Articles by Pete Shaw

Kids Play wins The Bobby Award for the best show of the Fringe

Kids Play wins The Bobby Award for the best show of the Fringe

The rare wee golden beastie found a new owner as Broadway Baby Editor at Large Richard Beck presented the statuette to Writer/Director Glenn Chandler right after their performance at theSpace venues yesterday. 

The House

The House

A blissfully domestic sitting room in a nameless American suburb is the setting for Brian Parks’ riotous comedy The House. We open as two couples arrive fresh from their lawyer’s offices following the completion of the sale of the house from one couple to the other... 

Grace Notes

Grace Notes

Becky Williams delivers an emotionally charged monologue about murderess Grace Miller somewhat reluctantly seeking a second chance at series of rehab sessions entitled Notes. She mocks the facilitator – the “Otter” as she calls her and the painfully awkward motivational language that cling to these schemes... 

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

Anyone unfamiliar with Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book could have been conceivably raised by the same wolves that adopt man-cub Mowgli at the heart of this century-old collection of stories that have woven themselves into the consciousness of children around the world... 

Eight tips to make your adverts more effective.

Eight tips to make your adverts more effective.

We’re incredibly grateful to the theatre companies that support Broadway Baby with their advertising. Without them we wouldn’t be able to continue our arts coverage. But sometimes we see ads being placed that have a few classic mistakes and we know its effectiveness will be less than it could be... 

GDPR Statement

GDPR Statement

You have probably seen an awful lot about GDPR coming from all angles recently and although I’ve no desire to add more white noise to the conversation, in the spirit of compliance this article sets out what Broadway Baby is doing about this new EU regulation to protect your data. 

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The intention of Shakespeare’s plays is writ large under the titles. Macbeth is a tragedy; Henry V a history and A Midsummer Night’s Dream arguably his best comedy. One could worry that Lazarus Theatre’s trademark Brechtian treatment may suck all the fun out of it, but set aside those concerns... 

How To Sell Your Show At The Edinburgh Fringe

How To Sell Your Show At The Edinburgh Fringe

Broadway Baby Publisher, Pete Shaw, offers a comprehensive guide to marketing your show at a fringe festival such as Edinburgh with tips on budgets, creating a press release, social media and branding. 

How To Write A Press Release

How To Write A Press Release

Writing a press release that a journalist will use is a skill even experienced PRs can get wrong. Broadway Baby publisher, Pete Shaw, has been a journalist for over 30 years and can give you some pointers to getting it right. 

A Spoonful Of Sherman

A Spoonful Of Sherman

There’s a light bulb moment in A Spoonful Of Sherman when you realise its magic lies not within its high production values, exquisite lighting, fantastic set, immaculate choreography or supremely talented cast, but with the memories these songs ignite... 

Assassins

Assassins

Could you kill a President? That’s what a fairground proprietor asks in this 1990s genre-busting Sondheim musical that explores both the real-life and imagined motives why nine people in the USA pointed a gun at their Commander In Chief... 

Lord Of The Flies

Lord Of The Flies

William Golding’s seminal tale of children going feral when left to their own devices on a Pacific island gets a trademark Lazarus Theatre treatment on this their second production during their year-long residency in Greenwich... 

How To Get Broadway Baby To Review Your Show

How To Get Broadway Baby To Review Your Show

Some years ago I wrote an article about the best strategies for getting Broadway Baby to review your show. Today I’m updating that because technology has taken over to the point where old school wisdom no longer applies. 

20 Shows for 20 Quid or less

20 Shows for 20 Quid or less

Forget the snow with a warming West End bargain. We’ve got twenty top shows you can see for twenty quid or less. 

Edward II

Edward II

Lazarus Theatre kick off their year-long residency at Greenwich Theatre on a visceral note with Christopher Marlowe’s homoerotic epic Edward II.Having previously staged the show at Tristian Bates to some criticism that the space was too small, Director Ricky Dukes here gets the opportunity to show off the full physicality of his production on the expansive main stage whilst still retaining the claustrophobic feeling of a 1970s bunker of the Cold War era... 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

If you’re looking for a reason why Panto is the one time of year theatres can guarantee bums-on-seats, then Bromley’s Snow White is surely a perfect example. A big-budget production that meticulously ticks all creative boxes to ensure every punter leaves the auditorium with the widest of grins and feeling just that little bit more Christmassy... 

Cinderella

Cinderella

Seasonal jokesmith Andrew Pollard marks his twelve years of Christmas at Greenwich Theatre with a presentation of family favourite, Cinderella.As anyone familiar with pantos at Greenwich will testify, they tend to have a local twist and this is no exception... 

The Toxic Avenger

The Toxic Avenger

The Toxic Avenger – The Musical doesn’t take itself seriously. Indeed, any attempt to take it seriously is entirely missing the point. Set in a putrid, foul-smelling waste dump (ie, New Jersey), this romp of politically incorrect madness is self-aware, self-depreciating and above all, unreservedly hysterical... 

Follies

Follies

British audiences have had to wait a long time to finally figure out what Sondheim’s backstage musical Follies is. Any clues in the original 1971 Broadway Cast recording were thwarted by Capitol Records’ purely commercial decision to shoehorn it onto a single LP, lobotomising it in the process... 

