Review: GREY SPACES at Theatre Passe Muraille

Grey Spaces is a visually-pleasing and highly-ambitious new musical that features strong performances, but lacks clarity and polish. The world premiere musical is playing at Theatre Passe Muraille from June 30-July 12, as part of the 2026 Toronto Fringe Festival. 

Torontonian Rowan Grey (Justan Myers-Chapman), who leads a rather boring life with a career in IT, finds himself falling in love with artist Aisha (Michelle Chew) after they unexpectedly connect while travelling on the TTC -- it's a very charming meet-cute. However, shortly after the two meet, tragedy strikes, and Rowan finds himself caught in a halfway point between life and death. Greeted by Min (Taryn Wichenko), a processing agent, Rowan is told he must either move on, or return to Earth and relive his life. 

The premise is intriguing yet familiar, with similar plot lines found in films like "Defending Your Life" or "Eternity." It's incredibly ambitious to attempt to tell this complex story in musical format, especially in a 90-minute fringe staging with minimal set design. 

Grey Spaces' strength is in the emotional power and execution of all three lead performances. We're immediately charmed by Chew's portrayal of Aisha, a relatable Torontonian who has perhaps a few too many side hustles. Myers-Chapman brought depth and likeability to Rowan, and Wichenko truly shines as the rather enigmatic Min. 

The multi-level staging was very impactful, and the TTC setting was clearly established by the set design. The vocal talent was exceptional, as were Ethan Rotenberg's orchestrations and Ian Kowalski's lighting design. 

While the ambition here should be greatly applauded, it came at a cost. The story (book by Brittany Miranda) was extremely captivating at first but eventually became difficult to completely follow, with key informative lyrics (Brittany Miranda and Fynn Cuthbert), that arguably should have been dialogue instead, sometimes delivered too quickly to catch. Fynn Cuthbert's wonderfully-performed and orchestrated music sounded pleasing but it was not, overall, particularly memorable.

Although only 90-minutes, Grey Spaces still felt too long and the story dragged in spots. The musical started strongly, but that encouraging energy got lost somewhere in the middle, after a series of "Groundhog Day"-esque scenes. The climax and conclusion lacked clarity and subtance, lingering too long in a high-stakes, almost uncomfortably dramatic confrontation between our three characters. 

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