Okay, maybe this isn't a fun fact, but it's a key one. Nick Blaemire started writing the show, which premiered in 2015 at Signature Theatre in Virginia, as a reflection on climate change and "how surreal it makes life feel, as we all walk around pretending like everything's fine when we know it's not," the writer said. "It's the meme of the dog with the coffee cup surrounded by fire."

"I wrote the show before the pandemic, about the fear of an apocalyptic event, and how my friends and I would have reacted to that — and then we had one," Blaemire added. "That's what woke up the language. In 2015 it all felt very theoretical — we also did it in a traditional theatre [...] and even though it was only a 100-seat room, the apartment felt far away and manufactured (which it was). Now, to do it in what feels like an actual living room, with the action happening only a foot or two from the audience, the context and sense of place is so much deeper."

We meet Charlie as a shut-in, glued to a 24-hour news cycle, clinging to "her pet fish Herschel, a jar of peanut butter, and her love of baked goods," Ava Delaney, who plays the character, summarized. "This starts to fall apart when love comes into the picture, and Charlie has to face the question: What do we do with the time we have left? Do we let ourselves love or do we look away?"

Other settings are suggested throughout Soon, but they exist only in Charlie's imagination, her version of reality as she cherry-picks it. "When Charlie’s mom calls, suddenly we’re in a nightclub and she’s got a corded mic, working the crowd, asking 'How are you?' to everyone except her daughter," the director cited as an example. "This is how Charlie is viewing the world and the people around her. But is she telling us the whole story? The musical blurs the lines sometimes where you ask, 'Was that real?'"

Because Soon is entirely set in a single room, you're meant to settle in. Audiences are seated on two sides of the stage, with apartment decor all around them; there's almost no separation. Oliver Richman, who plays Charlie's caring lover Jonah, said Sean Frank's set is stuffed with tiny details to make the room feel lived-in, "from board games to journals to used theatre tickets."

"There may be some moments or details that ONLY you can see from your particular seat. If you’re brave enough, the front row is the place to be," director Will Blum added. "I want you to feel like you’re sitting on the couch with Charlie."

The ultra-tangible nature of the living room heightens our attention to the abstract way the other settings are depicted. For the duration of Soon, we — like Charlie — are meant to feel like nothing truly exists beyond the apartment.

Blum's "make the most of a little" approach to Soon extends to the music. Throughout the 90-minute show, you'll hear folk, musical theatre, jazz, and rock sounds woven into the primarily indie-pop score. Blaemire said his influences include Stephen Sondheim, Phoebe Bridgers, Bill Finn, Darwin Deez, Jonathan Larson, Joni Mitchell, Adam Guettel, and The Weepies, and that "the songs all function as different forms of fantasy — ways to escape the present moment."

It's all brought to life by a three-piece onstage band (Kevin Wunderlich, Nyssa Grant, and Andy Collopy), who collectively play keyboard, cello, guitar, violin, mandolin, and accordion. The actors are "breaking into song two feet away," Blum said, such that "the music brings your heart into the center of the room. You can literally feel everyone in the room fall into the same wavelength."

But the Soon team understands that restraint is key to this kind of intimacy. "Most of the time we are barely amplified, so you are hearing true voices in actual harmony in real time," said Mylinda Hull, who plays Charlie's mother, Adrienne. "Sometimes you might not even notice a musical number has begun; the emotions naturally feed into the singing."

"It’s not just actors screaming in your face," Mike Millan, who plays the roommate Steven, echoed. "Each song is catchy and complex, like if Sondheim was in an emo band."

That's according to Delaney, Hull, and Blaemire, anyway. It makes sense, as both tell occasionally fantastical, bittersweet love stories. The crossover also extends to the Tony-winning Best Musical Maybe Happy Ending, which Millan equated to Soon as "a sweet love story that gets you thinking about life, death and love."

Blaemire compiled a Letterboxd list of movies that inspired the show, and he's also cited the musical Fun Home and the plays Constellations, Mr. Burns, and A New Brain as theatrical influences. Blum had an equally extensive list of crossover shows: director Jack Serio’s Uncle Vanya (performed in a living room), immersive shows like Sleep No More and Then She Fell in Brooklyn, and musicals like Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Once, Rent, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and Company. So if you're a fan of any of these, you should get your tickets to Soon, well, soon.

Get Soon tickets now.

Photo credit: Soon off Broadway. (Photos by Valerie Terranova)