Pete Shaw: Is PR Worth the Money?

Pete Shaw: Is PR Worth the Money?

Earlier this month I saw an amusing post on Twitter from Garrett Millerick who decided not to drop £2K on an EdFringe PR and instead buy a top-of-the-range flatscreen TV instead. He then proceeded to staple reviews of the telly from the likes of What HiFi? to his flyers... 

Ten ways to screw up your show in Edinburgh

Ten ways to screw up your show in Edinburgh

Over 3,000 separate productions will squeeze themselves into Edinburgh this August and the slightly depressing reality is that most will not achieve their objectives for the festival. 

Peter Pan - A New Adventure

Peter Pan - A New Adventure

More than a century after Wendy was having an awfully big adventure with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, her Great-Great-Granddaughter – also called Wendy (Louise Young) – is working as a fish packer in Greenwich docks alongside a sisterhood of friends who are all growing rather tired of their sexist boss... 

Camille O'Sullivan: The Carny Dream

Camille O'Sullivan: The Carny Dream

I imagine Camille O’Sullivan has been called an Irish Chanteuse in reviews more times that you’ve had a flyer thrust at you on the Mile. So let’s just put it like this. Camille is a fecking good singer... 

Myra DuBois: Self AdMyra

Myra DuBois: Self AdMyra

As the Willie Loman quote goes “Attention must be paid”. This is no more true than in an audience with the formidable drag queen Myra Dubois whose debut to the comedy section at the Fringe is modestly named Self AdMyra... 

Bugsy Malone

Bugsy Malone

There are plenty of musicals that have versions suitable for younger companies, but Alan Parker’s Bugsy Malone is possibly unique in that it’s a piece that only really works if performed by child actors... 

Into the Woods Jr

Into the Woods Jr

Though the second act is cut completely, half the first act also cut and music transposed into keys more accessible to younger voices, Into The Woods is still a sophisticated show for kids to tackle... 

The Producers

The Producers

The Producers charts the tale of Broadway producer Max Bialystock and meek accountant Leo Bloom as they try to defraud the wealthy widows of New York out of two million dollars by staging a sure-fire Broadway flop... 

Company

Company

Company is a musical so of its time that a string of directors over the past decade have struggled with the problem of whether to present it as an unchanged period piece or contemporise it in some fashion... 

Merrily We Roll Along

Merrily We Roll Along

Sondheim’s most famous flop, Merrily We Roll Along, was his last notable collaboration with Hal Prince. The story is unique in that the narrative goes in reverse. It’s 1976 and we meet successful song writer and movie producer Franklin Shephard at the premiere party for his latest film... 

Down And Out In Paris And London

Down And Out In Paris And London

Bridging a gap of 80 years between author George Orwell’s early life in Paris and a social experiment by Guardian journalist Polly Tonybee in London, Down & Out In Paris And London seeks to highlight the plight of those living below the poverty line... 

Tinned Goods

Tinned Goods

It’s 1984 and the effects of the six-month-old Miner’s Strike is really starting to bite. Mining communities feel they are being “starved” back to work by an oppressive government and living in a “Police State” of abuse by the system... 

Rocky Horror Show

Rocky Horror Show

Behind me a slightly overweight man in basque, suspenders and very little else is shuffling up the row to his seat to cheers from the back stalls. His girlfriend is close behind in a French maid’s outfit... 

No joke. The Counting House goes Gilded Balloon [Updated]

No joke. The Counting House goes Gilded Balloon [Updated]

One of the Free Festival’s flagship Edinburgh venues, The Counting House, will be operated by The Gilded Balloon at this year’s Fringe it was revealed today. 

Brighton Fringe Crowdfund Opening Night Parade

Brighton Fringe Crowdfund Opening Night Parade

Brighton Fringe is asking people in Sussex to give the gift of joy this Christmas by helping the Fringe put on its first ever opening night parade.  

Five Christmas Shows You Shouldn’t Miss In London This Year

Five Christmas Shows You Shouldn’t Miss In London This Year

Christmas is the one time of year you can drag your non-theatre-going friends to the theatre. So what to see? Here’s a run down of our five favourites in the capital this year... 

Clementine the Living Fashion Doll's Seasonal Spectacular

Clementine the Living Fashion Doll's Seasonal Spectacular

Although only 15 inches tall, Clementine is still a mighty big talent. She’s also the hostess of possibly the most original Christmas show you’re ever likely to witness.Clementine’s Seasonal Spectacular defies pigeon-holing... 

Revan and Fennell: Fan Club

Revan and Fennell: Fan Club

Brimming with originality and presenting a confidently executed show, Revan and Fennell are a double act that have the potential to succeed the comedy throne of French & Saunders.The material is astute, contemporary and culturally-savvy... 

The Fringe through the lens of my iPhone camera

The Fringe through the lens of my iPhone camera

Broadway Baby publisher Pete Shaw wraps up his Edinburgh experience via his iPhone photo stream. 

