One Day is an iconic romance novel exploring the complex, entangled lives of Emma Morely and Dexter Mayhew. David Nicholls stages the pair’s first meeting at the graduation ball at the University of Edinburgh on 15 July, 1988. The story proceeds to consist solely of a snapshot into Emma and Dexter’s lives on the same midsummer day each year across two decades.
The incredibly popular novel has seen many adaptations, including Lone Scherfig’s 2011 film, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, which generally did not live up to the novel’s public opinion. In 2024, however, a new Netflix adaptation starring Amika Mod and Leo Woodall sparked a resurgence of popularity.
One Day is being turned into a musical, set to premiere in Edinburgh at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, with performances from 26 February to 5 April, 2026. So, what can we expect, and how will it compare to the book, film, and TV Series?
Based on the brief description on the Royal Lyceum website, One Day: The Musical will encompass the “heartbreak, missed opportunities and second chances” of the novel by “capturing the intensity of youthful romance, the moments that define us forever, and the enduring hope that love finds its way.”
The musical is set to star the wonderfully talented Jamie Muscato and Sharon Rose, and will be directed by Max Webster with an original score created specifically for this adaptation. The musical will be performed in the round, meaning the audience will be up close and personal with the actors and the action.
My initial concern is how a musical could encompass the breadth of One Day as a novel, which I think is possibly why the film did not perform as well (or perhaps it was Anne Hathaway’s British accent). I think the Netflix series’ popularity was potentially due to its ability to flesh out the nuances of Nicholls’ novel over 14 episodes. I hope that the musical utilises its different formal elements to jump through time and explore the emotive richness of the story through song. As it is such a beloved book, a musical could potentially risk falling short of the original story, and I think the only way of avoiding this is through imitating One Day’s essence, but in a unique capacity. As in, keeping Em and Dex’s magnetism alive, but using the musical medium to explore a new way of telling their story.
As a musical and a One Day fan, I will definitely be getting tickets, and I hope that there is either a new spin on this modern classic or it does the lovers justice in a musically tender way.
Photo by Mike Newbry on Unsplash