Celebrating a magnificent new piece of theatre is always a joy, but even more so when it’s a brand new British musical. Whilst it may not have an original score, Richard Hawley’s music lends itself perfectly to this story centred around Park Hill, the infamous brutalist Sheffield housing estate. Premiering at the Crucible Theatre in 2019, covid may have delayed it’s journey but the show has finally made its London debut at the National Theatre.

Spread across three different generations, the show documents the interwoven narratives of the occupants living in one particular Park Hill flat. In 1960, Rose (Rachel Wooding) and Harry (Robert Lonsdale) have just moved from the slums to the newly built “streets in the sky” ready to live the life of their dreams. A couple of decades later, Jimmy (Samuel Jordan) and his wife Joy (Faith Omole), who moved to Sheffield when she was younger as a Liberian refugee, overcome numerous societal challenges to try and make a happy life for themselves. Our final story is set in the 2010s, with middle-class Poppy (Alex Young) moving into the now redeveloped, fashionable flat block.

We watch as these characters live through the political turmoil of their time including Thatcherism, the decline of the steel industry, gentrification and Brexit. The cast as a whole are wonderful, with Alex Young once again proving how she is one of the top talents in musical theatre right now. Faith Omole also gave a stand out performance and she makes it so easy to become invested in her character and their story.

These three separate narratives run side-by-side, overlapping in the most incredible ways, and each being compelling in their own way. It’s insanely clever how we sometimes see these scenes playing out at the same time, the dialogue bouncing between characters in the same room even though they’re decades apart. The brilliance of the direction from Robert Hastie, and the book by Chris Bush, skillfully make a potentially confusing narrative very cohesive.

The songs of Sheffield born singer-songwriter, Richard Hawley, aid the storytelling, exploring themes of love, loss and community. Whilst some songs fit the storytelling perfectly, others felt like background music to the scene, not always perfectly suiting their purpose. Almost as if it was a play with music rather than a musical. This doesn’t detract from the powerful story being told as often these less relevant songs are sang more as background music to the scene rather than by the characters themselves. The set design by Ben Stones is striking and well worth a mention for the way it wraps around the full stage and looks as if it goes up into the sky endlessly.

The themes of the show are universal and, whilst the heart of the show is in Sheffield, it’s clear that this story can resonate with many people. It’s glorious to see Northern working-class stories on London’s Southbank. Hopefully, this limited run won’t be the last we see of this show!