Dogfight

Dogfight

Based on an obscure 1991 feature film, Dogfight is a recent musical from the talented composing duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, that showtune aficionados may know from Edges, a show that has already made a couple of visits to the Fringe... 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

John Cameron and Stephen Trask’s big, ballsy, gender-bending musical detonates upon Greenside’s Royal Terrace stage with a blast that can be heard clear across Edinburgh.Set at a gig for the eponymous Hedwig, Stephen Trask’s glam rock score is peppered with narrative telling us how little Hansel from East Berlin gets swept away by American sugar-daddy Luther, who insists a little piece of Hansel must remain in order for them to marry... 

Morgan and West’s Utterly Spiffing Spectacular Magic Show – For Kids (and Childish Grown-ups!)

Morgan and West’s Utterly Spiffing Spectacular Magic Show – For Kids (and Childish Grown-ups!)

Kevin MacLeod’s Call To Adventure is entirely appropriate as the walk-in soundtrack to Morgan and West’s Utterly Spiffing Spectacular Magic Show – For Kids. These Victorian gentlemen transport you to an age of debonair parlour tricks, mind-bending illusion and good old fashioned sleight-of-hand delivered with such a professional polish you could see your top hat in it... 

West End Magic

West End Magic

West End Magic, a monthly fixture at the Leicester Square Theatre, heads north for a limited engagement at The Great Yorkshire Fringe.Curated by award-wining magician, Oliver Tabor, the show features a smorgasbord of performers showcasing their skills in fifteen minute slots... 

The Supreme Fabulettes

The Supreme Fabulettes

Opening their show with the anthem I’m Every Woman, all-male girl group The Supreme Fabulettes are here to make a statement. And that statement comes be-decked in sequins and wigs that touch the stratosphere... 

Paul Chowdhry: PC’s World

Paul Chowdhry: PC’s World

I was reading about a Gay Pride event in Glasgow last week that had banned drag acts from performing for fear they may offend transgendered members of their community who were confused about their identity... 

The Amazing Bubble Man

The Amazing Bubble Man

You’ve got to hand it to him, Louis Pearl aka The Amazing Bubbleman is a crowd pleaser. He’s no besequined showman relying on sleight of hand and fast patter; Pearl just has a passion for bubbles... 

Just Like That! The Tommy Cooper Show

Just Like That! The Tommy Cooper Show

With the blessing of the Cooper Estate, John Hewer takes to the stage in the guise of one of Britain’s most loved comedians. Hewer doesn’t look much like Tommy Cooper, and occasionally doesn’t always sound like Tommy Cooper, but these criticisms are moot... 

James Campbell’s Comedy 4 Kids

James Campbell’s Comedy 4 Kids

Holding the attention of a room full of six to eleven year olds armed with nothing more than a microphone is quite some feat, but for James Campbell – widely acknowledged as the creator of stand up for kids – this is safe territory... 

The Fringe Incubator: Why Greenwich Theatre Supports EdFest.

The Fringe Incubator: Why Greenwich Theatre Supports EdFest.

Greenwich Theatre has a long and successful association with the Edinburgh Fringe, but why does a London Theatre have such a keen interest in a festival hundreds of miles away from its home turf? Pete Shaw asks GT boss, James Haddrell what's the appeal and which shows are on his "must-see" list this year. 

Dusty

Dusty "O"s Musical Menagerie

Thirty years ago there was a late-night drinking spot in Soho called The Piano Bar. The punters were an eclectic bunch – actors from the West End would regularly rub shoulders with East End wide boys creating a hedonistic cocktail set to a background soundtrack of have-a-go singers (years before we’d heard the term Karaoke) corralled by larger-than-life drag queen Ziggy Cartier... 

Into The Woods makes the big screen

Into The Woods makes the big screen

Broadway Baby doesn't often discuss movies, but when the film in question is one of the most hotly anticipated stage musical adaptations of all time (and when the good folk at Disney provide a ticket to an early screening), it's worth a few paragraphs. 

Casting Announced for prèmiere of Gods and Monsters

Casting Announced for prèmiere of Gods and Monsters

Ian Gelder - Kevan Lannister in the epic TV drama series Game of Thrones - is to play Frankenstein director James Whale and Will Austin is gardener Clayton Boone, who becomes the object of Whale’s obsession, in the world prèmiere of Gods and Monsters at Southwark Playhouse. 

Thrill Me at C venues receives first Bobby Award of 2014

Thrill Me at C venues receives first Bobby Award of 2014

The musical based on the 1924 'thrill killers' Leopold and Loeb, Thrill Me, has been named as the first Broadway Baby 'Bobby Award' winner for 2014. 

The Martin Walker Three Minute Interview

The Martin Walker Three Minute Interview

Martin Walker became Broadway Baby’s Stand-Up Comedy editor in March 2014. By the end of July he had interviewed over four hundred and fifty comedians online, on Skype and on the phone... 

About Miss Julie

About Miss Julie

Strindberg’s classic 19th Century upstairs-downstairs play Miss Julie dealing with social mores is transported to a post-World War I England in which the class system was under increasing pressure and the women’s suffrage movement on the rise... 

