Theatre: Behind the scenes of One Day: The Musical ahead of its world premiere at the Lyceum

The company stayed in a flat in Rankeillor Street, almost in the shadow of Salisbury Crags. They worked far into the night, climbed Arthur’s Seat, walked the streets of the festival city; and the whole experience made such a deep impression on Nicholls that when he came, almost two decades later, to start work on his third novel One Day – which follows the on-off love story of two young graduates called Dex and Emma, year by year, starting on their graduation day in 1988 – it was Edinburgh, and not Bristol, that he chose as the setting for the opening of his story.

The novel, published in 2009, became a global best-seller, translated into more that 40 languages; in 2011 it became a film, and in 2024 a 14-part Netflix television version was released, becoming a top ten viewer’s choice in 88 countries.

Meanwhile, though, one of the younger members of that 1988 Bristol University group – David Greig, a couple of years Nicholls’s junior – was also building a formidable career, as one of Scotland’s leading playwrights, and then as artistic director of the Lyceum Theatre. When he read Nicholls’s book, he instantly recognised the flat, the landscape around it, the mood of the story; and when the theatre producer Simon Friend – who owned the stage rights to the story – approached Greig in 2023 to ask if he would write the book for a stage musical version, he didn’t hesitate.

The result is One Day: The Musical, which will have its world premiere at the Lyceum this spring, in a co-production between the Lyceum and Friend’s Melting Pot company that will, it is hoped, eventually become a UK and international hit.

“Simon had been working on the idea of a stage version for a while,” says Greig, “and so by the time he approached me, he had already asked the American team of Abner and Amanda Ramirez – the band Johnnyswim – to write the songs, and had signed up Max Webster as director.

“So my job has really been to work out what the characters have to say, in each yearly episode, to let the audience know what’s going on without explaining too much. David’s book is a very British novel, all about people who find it difficult to say what they feel, while the narrative tells you all about the emotions they’re experiencing inside. And in musical theatre, you can absolutely have the songs doing that job, of expressing all those deep feelings; while the spoken dialogue can be quite spare.

“So one of the things we’re doing, in this version, is to make the other characters in the story into a kind of chorus, who see and comment on the story through the years. That’s a way of bringing the book’s narrative to life in theatre, and we’re working really hard, with a great cast, to make sure it works well.”

One of those other characters is Dex’s friend Callum, who becomes a successful businessman. In the original story, Callum is Irish; but in Greig’s version, he is a Scot, played by Scottish actor Peter Hannah, who was last seen at the Lyceum in the world premiere of Wild Rose. Hannah has a successful musical theatre career in London; and for him, One Day is a particularly exciting project.

“Well first of all, it’s just great to be premiering a new musical here in Edinburgh - the Lyceum is such a brilliant, spectacular-looking, friendly theatre, and of course we’re doing this show in the round – the design is amazing, and I really think audiences will just be going, “wow, what’s happening here?”. And after doing several new musicals recently, I can tell you that the Ramirez’s songs are exceptional, just one sure-fire hit after another.

“For us, as a kind of Greek chorus, it’s not about big individual numbers but about singing the story, picking up a phrase or a line to emphasise. It’s hard work, but so enjoyable, and I can’t wait to see how audiences respond to it.”

David Greig, too, is delighted by the opportunity to stage the show in the round, and by the fact that his successor as Lyceum artistic director, James Brining, was so enthusiastic about taking the project forward. “It was great to hand over to someone that I know and trust so well,” says Greig. “It means that the Lyceum still feels like home to me, even though I’m really enjoying being freelance again. And yes, the chance to do the play in the round is particularly good for this story, which has to move so swiftly through so many settings that you couldn’t possibly capture them in a conventional set.

“As for the huge appeal of the story itself – well first of all, it’s a good old-fashioned weepie; and I think that at times when there is so much grief and pain and loss in the world, people just sometimes need a chance to let those emotions flow, in the context of a fictional story.

“Beyond that, though, there is something deeper, about time and death, and about how precious every moment of our lives is, even if it never leads to anything. After that first day and night they spend together in Edinburgh, Emma says that she doesn’t want to give Dex her number, because it was perfect, and she doesn’t need anything more. And that’s a big part of what this story is telling us; that we don’t always have to be going somewhere, and we can just cherish those perfect moments that stay with us always, and really are timeless.”

One Day is at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 27 February-19 April.