Reviews: The reception to the original production absolutely divided both audiences and critics... ruffling a few feathers was the intention of the writers, which they succeeded in doing.

One Stop Arts ★★★★ 'Bonkers, tuneful, satirical, and very British, this captivating and frequently hilarious show by Richard Bates and Simon James Collier is ostensibly about the launch of a gritty, visceral, boundary-pushing new musical called The Life and Death of a Tampon but is actually, and surprisingly, mapping out the spiritual journey of its protagonist.' 'The talented cast sing and dance extremely well and are totally clued-in as to the deeper import of the story. The clever choreography is by Omar F. Okai, assisted by Stacey Victoria Bland. Ms Bland, wickedly channeling Julie Harris and sending up method-acting something rotten, plays Lovelace Lewis, the ditzy, new-agey director of the new show – designed to take London and Broadway by storm. And the awful thing is, we are persuaded that it's not at all implausible.' 'Leejay Townsend has several hilarious moments as Roxand Smarts, the camp director of the ground-breaking new show, and the show itself has a few suitably cringe-making but ridiculously funny songs... Each member of the cast has their moment, or moments. Some of these occur in the very funny auditions scenes, where Rick Tolley auditions with a song called "The Last Twenty Three Minutes". You have to warm to a show with songs like that and another called, improbably, "Once I was a Scientist". Jeroen Robben almost stops the show with his "Justin's Last Stand". Lauren Harvey sings a panic-stricken "The Five Minute Call" and Emma Kurij, channeling another Julie – Julie Walters – displays a natural comic gift and a powerful singing voice as Marlene Haggis. Simon James Collier, who wrote the book and directs, keeps things moving at a nifty pace. The sparkly Eurovision-like set is by David Shields and the appropriately garish lighting is by Ciaran Cunningham. The Last Ever Musical will not be to everyone's taste. It is totally bonkers, very camp, however serious the underlying theme, and, despite its professionalism, seems as if the cast are making itup as they go along. For me, this is part of its charm. It's like we are sharing in someone's very bad and unhealthy dream, full of mad twists and turns and very sharp one-liners. I can see it doing very well at the Edinburgh Festival and in Off Broadway and being, for many, a most guilty pleasure.'

The British Theatre Guide: 'You are unlikely to encounter anything stranger than a depressed producer singing a love song to a sanitary accessory (that must be nightmare surely, along with his other visiting phantoms) but Richard Bates has come up with some attractive numbers and some clever lyrics. With Jonathan Barnes as Wilts, Emma Kurij as Marlene, the stage manager who ends up in the lead, Rick Tolley as sexually predatory Ben and Lauren Harvey and Jeroen Robben as a couple of engaging hoofers, this is a company that captures works together to transmit that show business enthusiasm whatever the obstacles helped by Omar F Okai’s spirited choreography, including a sparkly show-off solo for Robben and a sequence that encapsulates in just a few bars the company’s complex erotic entanglements. When needed there are some glitzy costumes by David Shields against a simple but shiny setting, with Ciaran Cunningham’s careful lighting among the best I have seen in this venue; like Collier’s direction they keep things simple and concentrate attention on the actors. The Last Ever Musical sets out primarily to amuse but behind some of the frothiest fun lie some home truths. I do hope that character Brian Wilts’s decision to make this his last production don’t apply to Simon James Collier for that would be a serious loss to London’s theatre.'