The Heather Bagnall Three Minute Interview

The Heather Bagnall Three Minute Interview

Co-founder of Tasty Monster Productions, Heather Bagnall, made her debut at the Edinburgh Fringe last year with SINGLEMARRIEDGIRL. Bagnall and her delicious monsters are back to reprise the show and are also bringing another treat for Fringe audiences, Ferdinand – Bull in a China Shop... 

The Apphia Campbell Three Minute Interview

The Apphia Campbell Three Minute Interview

Following sold out performances in Shanghai and New York, Apphia Campbell brings her Nina Simone inspired show to the Gilded Balloon. Pete Shaw grabbed a moment with Campbell to find out more. 

The Story Pocket Theatre Three Minute Interview

The Story Pocket Theatre Three Minute Interview

Family-friendly Story Pocket Theatre is a new company bringing Arabian Nights to the Edinburgh Fringe. Pete Shaw grabbed a moment of their rehearsal period to ask some questions. 

The Divallusion Three Minute Interview

The Divallusion Three Minute Interview

Broadway headliner Christina Bianco and West End showgirl Velma Celli (alter ego Ian Stroughair) are planning to cram in a lot of diva into their Edinburgh collaboration at Assembly Checkpoint this year... 

The Mzz Kimberley Three Minute Interview

The Mzz Kimberley Three Minute Interview

Last year, Mzz Kimberley received five-star reviews for her show A Tranny Is Born. This year she’s back with A Tranny On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown. What must have happened? Pete Shaw quizzed Mzz Kimberley about the show and the profile of transgender artists at the Fringe. 

The Hartshorn - Hook Three Minute Interview

The Hartshorn - Hook Three Minute Interview

Serial producers Louis Hartshorn and Brian Hook have been a regular fixture at the Edinburgh Fringe for nearly a decade, but is this the last time we’ll see them at the Festival? Pete Shaw decided to ask some questions. 

The Mike Belgrave Three Minute Interview

The Mike Belgrave Three Minute Interview

Never work with children, they say, but comedian Mike Belgrave is back in Edinburgh with a show packed with the sort of mayhem kids adore. Pete Shaw caught up with Mike for a Three Minute Interview... 

The Cameryn Moore Three Minute Interview

The Cameryn Moore Three Minute Interview

Cameryn Moore's award-winning solo play Phone Whore comes back to the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Pete Shaw placed a call to find out more about this returning hit and why Edinburgh is worth the airfare. 

The Miss Hope Springs Three Minute Interview

The Miss Hope Springs Three Minute Interview

Towering blonde ex-Vegas showgirl Miss Hope Springs is set to make her Edinburgh debut at the Playhouse this year. And behind the makeup, Ty Jeffries is no stranger to the real-life glamour of Hollywood... 

The EdFringe 'Live' Top Ten Lists

The EdFringe 'Live' Top Ten Lists

It's time once again for the EdFringe Top Ten Lists - but not just any list. We analyse the most popular choices of our 100+ strong reviewing team to automatically generate lists in every category of the programme - and because this live data from our scheduling system you can see the rise and fall of shows as their pre-Edinburgh marketing kicks in... 

The Jessica Sherr Three Minute Interview

The Jessica Sherr Three Minute Interview

Jessica Sherr is returning to Edinburgh with her show Bette Davis Ain’t for Sissies. Donning an eyepatch and reaching for a cigarette holder, Pete Shaw just had to find out more. 

The Alex Motswiri Three Minute Interview

The Alex Motswiri Three Minute Interview

Alex Motswiri Director of African Tree Productions – producers of last year’s hit show The System, talks to Pete Shaw about their new Musical – Magadi – The Bride’s Price. 

The Ian Garrett Three Minute Interview

The Ian Garrett Three Minute Interview

A regular visitor to the Edinburgh Fringe from North America, Ian Garrett not only has brought many shows across the pond but also created the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award... 

The Irene Ros Three Minute Interview

The Irene Ros Three Minute Interview

Irene Ros is writer and director of Marcel Vol 1, a surrealist show that attempts to turn the Berlusconi sex scandal into art. Pete Shaw chats to her about Dadaism and why experimentation is important in theatre. 

The FringeDog Three Biscuit Interview

The FringeDog Three Biscuit Interview

The latest reviewer to hit Edinburgh is FringeDog. With a promise of five stars for everyone, he’s sure to be a big hit. Pete Shaw offered him a biscuit in exchange for his thoughts on the Fringe. 

The Jeanette Bonner Three Minute Interview

The Jeanette Bonner Three Minute Interview

Jeanette Bonner is an American heading to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time with her show Love. Guts. High School. Pete Shaw asked her about the show and why she’s making the journey across the pond to bring it to an Edinburgh audience. 

The Green Stag Theatre Company Three Minute Interview

The Green Stag Theatre Company Three Minute Interview

The Edinburgh Fringe has more than its fair share of household-name comedians and high profile actors generating many column inches in the press, but at the heart of the festival are the small theatre companies generating incredible work on a shoestring budget... 

The Elaine Liner Three Minute Interview

The Elaine Liner Three Minute Interview

Texan writer-actor-knitter Elaine Liner had a surprise five-star hit with her show Sweater Curse: A Yarn About Love at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe. As she prepares her wool for a return to the festival, Pete Shaw ask her about the show; how good reviews help and whether Broadway Baby will be getting a nice jumper to wear. 

