Edinburgh Fringe musicals and opera reviews: Diary of a Gay Disaster | Come Dine With Me: The Musical | Barbara (And Kenneth) | Mary Mary Quite Contrary | The Shakey Shakey Hips (The Musical) | Laughable

Diary of a Gay Disaster | Stephen Glass

MUSICALS AND OPERA

Diary of a Gay Disaster ★★★★★

Underbelly, Cowgate (Venue 61) until 25 August

Ellis is having a recurring dream. Two gods of Sapphic desire just keep popping up in her nocturnal imagination, reminding her of people, places and things from her past, stuff she really needs to sort out. Can’t they just leave her alone to sleep? Not, it turns out when they materialise to her (apparently) waking self, until she deals with her reams of unfinished business – as catalogued in the mysterious daily journal of the show’s title.

And that unfinished business is a roll-call of worries, concerns and frustrations for young queer women, all ticked off and flung aside with rapier wit and insight in writer/composer Rachael Mailer’s dashing, vibrant three-hander from young company Upfront Theatre. As the pages of the diary turn, so the supernatural entities find themselves sucked into Ellis’s experiences, and recalling new ones too – from over-interpreting queer signals to defending bisexuality, from coming-out trauma to pandering to male fantasies.

Okay, if you don’t happen to be a queer young woman yourself (and clearly I’m not), there might be stuff here that doesn’t hit you with quite the same personal resonance. But it’ll still hit you with the full force of Mailer’s smart, sassy wordplay and the sheer blazing energy from the trio of performers – whose every glance and gesture conveys character and meaning. Mailer’s songs, too, joyfully embrace everything from hardcore punk to bubblegum girlband pop, and most importantly they’re expertly crafted, memorable and seriously funny too – check out TikTok hit ‘Is she queer or just a hipster?’ for evidence of that.

At times, Diary of a Gay Disaster feels like a late-night lesbian party, but it’s clever enough, too, to calm things down with moments of thoughtful reflection – and importantly, it takes its audience with it on that journey. Likewise, it might have been easier to make a show aimed squarely at a narrow demographic, but Mailer’s exuberant, joyful creation is as warmly embracing of all comers as it is barbed, bracing and perceptive.

David Kettle

MUSICALS AND OPERA

Come Dine With Me: The Musical ★★★★

Underbelly, Bristo Square (Venue 302) until 25 August

Witness the entry queue snaking all the way round the courtyard outside the Cowbarn and you’ll be in no doubt as to the pulling power of just the name of what must be Britain’s best-loved reality TV show. So it’s all the more gratifying that Come Dine With Me: The Musical is so much stronger, funnier and wittier than it really needs to be.

And it takes us (apparently) behind the scenes on the show, as overbearing producer Mary (a brilliantly blustering Daniele Coombe) drags her hunky cameraman Roy (a suitably strutting Tom Bowen) and weedy soundman Teddy (Harry Chandler with a fine, soaring tenor) around the country – with the series’ 1000th show demanding something that viewers will never forget. When it looks like there’s a saboteur among the current crop of contestants, Mary thinks she’s hit the jackpot – but who could it possibly be?

Anyone hoping for iconic CDWM moments will find them present and correct – from bigged-up menus to taxi-ride take-downs. But composer Aaron King and lyricist Sam Norman have concocted a tale that takes in ruthless ambition and genuine pathos, with a backstory for Teddy and contestant Janey (a butter-wouldn’t-melt Sophie Hutchinson) that supplies a bit of love interest. Okay, it’s hardly the profoundest narrative arc at the festival, but it’s wittily done, with vividly described characters (Kim Ismay’s snobby contestant Barbara is another joy with her predictably French-language menu), songs that move the action along, and plenty of wordplay and gentle innuendo to keep you listening keenly. And unlike many of the Fringe’s musicals, there are even living and breathing human musicians loitering unseen in the wings and supplying the tunes. It might not exactly challenge or provoke, but who’d really want that with such a beloved TV institution? Come Dine With Me: The Musical is as bubbly and delicious as a chilled glass of prosecco.

David Kettle

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MUSICALS AND OPERA

Barbara (And Kenneth) ★★★

Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236) until 17 August

Please tell me I was not the only person in the room anticipating a new musical celebrating the friendship of Carry On legends Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Williams? Nothing so niche from US writer Lauren Laws and composer Johnny C. Leavitt – they are celebrating America’s most accomplished woman who has aced every career move from marine biologist to gymnast to President of the USA and Chancellor of Germany (limited edition), but is still more recognised for her boobs and butt. Trademark issues alone prevent them from identifying Barbie as the subject of their admiration.

Deanna Giulietti is a barnstorming Barbie with the pipes to lift the roof off this theatre, while Jack Shapiro makes the most of his camp cameos as Ken. The songs present as typical musical theatre nuggets from perky satire to power balladry but the message is avowedly feminist with plenty to say and sing about body positivity, workplace inequality, the objectification of women, devaluing descriptions of female athletes and astronaut Sally Ride’s space rider. There is also a neat visual gag about doll hands but really not too much pink before lunchtime. Windsor and Williams will have to wait.

Fiona Shepherd

MUSICALS AND OPERA

Mary Mary Quite Contrary ★★

theSpace on the Mile (Venue 39) until 16 August

It’s a brave comedy – even one that sets out to send up sexual prudery – that launches with a video montage of Jimmy Savile, Gary Glitter, Rolf Harris and more. But that’s just one of many mis-steps behind Lancashire-based Cre8iv Theatre’s largely plotless new musical that sees notorious morality campaigner Mary Whitehouse abandon her sacred principals at a swingers’ party. Let’s not dwell on Viagra and email in use at a 1960s orgy: songs are functional but fairly repetitive, and singing from the eight-strong cast is very variable (though excellent at its best). What could have done with a fine scalpel of wit here gets bludgeoned with a sledgehammer.

David Kettle

MUSICALS AND OPERA

The Shakey Shakey Hips (The Musical) ★★

Paradise in Augustines (venue 152) until 10 August — then at theSpaceTriplex (Venue 38) 19-24 August

This bizarre Scottish “egg ’n’ roll” musical from Sean Findlay is actually a pretty good time for 30 minutes. The only problem is that it goes on for nearly an hour. Findlay writes, directs and stars as Shakey Sean an Arbroath egg roll vendor who enters an Elvis lookalike contest in Vegas. Findlay is a gifted performer with real presence and his songs have a catchy immediacy but he would really benefit from a co-writer and a director because when the van’s not rockin’ the show unfortunately becomes a bit of an amiable shambles.

Rory Ford

MUSICALS AND OPERA

Laughable ★★

Greenside @ George Street (Venue 236) until 24 August

LA-based Texan Stacie Burrows is good company if, by her therapist’s reckoning, a bit intense. Laughable is her ebullient rough-round-the-edges act of music therapy, her coping mechanism for dealing with her various domestic travails and a catalogue of medical conditions with ever more comedic names. Worse, she’s allergic to red wine. But at least this woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown (her assessment) has her trusty keyboard and a handful of perky country-influenced ditties through which to channel her nervous energy.

Fiona Shepherd