Jamie Muscato and Sharon Rose bring Dex and Em south from Edinburgh as One Day, the musical of David Nicholls’ novel, begins its West End run at the Garrick Theatre on 17 November. Here is everything you need to know before you book.
One Day sets David Nicholls’ bestseller to music. The novel has sold more than five million copies and has already been a film and a television series; the stage version had its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh earlier this year, in the city where the story begins, and now comes to the Garrick Theatre with both of its leads. A love story told one day a year across two decades is not the obvious material for a musical, which is exactly why this one is worth a look.
Who is starring in One Day?
Jamie Muscato plays Dexter and Sharon Rose plays Emma, the roles both of them created in Edinburgh. Rose’s credits include Sylvia at the Old Vic and Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre.
The full West End company was confirmed on 7 October. Dan Buckley plays Ian and Dougie Carter plays Callum, while Anna-Jane Casey and Christopher Dickins are Dexter’s parents, Alison and Stephen Mayhew. Ross Dawes is Mr Godalming, Kelly Hampson is Sylvie, Jennifer Louise Jones is Miffy and Romona Lewis-Malley is Tilly. Vanessa Fisher and Ewan Murphy complete the ensemble, Rosalía Morales and Tom Mussell are understudies, and Bonnie Harper, Esmae Kevany, Hannah McIntyre and Ava-Rae Timewell share the roles of Jasmine and Sonia.
Spotlight on Jamie Muscato
Jamie Muscato has spent much of the past few years at the centre of large-scale West End musicals. He played the title role when The Great Gatsby made its European premiere at the London Coliseum, and his London credits also include Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre and Cabaret at the Playhouse Theatre. Dexter asks something rather different of him. Gatsby is a man fixed on a single longing; Dexter spends most of his twenties not knowing what he wants, and the actor playing him has to keep an audience on his side through years in which the character is careless, vain and often unkind to the one person who sees through him. He must also age twenty years over the course of an evening. That Muscato created the part, rather than inheriting it, is the best reason to expect he can carry all of that, and the Garrick is where London gets to judge: One Day begins there on 17 November.
What is One Day about?
Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew meet on the night of their graduation in Edinburgh. She is clever, principled and short of money; he is handsome, comfortable and drifting. Nothing much happens between them that night, but the story then checks in on the pair on the same date every year that follows, catching them in a new flat, a new job or a new relationship each time. Over twenty years they draw together and apart, chase their ambitions, avoid saying what they feel and grow up in ways neither expected. The structure is the point: the audience sees what the two of them keep missing.
Who is behind the production?
Max Webster directs. The book is by David Greig, a former artistic director of the Royal Lyceum, and the music and lyrics are by Abner and Amanda Ramirez, who perform together as the American band Johnnyswim, with additional material by Jeremy Sams.
Rae Smith designs the set and costumes, with lighting by Bruno Poet, sound by Simon Baker, video by Lewis den Hertog and wigs, hair and make-up by Carole Hancock. Carrie-Anne Ingrouille is the choreographer. Nigel Lilley is musical supervisor and co-arranger alongside orchestrator Simon Hale, and leads the six-piece band from the keys. Casting is by Stuart Burt CDG, with children’s casting by Keston and Keston; Ingrid Mackinnon is intimacy director, Barbara Houseman voice coach and Chris Hay production manager.
Simon Friend and Hanna Osmolska produce for Melting Pot, by arrangement with Universal Theatrical Group.
When and where can I see it?
One Day runs at the Garrick Theatre on Charing Cross Road from Tuesday 17 November 2026 to Sunday 14 March 2027. The running time is around 2 hours 40 minutes, including one interval, and tickets currently start at £36. Tickets are on sale now for One Day.
What else should I book if I like it?
- Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre, for another love story that knows how it ends and tells it anyway, with the band in full view.
- Pride at the Bridge Theatre, a new British musical whose story, like that of Em and Dex, begins in the 1980s; our guide to Pride has the details.
- Les Misérables at the Sondheim Theatre, for a story that likewise follows its characters across the best part of two decades.