The Valerie Hager Three Minute Interview

The Valerie Hager Three Minute Interview

Valerie Hager is an American ex-crystal meth addict and one-time pole dancer taking a show called Naked In Alaska to the Edinburgh Festival. Pete Shaw asks what we can expect her EdFringe debut. 

The Pajama Game

The Pajama Game

Written as a contemporary piece in 1954, The Pajama Game is a musical about a rag trade union dispute and the romance that develops between the leaders of the opposing sides of the argument... 

The Charles Pamment Three Minute Interview

The Charles Pamment Three Minute Interview

Although they may not grab the attention lavished upon the 'big four' at the Edinburgh Festival, theSpaceUK is nonetheless now the largest venue at the Fringe and this year celebrates its 20th year... 

Avenue Q

Avenue Q

Freshly-graduated and bright-eyed Princeton arrives in Avenue Q looking for his purpose but lacking the funds to afford anywhere better to stay. His new neighbours are closeted Republican investment banker Rod plus flatmate Nicky; failing stand-up comic Brian who’s engaged to Asian-American therapist Christmas Eve; internet addict Trekkie Monster; sweet-as-syrup teaching assistant Kate Monster (no relation); Lucy the Slut (no further description required) and building superintendent Gary Coleman... 

Broadway Baby Piano Bar

Broadway Baby Piano Bar

Broadway Baby are thrilled to introduce a new regular date for West End Wendys and Dagenham Divas. The Broadway Baby Piano Bar starts from April 27th at the George & Dragon, Greenwich every Sunday night. 

Broadway Baby claims new Twitter home

Broadway Baby claims new Twitter home

Broadway Baby's Twitter account has moved to the shorter, more appropriate home of @broadwaybaby - if you were already following us, you don't need to re-follow as you'll automatically be following our new account... 

Win a £150 ad package in our Brighton Fringe Twitter Compo

Win a £150 ad package in our Brighton Fringe Twitter Compo

If you're taking a show to Brighton Fringe this year you want some free advertising, don't you? Sure you do. Well here's you're chance to win a free Gold Ad Package from Broadway Baby simply by following us and retweeting our competition tweet. 

London's first Museum of Comedy

London's first Museum of Comedy

There's something funny going on under St George's Church in Bloomsbury. The creation of London's first Museum of Comedy, housing classic props and prints from decades of comic tomfoolery of stage and screen. 

Brighton Rocks! The 2014 Fringe Programme is Launched.

Brighton Rocks! The 2014 Fringe Programme is Launched.

England's largest mixed-arts festival, the Brighton Fringe, has launched its online programme. Running from 3 May to 1 June, there are 720 events confirmed so far at 186 different venues and spaces... 

Tenth Birthday Makeover for Broadway Baby

Tenth Birthday Makeover for Broadway Baby

The all-new, sparkly Broadway Baby website is live. With a host of exciting new features and online tools, we hope you find the site more useful than ever. 

Love Story

Love Story

Up there with The Deer Hunter and The Champ, Love Story came from a decade of schmaltzy tearjerkers that kept tissue manufacturers in healthy profits. Originally a screenplay treatment that Paramount commissioned into a novel to boost interest in the motion picture, Erich Segal’s plot follows the relationship of two young students; Oliver Barrett IV, a wealthy heir at Harvard and Jenny Cavilleri, a music major at Radcliffe College and daughter of a Rhode Island baker... 

Broken Holmes

Broken Holmes

Since Broken Holmes’ last visit to the Fringe with a farcical tale of the eponymous detective in 2009, a certain Benedict Cumberbatch has helped propel Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional sleuth into the consciousness of a new generation of fans... 

Rent

Rent

RENT charts the story of a group of friends living in New York’s Alphabet City in the early nineties, a ghetto of Manhattan synonymous with starving artists. Written by Jonathan Larson, who famously died the night before the premiere performance, it’s based closely on Puccini’s opera La Bohème retaining many of the character names but replacing the 19th century plague of tuberculosis with what was – at the time of first production – the far more dominant issue of AIDS... 

Berlin Cabaret

Berlin Cabaret

Hitler. He was a wrong ‘un, and no mistake. So what to make of a cabaret full of goose-stepping, Nazi salutes and a leggy swastika on the flyer?Things start well enough, with a warm wilkommen from the cabaret girls as the audience find their seats and chit-chat with those already settled in for the show... 

Her Right Mind

Her Right Mind

The audience is introduced to the story behind Her Right Mind via a dynamically-staged sequence showing us the mundanity of protagonist Jack’s life. It turns out that this literal choreography mirrors the metaphorical choreography his sister Jill imposes on his life to deal with his obsessive compulsive behaviour... 

Mr Millennium: Issue No.1

Mr Millennium: Issue No.1

Featuring what could potentially be the most well-produced programme in the history of the Fringe, David Kingsmill’s one-man show uses song and comic (in both senses) anecdotes to explain the trials and tribulations of being an everyday superhero... 

