one4review | On 17, Aug 2024

Take your friends and see this show in a crowd, even if they – or you – don’t know anything about musicals, because this is an absolute blast, and you’ll want company to squee and relive the experience with afterwards. You definitely don’t need to know or have seen any musicals – I had a great time with only my cultural osmosis as a basis – but if you are familiar with the genre, and the oeuvre of one particular composer, I suspect you’ll find more in it.

We’ll dispense with the negative first, none of which are in the control of the performers: the speakers are not facing the right way for the whole audience to get the best sound, and the air-con, while imperative, is loud. However, none of this matters too much after the first song, because our one man can sing, and perform, the music is excellent (played live, without flaw, by Flo and Joan), the lyrics are pithy and pointed (and rhyme!), and take pot shots at all the right things, including the business model of the Fringe itself.

The plot works, and has a great ending, and the pace and flow doesn’t dither either. It’s self aware and self referential, just enough to remind us this isn’t in fact a musical that’s been running for forty years (though why not? It’s definitely good enough), and there is steel under the breezily witty criticisms. Existing fans, or complete newcomers – to Flo and Joan, or to musicals generally – will all find something here to enjoy.

Reviewed by Laura

Pleasance Dome
19:00
Until 25th