Musical
| 29 August 2009
Pleasance Dome
5-30 August (ex. 10, 17, 24), 22.00
Little Johnny’s life is one big failure, and he’s singing his heart out about it in a near-empty theatre. Which is a shame, because there’s a lot to love about this cheery tribute to sequins and show tunes.
| 24 August 2009
The Space @ The Royal College of Surgeons
24–29 August, 17.40
As the audience filed up the stairs to be seated for ‘The Mikado’, we were gently berated by tuxedoed and bow-tied gentlemen about the state of our dress; on entering the auditorium, young ladies clad in black stalked the aisles carrying forbidding signs: ‘No Flirting’.
| 19 August 2009
C Venue
17–22 August. 17.20
It was a time, observed Alexander Pope, when it was ‘ignominious (in this Age of Hope and Golden Mountains) not to Venture.’ What was ventured were huge sums of capital by the British public in the mania which surrounded the South Sea Company in the early eighteenth century.
| 19 August 2009
Gilded Balloon Teviot
5-31 August (ex. 18) 17.30
Dumdumdum deedeedum… yes the cult 80’s show the A-Team has finally been resurrected in musical form and it is playing at the Gilded Balloon Teviot this Fringe.
| 18 August 2009
Pleasance Dome
5-31 August. (ex. 12,19) 22.45
A show that references Prince, The Karate Kid, bullfighting and wildlife conservation might sound destined to crumble into a heap of disastrous confusion, but in the hands and hearts of a cast so talented, confident and practiced, these elements combine to create something utterly magical. And honestly, this is coming from one who really ain’t into musical theatre.
| 17 August 2009
Sweet ECA
9-13 August 16.40
14-15 August 12.30
Buddy's pretty solid but as for Sweet ECA, that'll be the day. The show, adapted from the West End musical, begins with a hitch or three as the opening scene featuring the KDAV Sunday Party, where Buddy and the Crickets are said to have been first aired, has to stop and start over due to sudden venue blackouts: a technicality that the gang gracefully ignore for as long as they can before we're left to sit in darkness, however enjoying the sounds of Johnny Cash and Jimmy Swan.
| 17 August 2009
C Venues (Chambers Street)
16-31 August 22.30
In an audience of young giggly teenagers I sat down to Facebook: the Musical not having a clue what to expect (although from the flyers it was supposed to be “not what you expect”). There was one wee boy who looked about 7 and was falling asleep before curtain came up – do kids that young really have Facebook accounts? – I wasn’t sure if he or I were going to last til after midnight.
| 14 August 2009
Musical Theatre @ George Square
6–31 August (ex. 11,18,25) 11.15
What do William the Conqueror, Winston Churchill, the Duke of Wellington all have in common? It’s something Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington also shared. Elizabeth the first too. All of them, of course were gingers.
| 13 August 2009
Musical Theatre @ George Square Two
6-31st August, 15.45
‘Chat! - The Internet Musical’ turned out to have everything I thought it would lack: talent, insight, and scope for amusement. It’s an unconventional compliment, but a compliment none the less.
| 13 August 2009
Musical Theatre @ George Square
12–31 August (ex.18, 24) 21.05
Why one would embark on composing a musical based around a string of dated sexual innuendoes is beyond me, but Indiscarf have attempted it and it shows this month on George Square. The cast are clearly enjoying themselves and revel in the scrappy nature of the production, but even so ‘Makeshift Man’ and other such admissions of haphazardness failed to win my heart.
| 12 August 2009
Pleasance Courtyard
11-13 August, 22.30
Just as a few glasses of Pinot Grigio have made Scott Mills do some things against his better judgement, here I am with a glass in hand, thinking of giving Scott Mills: the Musical five stars.
As we took our seats, my colleague, having been jostled by over-excited female fans, decried it “almost hysteria,” and it was. It was like being at a Radio 1: One Big Sunday, waiting for Blue to appear in 2002 (though more on that later).
| 11 August 2009
Augustine’s @ 41 George IV Bridge
9-15 August, 20:30
This year the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group bring a ‘new lease of life’ to this heart warming, piratical extravaganza, conveying a fringe-energy only felt in the presence of raw, youthful talent.
| 11 August 2009
Pleasance Courtyard
5-31 August (ex. 11,18,25) 14.30
Two thirty is a ridiculous time for a cabaret, a fact Peter Straker himself admits, through one of his many on-stage alter egos. However, he gives the show his all, and really belts out his huge repertoire of show tunes (the showiness increases dramatically as the performance goes on).
| 03 August 2009
What’s occurring?
Scott Mills has handed control of his musical over to his Radio One listeners, and what started as a prank has taken on a life of its own.
| 03 August 2009
Club class
Dark times at a rundown disco are the setting for Been So Long, a musical with a heartbeat of soul and Motown.