The Wolves Descend

The Wolves Descend

In a picturesque Croatian village where the main industry is werewolf tourism, the owners of The House of the Night Bed & Breakfast are facing a decline in their business due to the lack of lycanthropic activity in the neighbourhood... 

CappellaJuice: Beyond the Wardrobe

CappellaJuice: Beyond the Wardrobe

CapellaJuice describe their show as a ‘clothes-based musical revue’. I’ve not scanned the entire Fringe programme, but I’m going to make the wild assumption that that’s a genre of one... 

Side by Side by Sondheim

Side by Side by Sondheim

Side By Side By Sondheim was originally conceived back in 1976 as a fund-raiser for a regional theatre owned by Cleo Lane and Johnny Dankworth. A simple musical revue showcasing the songs of Stephen Sondheim... 

Camille O'Sullivan: Feel

Camille O'Sullivan: Feel

Irish chanteuse Camille O’Sullivan returns to her spiritual roots, singing in a traditional circus Spiegeltent. As an original performer in La Clique, the London Wonderground stage is second nature to O’Sullivan, and this environment works for her... 

On The Twentieth Century

On The Twentieth Century

Though on the wrong side of forty, even I was a little young to catch the original London production of On The Twentieth Century back in 1980 - it’s one of those shows I know well from the cast recording, so the revival at the Union Theatre this Christmas is like a blind date with a pen pal after 25 years of correspondence... 

Iolanthe

Iolanthe

Iolanthe marks the halfway point, and quite a highlight, of Gilbert and Sullivan’s enormously successful 25-year collaboration. It’'s often overshadowed by the more well-known HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance, but musically it’s one of their best works... 

Scott Mills: The Bjorn Identity

Scott Mills: The Bjorn Identity

Emerging from the ‘fear cupboard’ for the climax of Radio 1’s one-man shows, Scott Mills chose to re-tell the Bourne Identity with an Abba twist in front of a packed-house last night... 

Beccy Huxtable: Live and Loose

Beccy Huxtable: Live and Loose

Scott Mills’ assistant producer Beccy Huxtable took to the stage last night in the penultimate performance in a series of four one-man shows Radio 1 have brought to Edinburgh this year... 

Nick Grimshaw: Team Hate

Nick Grimshaw: Team Hate

For a man who claims never to have done this before, DJ Nick Grimshaw appears very comfortable in the skin of a stand-up comedian. Chatty and confident, he rarely misses a beat in this 35-minute ‘lecture’ of the things he hates; the second of four one-man shows being staged by BBC Radio 1 in Edinburgh... 

The One That Doesn’t Speak: Silent But Deadly

The One That Doesn’t Speak: Silent But Deadly

Kicking off BBC Radio 1’s series of four one-off, one-man shows by Scott Mills, Nick Grimshaw and the team at this year’s festival, The One Who Doesn’t Speak presented an eclectic presentation of mime, audience participation and canned audio clips... 

Five Guys Named Moe

Five Guys Named Moe

With a budget that suggests they spent more in the lighting rig than most in Edinburgh spend on their whole show, the production values on Five Guys Named Moe are ridiculously high for the Fringe... 

Putting It Together by Sondheim

Putting It Together by Sondheim

Putting It Together was the product of collaboration between Stephen Sondheim and Julia McKenzie (yes, the same one from Cranford off the telly). McKenzie, as those with the showtune gene know, is a bit of a Sondheim aficionado, and while Angela Landsbury and Bernadette Peters squabble over the juicy female roles on Broadway, McKenzie has already pegged up Company, Side By Side, Follies, Into The Woods and Sweeney Todd in the West End... 

Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens

Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens

Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens is a glam-rock musical that returns to its spiritual home in Edinburgh. It started here as a Fringe First-winning show in 1995, transferred to the West End (where I was lucky enough to catch it), and even had a permanent club built to house it at London Bridge... 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch has a cult following. I know, since I consider myself part of that clan. Since first seeing the show in Edinburgh nearly a decade ago, it’s one I seek out when productions are announced... 

My Queer Valentine

My Queer Valentine

An understudy of a remote touring version of Miss Saigon, Ric Lau is taking an enormous gamble with debut one-man show in Edinburgh. He’s an unknown name waving a small rainbow flag against the torrent of white-noise that happens in August, trying to get a foothold in Europe at what is arguably the biggest arts trade show of them all... 

Plane Food Cafe

Plane Food Cafe

There is something uniquely wonderful about Plane Food Café that makes it a perfect fit for the Fringe. You sit in a mocked-up aircraft interior for 30 minutes, shown a brief video and fed an authentic airline meal... 

Rent: School Edition

Rent: School Edition

Oh lordy. There are times when it can be tough to be a reviewer, because the last thing you want to do is crush the hopes and dreams of schoolkids on an awfully big adventure, but at the same time you have to recognise that putting yourself in the Fringe programme and offering tickets for sale to the public means you expose yourself to the same scrutiny other shows expect; and often seek out... 

