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Apple Engineer Annie Scalmanini has written Quantum, a contemporary musical that gives insight into Silicon Valley, geek speak and the realities of tech start up companies.

Myrah is a hardworking and super intelligent employee trying to code Walt, the Quantum machine. She only sees its potential and becomes blinded by the race to cure disease and save her father. But new colleague Jacq can’t get past the dangers of this type of advanced technology and so decides sabotage is the answer.

Even though this was an average show, it’ll never be as bad as Big the Musical. What a let down!

More investment needed

I was properly intrigued by the concept of this concert style show and it’s probably about time for a cool science Musical. However, the story needs a lot work. It’s too simple and the characters just aren’t there yet.

Data protection and weapon enhancement are real threats, which added a topical element and the ridiculous office speak brought some comedy. But they never dig deeper into the hard drive. The very abrupt mention of assault also had no place in this story. Where was the build up to that narrative? And the Lab Tech was a completely unnecessary role.

In fact, the Lab Tech had the most questionable American accent and poorest vocals. Most of the cast lacked the talent required to pull off the songs. The saving grace was Myrah, who I could have listened to all day. Her voice was pure gold and very commercial.

But it’s not all gigaflops

If you ignore the weak story and average performances, the score is very modern and energetic. It’s Hamilton meets Rent, so not an original sound but oh so very catchy. Yes, sometimes the backing track was a bit safe, but I still found myself bopping along. Pop music doesn’t need to be ground breaking to place number one in the charts. I’d buy the album.

This Musical has stacks of potential. With serious hacking, a bit of engineering and new recruits, Quantum could be a hit.