Festival diary: The musical parody which does not identify its famous inspiration

The play inspired by JK Rowling and the stars of the Harry Potter films has almost certainly been the most written-about show at this year’s Fringe – including the many less-than-complimentary reviews when it finally made it onto a new stage from the one originally lined up.

Speculation that the show about a “literary phenomenon” called Jo, and her “surrogate children” Daniel, Rupert and Emma, would fall victim to a legal challenge has come to nothing.

Comedy duo Flo & Joan have been slightly more cagey about revealing the inspiration for their Pleasance show, One-Man Musical, probably with good reason.

Their publicists have simply said that it offers Fringe audiences a chance to “see a maestro at work” and focuses on a “renowned gentleman.”

George Fouracres is starring in the musical comedy One Man Musical at the Fringe. | Matt Stronge

The subject of the merciless lampooning – described by Flo & Joan as “someone who we can’t name but you’ll know them” – is identified almost immediately by actor and comic George Fouracres, who delivers a tour de force performance as the musical impresario.

But the word of mouth about the subject of the comedy musical must have reached Scottish screen star Gerard Butler, who starred in the film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, and has been spotted in the audience of the Fringe show.

Supplied

The body clocks of many Fringe artists will be all over the place after more than a week of shows – especially if they are performing in more than one show.

Magician Tom Brace’s late-afternoon family-friendly show at the Pleasance Dome is set in an imaginary theme park he has created with the help of the latest 3D technology – and is back on stage at the same venue under six hours later for a late night cabaret show.

Brace was given another opportunity to promote his shows at what must be one of the biggest ever Fringe venues.

He was one of the first acts to appear at the cruise ship Ambition, which has arrived in Leith Docks for a week-long stay lined up by the American publishing Playbill as part of its involvement with the Fringe.

Brace’s audience was admirably awake and game for a laugh despite having barely finished their breakfast by the time the mid-morning performance had got underway aboard the FringeShip, which also lays on a late-night cabaret for guests returning from the city centre.

As for Brace, he could perhaps be forgiven for giving the impression that it was much later than it was when he took his bow and declared: Thank you very much, goodnight.”

Politicians are probably much more likely to go off-script than actors, even in Edinburgh in August, when you are never far from a bit of improvisation. John Swinney, Scotland’s First Minister, would no doubt have been well-prepared ahead of hosting his first Bute House reception for Edinburgh’s festivals since taking on the role – especially given the growing anxiety about future funding for the arts in Scotland.

Mr Swinney had been expected to trail the creation of a new “partnership” with festivals to put them on an equal footing with the tourism, and food and drink industries, ahead of an official announcement by culture secretary Angus Robertson on Wednesday. Instead, I got a flurry of messages from contacts telling me the same thing: “He didn’t even mention it!”