Promises Promises
August 19th, 2008 by NathanThough this year’s Edinburgh Festival is sadly drawing to a discreet demise, the closing award ceremonies are just beginning to take shape. For example, MTM:UK have just announced their shortlist for their pick of the musical productions staged at this year’s Fringe. We take a look at the different nominees for the prestigious Most Promising Musical category and see what we can unearth about any possible West End transfers…
The first nomination on the shortlist is a wee jet-setting excursion called Departure Lounge. Focussing on the lives and loves of four likeable lads en tour, this new musical revolves around the reminiscent, lager-hazed musings of a gang of Brits as they wait for their flight home in a Spanish departure lounge. Whatsonstage.com sets the tone of their review by admitting: “The simple premise becomes a joy to watch in the hands of these incredibly gifted performers.” - positively glowing huh?
All the major food groups are represented here. We have the meaty, if not overpowering, Jacques le lad ‘JB’. Then, for pudding, we have the delicate, insecure but decidedly sugary ‘Pete’, accompanied by the closeted homosexual; the sharp, defensive yet ultimately fruity fruit sorbet, ‘Joe’. The final member of this Sambucca swilling smorgesboard is the loveable ‘runt’ Ross who I suppose is… the cheeky vol-au-vent or something? (Ahh oui; la métaphore allongé, c’est fini!)
Anyway, that’s quite enough of that - the cast is completed by the beautiful Hayley Angel Wardle who plays ‘Sophie’, the object of at least 3/4 of the gang’s carnal desires.
With fairly unilateral praise, Departure Lounge is a delightfully comic musical with some excellent performances. However, with its modest musical arrangement (just two acoustic guitars) the production will need to go through a lot of changes before it is ready for any run in the capital. But then perhaps the low-key feeling of this piece is where its cheeky charm comes from? Vibrant and a touch studenty, Departure Lounge is probably one to look out for in smaller, more provincial playhouses. We’ll certainly let you know if we hear anything almost vaguely to the contrary though.
Next up is the musical with easily the best name. Barbershopera is a great little chamber piece about, you guessed it, a barbershop quartet. As a menagerie of four á cappella crooners get ready for the annual Eurovision Barbershop Contest, disaster strikes and one of their number goes AWOL. In a desperate last ditch attempt to fill the position they resort to hiring a young woman, Toni Soprano (boom boom), to lead their cluster.
Winning luminous reviews from all and sundry, Barbershopera is another understated gem of a production. Again, not likely for any big budget revival, the cast of this little comic musical has certainly captured the hearts of a shed load of Fringe-goers. Names like Lara Stubbs, Tom Green, Mark Hole and Rob Castell are definitely ones to look out for in the not so distant future.
Changing tact slightly, the stern and serious musical lover might want to keep an eye out for Only the Brave. This is the one about allied forces in northern France during the Second World War and boasts the colourful addition of not only Any Dream Will Do finalist Keith Jack, but also the warming vocal styles of Niamh Perry from the BBC’s I’d Do Anything.
Slick, sophisticated and expensive looking, Only the Brave would appear far more likely to be picked up by West End producers than its fellow nominees. However, as the version staged in Edinburgh was rather heftily cut down to ‘festival friendly’ proportions, it’s more than likely that Only the Brave will test the proverbial water in UK tours and showcases before coming anywhere near the so called ‘big time’ high dive. Still, there’s quite a lot of buzz surrounding this musical and its up-and-coming cast so there’s definite potential here. What’s more, with similar new musicals like Marguerite doing some pretty serious business in the capital then theatre producers might be wise to strike while the iron’s still red and sufficiently warm.
The last musical up for the Most Promising accolade is the rather bizarre On the Island of Aars. Set on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides (that’s rumoured to be, in fact, the back of a giant, half submerged turtle), this really is an interesting production. The home to a rather ramshackle bunch that include dour puritans, ex-rockers and an impressionable young woman who dreams of eating pizza, Aars definitely is a… well, an unusual place.
The delicate equilibrium of Aars is put asunder when a Dutch health and safety officer arrives to survey the island. All hell consequently breaks loose when, within all of about 5 minutes of turning up, she falls madly in love with the young islander Morag, whom she declares “prettier than all the girls in Holland put on top of each other”. The plot certainly thickens at this point to, it’s needless to say, hilarious effect.
So there it is MTM:UK’s shortlist for Most Promising Musical. I’m not sure how many (if indeed any at all) will make it into more… shall we say ‘permanent’ theatrical runs? But whatever the outcome, the fledgling performers, writers, directors and composers have already done the hard work and made their pieces stand out from a veritable barrage of art and performance.
So, let’s see if any of them make it anywhere near the West End in the coming few months. We at Show and Stay will certainly keep our collective ear to the ground!
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