Madeleine Worrall and Mark Addy in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry [Tristram Kenton]

THE Chichester Festival Theatre production of Rachel Joyce’s The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, co-adapted with Peter Darling and Katy Rudd, who also directs, is a tender musical about one man’s emotional and physical journey to help a friend, featuring an original score by Passenger.

Harold Fry (Mark Addy) is an ordinary man living with his wife Maureen (Jenna Russell), both of them quietly nursing regret and grief. When he receives a letter from an old work colleague, Queenie (Maggie Service), now in a hospice, he sets out to post a reply and instead finds himself walking the length of England to visit her.

Harold is accompanied on his travels by the Balladeer (Noah Mullins), a Puck-like ethereal presence who feels like a submerged part of himself.

He’s spurred on by the kindly girl at the local garage – a standout Nicole Nyarambi – adopted by a stray dog (brilliantly animated by puppet captain Timo Tatzber) who nearly steals the show, and encounters an array of people who cheer him on.

When Harold becomes a TikTok sensation, various strangers join the pilgrimage, projecting their own hopes and desires onto his journey. Along the way, Harold is forced to confront the grief, guilt and repressed emotions that have shaped his life, and the widening disconnect with Maureen waiting for him back home.

It’s a quietly affecting story about friendship, loss, facing our demons and the power of community. The show occasion­ally tips into sentimentality, but the closing scenes are undeniably moving and this is a heart-warming antidote to troubled times. The top-notch cast, Katy Rudd’s assured direction and Tom Jackson Greaves’ choreography inject real vitality into the production.

Until April 18
HaroldFryMusical.com