Edinburgh Fringe Opera & Musical Theatre reviews: Midnight at the Palace | Sense + more

Midnight at the Palace

Gilded Balloon Patter House (Venue 24)

★★★★★

As the flower-power Sixties slumped into the Vietnam/Watergate Seventies, a group of misfits and non-conformists from a commune in San Francisco’s notorious Haight-Ashbury district began to coalesce, staging raucous, shocking, gender- and sexuality-shaking shows for their own amusement, before taking the city by storm. You’ve probably never heard of the Cockettes – neither had I. But by the end of the outrageous, subversive, in-your-face but loving and affectionate Midnight at the Palace, you’ll be in no doubt as to their role as short-lived pioneers in bending outdated notions of gender and sexuality to breaking point, and in embodying those freethinking ideas in their own wild lives.

Midnight at the Palace | Damian Robertson

More importantly at the Fringe, however, you might well have your jaw on the floor at the sheer energy blazing from the stage in writer Rae Binstock and composer Brandon James Gwinn’s dazzling musical, which follows the Cockettes on their seemingly unstoppable rise and their nosedive back to the ground after their disastrous attempt to break New York. Well, attempt might be going too far: as Binstock and Gwinn point out, it was their shoddy, half-assed attitude to rehearsal that cost the Cockettes their chance at greater fame – and pointed to deeper rifts within the group between those with their eyes on the spotlights and those who doggedly retained their countercultural waywardness.

If Binstock and Gwinn supply a succession of memorable numbers that capture the spirit and sounds of the times, it’s director/choreographer Paul McGill’s eight performers who bring the show to vivid life, embodying the carefully crafted chaos that lies behind so many of its achievements. Song and dance numbers are bold and in your face in designers Max Allen and Elliott Adcock’s teeming, apparently thrown-together set, complete with hand-written intertitles and naive paintings of the group’s beloved home city. The cast is uniformly exceptional: the corrupted innocence of Baylie Carson’s Pam and the preening confidence of Andrew Horton’s ringleader Hibiscus stand out, but Gregory Haney’s imperious Sylvester (the only Cockette you might have heard of, as the show admits) dominates every scene he’s in.

Midnight at the Palace is a whole lot of taboo-breaking fun, but – like the Cockettes themselves – it also joyfully embodies all the values that it celebrates.

DAVID KETTLE

until 24 August

READ MORE: Edinburgh Fringe musicals and opera reviews: Absurd Hero | Wilde | Level Up! | Webber! + more

Sense – A New Musical About Dementia

theSpaceTriplex (Venue 38)

★★★★☆

The Smits’ family members are gathering for their annual Christmas Eve traditions, but things have changed. Grandpa Albert is struggling to remember his relations’ names, and awaiting the arrival of his long-deceased wife with increasing agitation. Among the younger members of the family, too, there are strains and dark secrets.

The late-night scheduling of sensitive musical Sense, from Antwerp’s Plotfish company in collaboration with the Belgian Alzheimer’s League, doesn’t do it any favours, nor encourage the kind of close attention and consideration that the show seems to politely request. But don’t let that put you off: it’s a quietly spoken, poignant reflection on family ties, aging and mental decline, conveyed in a smooth, vivid production with excellent singing from its five-strong cast, and even – that rare thing on the Fringe – an elegant set (courtesy of designer Yannic Duchateau).

Jens Goossens’s storyline deftly sketches in some believable and relatable characters, while Femke Verschueren’s music – though it remains on the inoffensive, easy-listening side of pop – is nonetheless memorable and offers plenty of opportunities for the singers to soar. Erik Goris has focus and fracturing gravitas as affable Albert, while Daan Keisse is likeably sparky as Albert’s grandson Thomas, whose secret looks set to increase Albert’s confusion still further. Composer Verschueren has a feisty, nimble role as Albert’s remembered wife Elisabeth.

With its perhaps overly careful treatment of its subject matter, you couldn’t accuse Sense of breaking new ground or provoking new perspectives on Alzheimer’s. And the wider fallout of Albert’s decline on his family is perhaps left a little late to be fully explored. Nonetheless, it’s a high-class, high-production-value show that tackles its everyday storyline with due sensitivity, and serves as a moving reminder of the universal values of compassion and family love.

