Fringe musical reviews: 1ShoulderPad | Edinburgh Days + more

1Shoulder Pad: Galaxy Train, Japanese Musical Theatre ★★★★

Greenside @ Riddles Court (Venue 16) until 23 August

This isn’t, our helpful MC/lead actor informs us, Japanese traditional theatre. Instead, it’s something the group has made up itself. No kidding.

If you were wondering why you’d never come across Japanese theatre groups of muscled young men prancing around on stage in nothing but skimpy shoulder pads covering their intimate areas – well, it’s all the joyful and utterly baffling work of Tokyo-based company Shika 564, provoked (according to our host) by a serious lack of funds during the pandemic (yeah, right).

And if almost-naked young men were all that 1Shoulder Pad: Galaxy Train had going for it, it wouldn’t be getting four stars. But this is a blazingly energetic, breathlessly paced, extremely funny and tear-jerkingly sentimental show that puts its five-strong singing/dancing/acting corps through their paces in complicated dance routines, broad visual gags and a whole cast of bizarre characters.

Oh yes, there’s a plot: young Giovanni (an engaging Chobi Natsuki, the show’s only female performer, who remains clothed throughout) escapes the school bullies with his friend Campanella (Maruichiro Maruo) to board the Galaxy Train to the stars, encountering a collection of strange beings along the way (Tekari Tachibana’s Harry Potter-like youngster among them). It’s just about followable, told in a combination of Japanese and English (often in the same sentence) with hand-held intertitles to help you along the way, but really it’s enough to sit back and wonder at the sheer madcap exuberance of the show, the cartoonish, panto-like performances, and how utterly daft the whole thing is.

The elephant in the room, though: no, there’s nothing remotely sexual here, though to say you get used to the cast’s almost complete lack of clothes would be going too far – indeed, it quickly becomes a recurring gag. How and why near-naked men are the right vehicle for the show’s heartstring-tugging story is anyone’s guess. But it makes for an unforgettably absurd but exhilarating evening.

David Kettle

Edinburgh Days ★★★★

St Brides’ Community Centre (Venue 412) until 24 August

A big, boldly ambitious (and slightly bonkers) evocation of early 19th-century Edinburgh, this stirring production is what you might imagine if Jim Steinman were inspired to pen a rock opera after reading the work of Robert Louis Stevenson. Even so, there’s a classic simplicity to this tale of star-crossed romance as Robbie (Michael James Macduff) sets sail from Leith to join the war with France, leaving his beloved Jean (Louise Kenny) pregnant and penurious, prey to the twisted attentions of MacGregor (Colin Chisholm).

It’s a real star turn from Chisholm, formerly the lead vocalist of Edinburgh band, Bilbo Baggins (best remembered, if at all, as a support act for The Bay City Rollers). With his maroon bunnet and magnificently craggy features, MacGregor is essentially the lead role — a soor-faced letch with an Iago-like insidiousness and sly asides to the audience, inviting them to admire his depravity. It’s a gift of a part presented to Chisholm by his old bandmate, composer and lyricist Brian Spence, who (here’s the bonkers part) orchestrates some of the numbers as if hewn from 80s-style power rock. This is most evident in the numbers driven by Debbie McKenna’s venerable Grassmarket prostitute, Mary, who is evidently a big Bonnie Tyler fan.

The majority of the Spence’s songs adhere to a more conventional — but no less memorable — style: “I Believe in Love” is a real barnstormer that feels as if it should end the story but there’s a curiously sharp turn of events that reasserts MacGregor’s dominance over the story. This production benefits enormously from an impressively large — and unusually talented — company very effectively marshalled by veteran director Bob Tomson with a great sweeping sense of movement and staging that keep this consistently visually arresting.

Rory Ford

Nearlyweds: The Musical ★★

theSpace @ Surgeons’ hall (Venue 53) until 23 August

A strong central performance by Sarah Alexander Brown as Lily, a runaway would-be bride can’t disguise the fact that this is not quite a musical yet — more an idea for a musical with a couple of properly good songs and quite a bit of pointless padding. Even at only 50 minutes, Jasmine Alice’s opus feels overlong as many of the comic scenes are hindered by hesitant performances.

The relationship between Lily and her newfound bestie Gail (Katherine Leyva) works but many of the other characters feel surplus to requirements. The two stand-out songs, “Proud” and “Perfect”, are a class apart but the rest of the show needs work.

Rord Ford

Driving in Circles ★★★

Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower (Venue 140) until 24 August

This is a long show by Fringe standards, but Driving in Circles passes gently and is more engaging than many productions which are half its length. For singer/performer Jay Eddy the act of driving in circles is not necessarily frustrating or time-wasting. Their car is their sanctuary and if they get a little lost along the way then so be it - it’s an escape from the noise in their head and allows for the possibility of actually getting away from the source of their trauma.

Eddy draws together many strands across ninety-plus minutes, from America’s obsession with Iron John individualism to the romance of road movies to the vagaries of mental health diagnoses. But this is predominantly their story, a journey from abuse in childhood and adolescence via the search for cure or even just solace to the balm of a loving relationship. Much of this is relayed in song, using voice, guitar and effects pedals, from a swampy alt/rock life story in reverse via a funky number on painful admissions to a hopeful retro country song. Eddy may take the circuitous scenic route, but they get to their destination in the end.

Fiona Shepherd

World's Greatest Lover – The New Musical ★★★

Pleasance Courtyard (Venue 60) until 24 August

This boyband-driven musical celebrating love is the latest show that fits the format of Six, which theatre producers seem desperate to find a new way to rework. Not that it feels cynical; it doesn’t take itself seriously enough for that. On a glitter heart stage, a sex and romance supergroup – Casanova, Romeo, Cyrano (de Bergerac), Sade (Marquis de) and a mystery man who may or may not be James Bond – dance, sing and critique one another’s styles.

The guys are on a sliding scale of sappy to dangerous, and the cast are clearly having a great time playing them with their synchronised high-energy dance moves, leather jackets, shades, unbuttoned shirts and only slightly breathless singing. There’s stellar choreography from Joshua Bergasse, who’s clearly spent a lot of time watching the Backstreet Boys et al. It’s great to see long-forgotten formation work and power poses back on stage.

The songs are upbeat numbers that risk blurring into one giant, smoothly harmonised 1980s/90s mega tune, before being permeated with power ballads and a loose Marvel-esque story of love at the risk of destruction that develops into a more thoughtful exploration of modern masculinity. A final message that men should be “less extreme”, paired with a celebration of being yourself, is contradictory. However, logic isn’t really the point, more good vibes – and with heavier stories elsewhere, it’s a charmingly easy and upbeat watch.

Sally Stott