Edinburgh Fringe musical and opera reviews: Pop Off, Michelangelo | Summoning Sondheim

The latest batch of Edinburgh Fringe reviews showcases the latest musicals and operas seen by our reviewers.

Pop Off, Michelangelo at the Edinburgh Fringe | Steve Ullathorne

Pop Off, Michelangelo

Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Venue 24), until 26 August

★★★★

The two greatest artists of the Renaissance (“Not the Beyoncé album, the other one!”) are reimagined as you’ve never seen them before in the world premiere of this musical by New York-based writer Dylan MarcAurele. 

In his version of the story, directed by Joe McNeice, Michelangelo and Leonardo are childhood friends who embark on a quest to become great artists in order to win the favour of God and Pope and therefore be forgiven for being gay. Quite by chance, they end up becoming two of the greatest artists who ever lived.

But in 15th-century Florence, during Savonarola’s moral crusade, being gay can earn you a death sentence. Will our heroes manage to evade discovery, and will their friendship survive their rivalry?

MarcAurele’s writing is endlessly clever, full of catchy refrains and modern pop culture references, from Michael Keaton to Marisa Tomei, Star Wars to Siri. The camp quotient is up at the max, and there are more innuendos than you can shake a paintbrush at, but it can also be surprising: Michelangelo sings a song to God which is tender and delightful.

An energetic ensemble cast led by Max Eade (Michelangelo) and Aidan MacColl (Leonardo) manage some polished song and dance numbers on a stage crammed with Doric columns, and there are hilarious set pieces, like the arty party where neither of the lads can get the hang of schmoozing, and a Pope who is camper than everyone else in the show.

And there is some sense of a grounding in history: key works of art are namechecked, and there’s even a passing awareness of Renaissance theology. Although it never stops being funny, Pop Off, Michelangelo! has plenty of heart and knows when to pull out a poignant moment, as well as when to max out on glorious daftness.

Susan Mansfield

Summoning Sondheim

Just the Tonic at the Mash House (Venue 288), until 25 August

★★★★

“We'll save musical theatre,” declare our hosts with proud gravitas, “and therefore the world!” A song and a dance lift almost anyone’s spirits, of course, but whether their means of bringing salvation to an often tough and unpleasant planet will fly is debatable. The plan is to stage a séance here in a cramped attic of the Cowgate, and resurrect Stephen Sondheim so that his talent will live again.

To say this piece of character stand-up comedy masquerading as musical theatre (or possibly it’s the other way around) as madcap is to underplay it just a bit. A two-hander from co-creators (with director Bel Parker) Grace O’Keefe and Jordana Belaiche – respectively the creator of previous Fringe hit Bad Teacher and, in her own words, “West End star of the children's chorus in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” – the pair deliver strong French and Saunders energy in the way they flit between deadpan seriousness and panicked, very entertaining mania.

If there is a straight woman to the duo it’s O’Keefe, who still gets an array of good punchlines, while Belaiche plays a version of herself with a strong hint of overbearing West End luvvie, before racing through the crowd for regular costume changes to become the half-baked psychic grifter Chanelle Marie. This space is just about barely usable as a theatre, yet its lack of stage wings is used to great comic effect.

Amid all the franticness, this is one very funny play for musical theatre lovers, from the nudge-nudge comparison between the score for The Phantom of the Opera and Pink Floyd’s Echoes to the offering up of a willing audience member as a ‘twink sacrifice’ bearing a Neil Patrick Harris mask. Yet beneath it all there’s a clear message about the imbalance between the numbers of men and women writing musical theatre for the top end of the industry. It’s a show which deserves to move out of the attic and onto those larger stages.

David Pollock

Showtime!

C aurora (Venue 6), until 25 August

★★★

Singing, dancing, acting, playing piano and trumpet, contortion, not to mention writing and composing: is there anything Em Hoggett (aka Em The Master) can’t do? She has a formidable array of talents on display in her solo musical Showtime!, but as the sometimes alarmingly intense show progresses, we get to see what’s behind them: a lifelong need for success, fame, acceptance. It’s something many on the Fringe will no doubt recognise, but in Hoggett’s case it’s driven by early trauma and later fateful decisions about relationships and work. In many ways, Showtime! is a meta-show about why anyone would want to put on a show, but despite Hoggett’s tireless, high-kicking, quick-changing flamboyance, it’s sometimes rather baffling as to what’s actually going on and what she’s getting at. What’s never in doubt, however, is the fierce commitment of her performance, and the clearly profound personal resonances of the dark life story she conveys. Her songs have a strong flavour of Kander and Ebb, and a similar sense of grinning through the darkness. Although it’s a powerful experience, however, Showtime! feels a little more like a cabaret collection of songs and scenes than a fully fledged musical drama.

David Kettle

The Weird Sisters

Just the Tonic at The Caves (Venue 88), until 25 August

★★★

Blush, Scarlett and Amaranth are a trio of sorceress siblings, and somehow they’ve managed to transport themselves from their magical homeland to – well, Edinburgh at the buzzing heart of the Fringe. Still, at least they have a gaggle of willing human visitors in their damp, dark cave (yes, the venue is particularly apt) that they can induct into their exclusive coven – unless, that is, we humans are actually there with darker designs on them entirely.

Eliza Waters’s musical three-hander might begin in spooky darkness, but it soon erupts into colourful light as the three squabbling siblings bicker over who’s in charge, and what they should do about getting back home. Full marks to Waters, too, for packing it full of memorable show tunes, from trios extolling the joys of sisterhood to a touching solo from Dalia Kay’s likeable but ditzy Blush on the frustrations of not being heard. Waters is an energising presence as an on-stage keyboardist too.

As a warm but lightweight study of sisterly relations, it’s got a lot going for it, but save the threat of a spell-casting The Weird Sisters doesn’t do much with its characters’ witchiness, and it’s focused more on exposition of character and relations than it is on forward-moving plot. There’s gasp-producing mention of witch trials, but little follow-up, and the trio seem more intent on telling us about what they do and don’t like about each other than dealing with anything that’s happening to them.

Nonetheless, the performances of Water’s strong numbers carry the show, as does the vivid characterisation – from Marie-Laure Corben’s overbearingly motherly Amaranth to Lowri Jayne Rees’s seen-it-all-before Scarlett. Go for the singing, the songs and the sisterhood – the narrative feels something of an afterthought.

David Kettle

After the Rainbow: A Mystical Music-full Midlife Journey Through Oz

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Venue 53),  until 24 August

★★

There’s actually little here of interest to fans of The Wizard of Oz, rather this is a none-too diverting showcase for the music of American singer-songwriter Amy MacClain. An unassuming presence, MacClain’s songs are pleasant enough numbers that nod towards a strong Joni Mitchell influence. The framing device, unfortunately, is awash in therapy-speak as MacClain navigates her inner landscape searching for “Emerald Bay”. In this quest for self-realisation she encounters a variety of characters all played increasingly broadly by Molly Kittle that both echo characters from Dorothy’s journey to Oz and add very little to proceedings.

Rory Ford

#NoFilter  

Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236), until 24 August

 ★

This new musical from Wishbone Media about the real relationships behind the façade of social media was beset by some technical distractions including unstable scenery, inconsistent mic-ing of performers and a blaring rock soundtrack (recorded) which disrupted much of the dialogue and some of the vocal performances. These issues could be fixed more readily than the banal script and uncertain performances of the 13-strong cast but a number of mighty solo vocal turns, a headbanging anti=drugs song and a feisty flamenco rocker as well as the powerful ensemble singing cut through the noise.

Fiona Shepherd