Tomorrow Morning

Tomorrow Morning is a big screen adaption by Nick Winston of the off-Broadway smash hit musical. Set in London, it simultaneously looks back at two significant moments in a couple’s relationship where 10 years have passed. With an all-star cast from the stage and screen featuring Samantha Barks (Frozen The Musical, Les Misérables) and Olivier Award nominee Ramin Karimloo plus cameo performances including film and TV icon Joan Collins. Tomorrow Morning will be in UK Cinemas from 6th September.

The film opens with a swooping aerial shot of London’s skyline as the music starts up and the actors go straight into song for this musical film. We see the lead actor Bill (Ramin Karimloo) leaving the flat of his ex-partner Catherine (Samantha Barks), whilst she sits with their sleeping child and they begin to sing together the opening rousing ballad ‘Tomorrow Morning’. Is this a song full of hope or dread? It turns out both. As Bill looks back across London’s Thames waters we jump back in time 10 years as he visualises the beginning of their relationship from that very spot – before they were married and before they had a kid and so the story unfolds in duplicity looking back to simultaneously countdown towards two momentous moments in their relationship – getting married and getting divorced – all to music and some dance too.

As an award winning musical you can expect some touching songs being performed by two of the West End’s biggest stars, Samantha Barks and Ramin Karimloo, who make the transition from stage to the screen look effortless. Samantha is supported amiably by Fleur East (X-Factor) who plays her best friend India whilst Ramin’s character teams up with his best man played by George Maguire (Billy Elliot), both injecting some vibrant sequences as they reminisce about the couple’s relationship in the build-up to the wedding. It’s not all fun and laughter though as the film flip-flops back and forth in time between the wedding preparations but also the breakdown of the marriage looking back at the tell-tale signs of how they grew apart leading to the day of the divorce proceedings.

The all-star British cast includes cameo appearances from film and TV royalty Joan Collins, who revels in giving some ironic marriage counselling, whilst comedian Omaid Djalili provides some alternative fatherly support and Anita Dobson channels her Eastenders’ feistiness as the demanding advertising boss.

The mix of acting and musical performance needs some adjusting to as conversations burst into song at short notice using the unmistakeable intonation of musical dialogue and especially elongated syllables, but the musical format isn’t without its successes, like Oscar winning La La Land and should be slighted at your peril.

Enjoy the London backdrops, West End performances and cameo appearances in this British rom-com style musical of converging worlds that could just go to show how much better life would be if it were a musical.