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Written by Ralph Scott
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 There is a sense in which a performance with a high risk-factor, such as acapella close harmony singing, is engrossing mainly due to the boldness on display. We are enraptured because, depending on our disposition, we can take comfort from their successes, or schadenfreude in their failures. Fortunately, in Barbershopera!, Toni & the Guys give us much more than just chutzpah, in what is a solid hour's entertainment complete with musical wit, outrageous over-acting and ridiculous accents.
The story runs thus: quartet Tony & the Guys look set to storm the Eurovision Barbershop Contest, until their tenor disappears. It just so happens that a classically-trained soprano is wandering past the rehearsal rooms, and in a move that will rock the close-harmony world, elect this woman to join their ranks. What follows is surely the greatest acapella Rocky training montage to ever be staged. There are soon shades of Yoko, with an affair provoking a band split. A hasty re-formation leads up to a triumphant performance of “I Fell In Love”. The number, which is used throughout to symbolise the disharmony (literally) in the group, is fairly awe-inspiring in this final rendition.
Highlights included “Freudian Slips”, if only due to Rob Castell's energetic impersonation of the eponymous psychoanalyst, and the chemistry in the choreography of Castell and Mark Hole in “Then There Were Two”. It was a pleasure to see a production put across so well. There were impromptu and warm rounds of applause throughout, and although the audience did need to acclimatise to the form at the very beginning, they were entirely won over towards the end. With content that has wide appeal, humour which is family-friendly, and talent oozing from every pore, Radio 4 would be missing a trick should they not pick this lot up.
- Barbershopera!
- Pleasance Courtyard
- Run ended
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