Sammy J In The Forest Of Dreams

Sammy J In The Forest Of Dreams

It’s what would happen if the cast of Avenue Q had decided to have a knife-fight in the Disney world of Enchanted. It’s a Muppet Show with a very potty mouth, set down an Alice In Wonderland rabbit-hole where the King of the magical land has 100% cherry tax and is less than benevolent to his subjects... 

Lights! Camera! Improvise!

Lights! Camera! Improvise!

The term ‘improv comedy’ is usually enough to have me, and any number of reviewers I know in Edinburgh, making excuses and running for the exit. Not that it’s all bad, but that the quality can be rather variable, difficult to review and there’s an awful lot of it... 

Murder Mystery Musical

Murder Mystery Musical

Set on the private island of recently deceased music mogul Morgan Tremain, where all the people he had a grudge with in his life have been assembled for the reading of his will, Murder Mystery Musical could best be described as a bit of a melodramatic romp... 

Hou Hou Shahou's Chorus Of Descent

Hou Hou Shahou's Chorus Of Descent

There is an infectious energy about Hou Hou that you just can’t ignore. It’s the kind of ensemble storytelling that Les Enfants Terribles Theatre Company have received high praise for at the Fringe, but with even more enthusiasm... 

Precious Little Talent

Precious Little Talent

Ella Hickson was the darling of the Fringe last year with her debut play, Eight. It picked up a Fringe First and the Carol Tambor Award and almost universally praised by critics. So, with high expectations, is this the ‘difficult second album’? If it is, someone forgot to mention it to Ella Hickson, as Precious Little Talent is just sensational... 

Baby

Baby

Baby is Malty & Shire’s 1983 musical set on a college campus following nine months of three different couples attempting to have a child. Danny and Lizzie are music students and starting out their life together full of enthusiasm but trepidation about their first kid; sports coaches Nick and Pam want to have a baby but can’t conceive because of Nick’s low sperm count; and the Dean of the college Alan and his wife Arlene already have three grown children and are unsure whether another child is a good idea... 

The Bite-Size'd 'Breakfast In Bedlam'

The Bite-Size'd 'Breakfast In Bedlam'

Making their third visit to the Fringe, the Bite-Sized team are starting to create something of a niche for themselves at both the Brighton and Edinburgh Festivals. They present 5 x 10 minute short plays from a daily menu of 6 shows within 55 minutes, and if that’s not variety enough, the programme changes three times a week so there’s actually 18 plays in total to catch... 

Scott Mills The Musical

Scott Mills The Musical

With only three months from concept to stage (not even enough time to make the official printed Fringe programme), and just ten days in rehearsals to put it together, Scott Mills The Musical is a remarkable achievement... 

Lady Bug Warrior

Lady Bug Warrior

It'’s easy to hold preconceptions and pigeon-hole an unproven act in Edinburgh based on the superlatives and hyperbole of a press release, and I admit that I had expected Vicki Ferentinos to join the ranks of naïve hopefuls that get thrown in the Edinburgh bear pit because the show just wouldn’t cut mustard... 

Myriad

Myriad

Making its second visit to the Fringe, Collisions Dance and its founder, Laban-trained David Beer, is back complimenting the impressive Dance & Physical Theatre line up at Zoo, this time with three dancers – a boy and two girls... 

6.0: How Heap And Pebble Took On The World And Won

6.0: How Heap And Pebble Took On The World And Won

Dancing Brick are a company that have done well at the Fringe over the years. From their pre-formation when co-founder Thomas Eccleshare was astounding audiences as Banquo in a physical version of Macbeth in 2005, and their first Fringe show under the banner of Dancing Brick in 2006, they’ve received critical praise for their particular brand of immersive theatre... 

Jack Whitehall - Nearly Rebellious

Jack Whitehall - Nearly Rebellious

Last week, after a particularly late night out getting my major organs in training for the month that is simply referred to as ‘Edinburgh’, I had my first Festival encounter of Jack Whitehall when he swiped my falafel... 

Have A Nice Life

Have A Nice Life

I’m beginning to think that Musical Theatre @ George Square are like some dodgy wartime butcher, who’s keeping all the good stuff ‘round the back’. With a wink and a flash of your ankle, George will wrap up a couple of extra sausages for you and lead you to the hut that is a whole street away from the main theatre, tucked behind a terraced row of town houses... 

Bloodbath - The Musical

Bloodbath - The Musical

I had high expectations of Bloodbath The Musical - everything from their high-profile casting to glossy programme gives the impression they've spent some money on this show, and that's a rare thing at the Fringe... 

Falsettoland

Falsettoland

The history of Falsettoland goes back to 1979, when the show 'In Trousers' opened at the off-Broadway hub of Fringe theatre, Playwrights Horizons. For that was to be the start of the 'Falsettos' trilogy spanning the shows 'In Trousers', 'March Of The Falsettos' and 'Falsettoland', in which composer William Finn explores lives of Marvin, his son Jason, his gay ex-lover Whizzer, his wife Trina and her new boyfriend, Mendel... 

Merrily We Roll Along

Merrily We Roll Along

Merrily We Roll Along is a curious musical. When it first appeared on Broadway in 1981, it was severely panned by the critics and had considerably more previews than actual ‘official’ performances... 

