‘Carlie Craig is a force of raw, exceptional talent’
There is no denying that Carlie Craig is a force of raw, exceptional talent. Her vocal range is impressive, her stage presence groomed with a quality polish, and her original score for ONE contains flashes of melodic brilliance that hint at what could have been a standout night of musical theatre. Unfortunately, talent alone cannot save a show that fundamentally forgets who it was staged for.
The premise; a deeply vulnerable, universally relatable reflection on surviving a toxic relationship…but One: The Musical rapidly devolves into an exercise in self-absorption. Every lyric feels less like an artistic exploration and more like an unfiltered, unexamined diary entry demanding validation for basic self-awareness. What promised to be a poignant evening, dissolved into emotional manipulation instead.
Worse still was the suffocating atmosphere inside the venue. Craig spent much of the running time playing up to a vocal “home crowd” stacked in the stalls. Between shared inside jokes, knowing winks mid-belt, and targeted giggles exchanged with her inner circle, the boundary between professional performance and private gathering completely dissolved. If you weren’t personally named in her phone contacts, your presence felt less like a welcomed patron and more like a nuisance. Regular ticketholders were effectively reduced to uninvited eavesdroppers, watching a high-budget group chat play out on stage.
There could be a brilliant, tight musical buried somewhere beneath the vanity of this project. If Craig can step back, strip away the insular self-congratulation, and remember that theatre is meant to bridge a connection with strangers rather than flatter friends, her future work will be something to behold.
Review Date: 29th August 2026
Star Rating: TWO