The Time Traveller’s Wife: The Musical Launch Event

Photo Credit: Danny Kaan

The best-selling novel, by Audrey Niffenegger, has already inspired a film and TV adaptation so why not a musical? Although its screen adaptations received some rather mixed reviews, this new British musical, adapted for the stage by award-winning writer Lauren Gunderson, has already got quite a buzz around it. The show enjoyed a short run in Chester in October last year. winning over critics and audiences with its compelling love story and exciting original score, written by pop royalty Joss Stone and Dave Stewart.

The show is now due to open in London later this year, starring David Hunter (Waitress) as Henry and Joanna Woodward (Pretty Woman) as Clare, reprising the roles they originated in Chester.

With my own inability to travel through time, I was sadly unable to pop back to October 2022 to catch the show’s original run, so the next best thing for me was to go along to its launch event and find out what we can expect from this exciting new musical when it arrives in London.

We were treated to seven songs from the show, performed by the brilliant cast and, as a special treat, an acoustic performance from writers Dave Stewart and Joss Stone.

Producer Colin Ingram introduced us to the show, explaining that it focuses on Clare, the eponymous time traveller’s wife. She’s a strong and powerful woman in control of her destiny. Having secured the rights to adapt the book for the stage, he asked four female American writers to submit a treatment for how they saw the show working and chose to work with Lauren Gunderson, a prolific writer who inexplicably has not yet had any work staged on Broadway or in the West End. It’s a complicated book to adapt and she has done a beautiful job in writing words that just fall off the page.

Ingram had worked with Dave Stewart previously on Ghost the Musical and when he approached him about Time Traveller’s Wife, Stewart shared some songs he’d written with Joss Stone for an unreleased album that turned out to be a perfect fit for the show, with just a few changes. 

The music is incredibly catchy, when Ingram says that Dave Stewart is one of the best melody writers in the world he’s not exaggerating. As well as having a pop/rock feel to them, the songs have a soaring string section, making them beautifully theatrical. When Joss Stone sings “This Time”, accompanied by Stewart, you can clearly see her influence on the music with her stunning vocals perfectly suited to the song. 

The show’s cast gave equally impressive performances. Joanna Woodward (Clare) showed us exactly why she is rightfully taking her place as a West End leading lady. Dave Hunter (Henry) has charm, charisma and outstanding vocals. As Gomez and Charisse, Tim Mahendran and Hiba Elchikhe showed us in their duet that they are much more than the show’s comic relief, sparking off each other with fantastic chemistry. 

The Time Traveller’s Wife promises to be an exciting and unpredictable adventure, with a hugely talented cast and crew bringing this much loved story to life. With the cast recording coming in September, there isn’t too much longer to wait and I don’t need to be a time traveller to be able to predict that the show is going to be a massive hit!

The Time Traveller’s Wife will run at London’s Apollo Theatre (Shaftesbury Avenue). Previews start on 7th October with a press night on 1st November.  You can find out more about the show and book tickets on the official website.