The High Life musical earns UK Theatre Awards nomination after original cast reunion

The High Life’s return as a stage musical has earned a nomination for Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards. The adaptation reunited the original television cast, bringing Air Scotia’s cabin crew back together three decades after their screen adventures.

Alan Cumming, Forbes Masson, Siobhan Redmond and Patrick Ryecart returned for The High Life – The Musical: Still Living It! Their reunion placed familiar characters in a new story about getting older, changing circumstances and an airline facing an uncertain future.

For anyone who missed the television comedy, The High Life follows the staff of fictional Scottish airline Air Scotia. Its humour comes from the personalities, friendships and rivalries of a crew whose working relationships are rarely straightforward.

The musical catches up with them after Air Scotia has been sold. With their jobs and the airline’s future under threat, the crew must demonstrate that they are still capable of getting their passengers safely to their destination.

Cumming returns as Sebastian Flight, with Masson as Steve McCracken, Redmond as Shona Spurtle and Ryecart as Captain Hilary Duff. The stage production combines those returning characters with new music rather than simply recreating television episodes.

Cumming and Masson wrote the story, script and lyrics with Johnny McKnight. Masson composed the music, with additional music by Cumming, while Andrew Panton directed the production.

The nomination places The High Life alongside Calendar Girls The Musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Sweeney Todd in the Best Musical Production category. The winner will be announced at the ceremony on 12 October.

It is a nomination for the production as a whole, rather than an individual acting award for one of its returning stars. The show was produced by the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep Theatre, working with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres.

The Scottish tour ran from 27 March to 23 May, visiting Dundee, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow. Those dates have finished, so the awards announcement should not be confused with a new tour announcement.

For fans of the original comedy, the recognition follows a reunion that brought all four central performers back together. The next confirmed date in this chapter of The High Life is the October awards ceremony.