‘The Last Five Years’ meets Nashville Honky Tonk; Oil & Whiskey is a dramedy about two ex- lovers who meet for a drink and relive their entire relationship over a couple of rounds of whiskey. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and by the end you will remember why you don’t text your ex.
At the forefront of the recent Americana resurgence in Edinburgh and NYC, this toe-stomping musical written in Nashville, Tennessee, will immerse audiences in an authentic country rock cabaret concert akin to an evening at the Grand Ole Opry.
Oil & Whiskey is the debut musical for producer, musician, and songwriter Kit Nolan. The Nashville based multi-instrumentalist who has toured the world performing for millions as the Music Director for Lindsey Stirling, and as a session musician for Robbie Williams and One Direction. He is joined by award-winning playwright and storyteller Dax Wiley. Wiley has written and produced musicals across the U.S.A. such as New York’s first immersive musical, The Limbo Lounge, and Good Fishermen Know A Lot About Sex, a powerful drama performed on theatre row in Los Angeles about the dangers of opioid abuse in America.
First debuted at the New York City Fringe Festival 2025 where it won the SOLD-OUT Award, Oil & Whiskey is coming to London after making its UK debut at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2026.
Review by David Delve
This show is on a World Tour, out of Off-Broadway, with some star reviews.
We are gathered in the small room over the pub – size of your average sitting room – on two sides, whilst the remainder is set up for a 4-piece band, mic’ stands for 4, and a wall for 2 backing singers to lean on. It is cramped!
This country rock musical begins loud and sort of proud. What damages the piece is that the sound levels are too loud, making it very difficult to hear any of the lyrics – these tell a story of two Ex’s meeting again at the bar in the US mid-west, where they first met over 3 years before. And the consequences are: not very much really! They sing of heartache, shattered dreams, blame for the break-up, and discoveries of the intermediate years. She was going to work in newspapers (not realised), and he was off to Nashville to become a country & western singer (again not achieved). None of this is particularly interesting, and by the end – yet another split-up – I don’t think we care. Our two protagonists, ably played and sung by Juliet Perel and Cornelius Versa, have no real depths in their characters, due in part to the writing (Dax Wiley). The other two characters – bestie Bree (Sarah Giulianti) and bar keeper Ray (K J Nugin) are more fun, with KJ kicking up a storm at times. What we have here is really a concert, with a basic storyline. There is much loud rock singing where lyrics are inaudible, but the little country singing there is is a welcome relief, and beautifully accompanied by the guitarist James Clarke.
There is no set, and the lighting is basic to light up the space. Costumes look like their own. And choreography is characters rushing to a different microphone stand !! Mind you, there is little else they could do. Yuval Benit is director/choreographer who brings no surprises to excite us. The music of Kit Nolan is good, played effectively by the 4-piece band, who believe they are in the Grand Ole’ Opry !
I suspect from the larger cast list that in some venues there are more on stage, where more space will help.
Cast
- Cornelius Versa — Teddy
- Juliet Perel — Zelda
- KJ Nugin — Ray (Levi Penley takes over from 9 September)
- Sarah Giulianti — Bree
Creative team
- Dax Wiley — Book & Lyrics
- Kit Nolan — Music
- Yuval Benit — Director & Choreographer
- Kit Nolan, Dax Wiley & Alexa Karas / AK INK — Producers
