EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND — Attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is Theatre overload. As a critic being told to go on the website and choose “some” shows out of the 3000 being produced, it is like being at the largest buffet you can possibly imagine but having a tiny appetite and dietary restrictions. The festival is three weeks long but I’m only here for a week and taking a class more than half the time. So how to choose? I decided to start with what I know and selected my first production to be West End vs Broadway by Applause Theatreworks.
The first thing to note about this experience is there are venues all up and down the famous Edinburgh Royal mile, and they have a fantastic app where you can track your shows and fit in as many as your schedule, time, brain, and pocketbook will allow.
Speaking of pocketbooks, the great thing about the festival is that it does not break the bank. My first show was 12 British Pounds, which is the equivalent of about 10 US dollars.
The cast consisted of four players, two men and two women that took the stage in a conference room at a Radisson Hotel all dressed in concert black. They opened with a track of the familiar drums that open Come From Away. After a medley of songs from that show we as the audience were treated to a history of shows from both places, their inspiration, and even some quizzes with audience participation.
Though the venue was small, the audience was quite small, likely because I attended on the first day of the Fringe and this was likely less popular than other offerings. Each of the players had decent voices, though their strength was in their group communal singing more than in their solo songs. They chose selections from Miss Saigon, Rent, Matilda, Les Miserables, and Dear Evan Hansen, with a guessing game for each one. (I think I was the winner in that performance).
Produced by one of the larger producers at the Fringe, the SpaceUK, there was no program to credit these performers with their job well done, however the website of the SpaceUK states that they have a mission to sponsor an array of shows from new writing, to music, to cabaret, and family shows and beyond. This was a fitting way to start out my experience at the Fringe.
Because of my capacity here as a student and a performer as well as a critic, there was a lovely moment when the two males were singing “Stars” from Les Miserables. Fringe festivals are different from professional, equity shows where we are seeing polished works. One of the singers let nerves get to him in a way that might not have happened on a Broadway or West End stage. The second player stepped in and supported the vocals in a beautiful way.
For 45 minutes of musical entertainment and education, it was absolutely 12 pounds well spent.