DAVID KETTLE

until 22 August

Falling in Love with Mr Dellamort

C aquila (Venue 21)

★★★★☆

Wagner had Tristan and Isolde; Debussy had Pelleas and Melisande. Love, sex and death have been inseparable bedfellows in all the greatest works of musical theatre. And those iconic and doomed romantic duos from centuries past are now followed by … Jonathan and Sue? Okay, Jack Feldstein and Paul Doust’s high-camp, strutting, preening musical comedy might not be quite up there with those masterworks of grand opera, but it has all the makings of a Fringe cult hit. And its gloriously silly storyline of seduction and destruction line it up right next to those operatic classics – with a hefty dose of Rocky Horror thrown in for good measure.

Though he announces himself as the Angel of Death, the mysterious Mr Dellamort seems more concerned with tidying furniture and wiping crockery in his seaside B&B when he invites a trio of unfortunates to stay and to succumb to his considerable charms. That’s until Manchester-bound Ms Grimshaw makes an unexpected appearance, however, and throws his carefully laid plans up in the air.

In truth, though, Mr Dellamort’s paper-thin plot is hardly its most attractive feature – even if it puts a nicely progressive spin on the age-old trope of strangers gathering in a spooky isolated house. More impressive by far is the sheer panache and over-the-top chutzpah of the performances, from Robert Tripolino’s preening Dellamort to the sinister simpering of Grace Farrell’s Grimshaw, all soundtracked by spooky swooping from Cornelius Loy’s live theremin playing. There’s plenty of vocal power on display (and no lack of subtlety too), and director Abigail Zealey Bess keeps the glamour high and the pace swift. Is there much here to challenge or provoke? Not really, but with its gothic excess, its dangerous flamboyance and its attention-grabbing performances, there’s plenty to charm and seduce.

DAVID KETTLE

until 24 August

Song Society

Underbelly, Bristo Square (Venue 302)

★★★☆☆

until 25 August

This is a charming and intimate one-woman musical which looks at memories, our connections to ourselves and our past.

The story revolves around a wacky machine designed to erase unwanted memories that fill the mind, archiving them instead by turning them into song. Featuring acoustic folk-pop melodies, Florencia Iriondo fills the air with soothing vocals. As the Songkeeper who puts the memories into the machine she has a sweet, almost whimsical presence, aided by her gentle movement and floaty costume.

The memories being filed away appear to be low-impact moments, like the cringe-worthy embarrassment of calling your boss ‘Dad,’ or pronouncing the ‘l’ in ‘salmon.’ While these are far from life-changing, the story gradually reveals a memory from the Songkeeper's past that carries weight.

The show is not quite absurd but it certainly includes some silly moments, particularly when Iriondo attempts to fix the machine with socks and a floppy baguette, adding a playful touch. Even the voice of Amy Sedaris bizarrely appears from the machine.

Beneath the lightheartedness, the show offers deeper reflections. Like Pixar's Inside Out, it reminds us that our identities are shaped by moments and memories – both the silly and profound.

It’s a warm, accessible experience in an intimate venue, with a touch of audience engagement that makes us feel like welcome friends.

SUZANNE O'BRIEN

until 24 August

Or Die Trying

★★☆☆☆

Dunedin Theatre at Braw Venues @ Hill Street

(Venue 41)

Framed as a reading for the (presumed) late poet Leah McBride’s final anthology – hosted by her friend Alice – Or Die Trying serves as a seance between a ghostly, resentful Leah and Alice's guilty conscience. Both actors embody their roles in a fully believable manner: Leah prowls around the stage as if stalking her prey, while Alice is evocative of Lady Macbeth, perfectly toeing the line between grief-stricken and unhinged. Sadly, the repetitive nature of the songs and script simply doesn't allow the pair to develop beyond their initial characterisations – leaving us underinvested in Leah's eventual fate.

ARIANE BRANIGAN

until 10 August

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