was a beautiful mixture of the pop/folk sound Passenger naturally has and classic musical theatre vibe.
The story itself is very sweet and has a very nice message about the weight of everyday life while grieving, and the importance of not judging others when you don’t know what weights they carry. I really appreciate the metaphor being as simple as “walking may seem like an easy task, but the distance differs for everyone”.
There was a really sweet set up in the bar where they had people write little cards and pin them to a map to show where people had come from. I added my own little note on my first visit, but there were some really lovely ones I read on both attendances.
What wasn’t my favourite
There is some element to the writing in act 1 that purposefully obfuscates the twist in a way that I feel takes away from the story. I found it meant a lot of blunt explanation in act 2 to ensure the audience isn't confused by the misdirects. Basically, I found it frustrating that, spoilers ahead, the constant implications that Harold was in love with Queenie were framed as the main curiosity throughout instead of the grief of the loss of his son. There are a handful of lines in act 2 that have to backtrack: “I’ve only ever loved my wife” “I wasn’t jealous” “I’m the fraud” - I much prefer when a reveal allows the earlier mysteries to slot into a clear place, instead of telling the audience “Oh, my bad, phrased that wrong”. It’s like the differences between the plot twists in Knives Out 2 and Now You See Me, one’s got a little foundation and the other is for a bigger reaction.
Another small nitpick is that some of the act 1 songs feel a bit unjustified. The farmer, the man at the station and the doctor were all very catchy songs and fun characters, but didn’t feel totally earned, I felt like because we were hiding how Harold truly feels about Queenie and David that instead we had to introduce random other people to have song-justifying emotions without much impact on Harold or the plot.
Overall
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a very fun story, and the show is equally fun. It’s got catchy songs, a lovely overall message, and the cast gave an amazing performance. It’s not up there with my favourite musicals but I do hope an official cast album comes out soon cause I would love to hear some of the songs again.