Rent

Rent

Rent is most notable for the death of its author, Jonathan Larson, the night before the off-Broadway premiere, but owes its longevity to its mould-breaking style; described once as a ‘musical for the MTV generation’... 

Ernest And The Pale Moon

Ernest And The Pale Moon

Author Oliver Lansley garnered considerable and well deserved praise for his Fringe hit, The Terrible Infants, which popped up at the Pleasance in 2007 and enjoyed a runaway success ever since (most recently at the Udderbelly's noteworthy appearance on the Southbank in London)... 

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast /Matinee Shows

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast /Matinee Shows

The concept of Bite Size is a perfectly simple, yet novel one, and the clue really is in the title. Six short plays in just over an hour. Already a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe with a nod from Carol Tambor, making it into her shortlist of shows that had a chance to transfer to New York last year... 

Assassins

Assassins

Assassins delves into the possible motives of nine individuals who have both failed and succeeded in killing an American President. Sondheim’s score and John Weidman’s book cover a wide range of emotions from the deeply tragic to darkly comic to present these stories as each of the killers steps up to the plate at a fairground shooting gallery... 

Sweeney Todd ... The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd ... The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Tim Burton gave hostage to fortune in his rather splendid big-screen version of Sweeney Todd, which opened in the UK earlier this year. Any company bringing a version of Sondheim’s goriest musical to Edinburgh were going to be compared to rather fresh memories of a lavish Hollywood production – indeed, other Sondheim productions in Edinburgh this year are using the tagline ‘from the creator of Sweeney Todd’, such is the power of a blockbuster release... 

The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project

It has been ten years since American university student Matthew Shepard was murdered by Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, bringing the issue of gay hate crime to an international level... 

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is a comedy musical from the pen of Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts. It remains to this day the longest running show off-Broadway, although it was first performed in the UK... 

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens is not really a musical, but rather a song cycle, or collection of songs and poetic verse. The common theme between these elements is the NAMES Project AIDS memorial quilt, a collection of more than 40,000 panels sewn together - each commemorating the life of someone lost to the AIDS epidemic... 

War Of The Worlds

War Of The Worlds

I, like a generation around me, grew up with Jeff Wayne’s hauntingly powerful War Of The Worlds concept album. Everything about it, from the opening three notes, to the cover artwork is iconic... 

Jet Set Go!

Jet Set Go!

I’m hardly giving much away by saying Jet Set Go! – the Cabin Crew Musical – is rather camp. It’s not for nothing that Caroline Reid has managed to build a pretty successful career as alter-ego Pam Ann swishing down the aisle serving glamour with barely concealed sexual innuendo... 

Company

Company

I am, it is no secret to my friends, a big fan of Sondheim’s musical about relationships, Company. I can report with a wide smile then, that EUSOG’s production at Augustine’s this year will not disappoint... 

Les Miserables

Les Miserables

Last year, Minnetonka High School brought the school edition of Les Misérables to Edinburgh as part of the American High School Theatre Festival, and to say the least I was blown away... 

Assassins

Assassins

Assassins is an uncommon musical, seeking the motivations of nine individuals who have both failed and succeeded in bumping off US Presidents. The book by John Weidman, and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim puts these characters in a fairground shooting gallery at which the Proprietor sets them up with a gun and positively encourages them to carry out their murderous deeds... 

Interrupt

Interrupt

Set to a mixture of haunting strings and pumping electro rhythms, Collisions Dance bring their premiere performance to the intimate Studio space at Zoo Southside. The modest size of the venue is deliberate, it would seem, as dancers David Beer and Claire Lydon-Strutt weave their show beyond the limits of the traditional stage area to immerse their audience in their intense production... 

Prodigal Daughter

Prodigal Daughter

Writer and director Asa Gim Palomera creates fascinating theatre in her play, The Prodigal Daughter, which runs at C until the end of the Festival on Monday. A story crossing both the Korean War and WWII probes into some uncomfortable areas of paedophilia, cultural stigmatism and abuse of power... 

Famished

Famished

Claiming to raise the bar for the Victorian Zombie Comedy Musical genre, Famished is a show clearly inspired by Monty Python, but also tipping its top hat to Five Go Mad In Dorset and Oscar Wilde... 

A Beginner's Guide to German Humour!

A Beginner's Guide to German Humour!

Who knew the Germans could be funny? Yes, the butt of most lack-of-humour gags for several decades have actually been laughing at the English all this time.It's Henning Wehn and Otto Kuhnle that take us on this cross-cultural stereotypes-fest... 

Harlem Renaissance - The Life of Florence Mills

Harlem Renaissance - The Life of Florence Mills

Watching Jonelle Allen in Harlem Renaissance, you can't help thinking you're in the presence of Broadway Royalty. She debuted in Manhattan at the age of six, and has been performing ever since... 

7 Spies At The Casino

7 Spies At The Casino

David Niven tells the bizarre tale of Charles Feldman's 1967 film, Casino Royale. A film which was originally intended to be as faithful to Fleming as its predecessor, Thunderball, but turned into a unique cinematic car-crash featuring at least five different directors and a slew of writers including Woody Allen, Peter Sellers, Val Guest, Ben Hecht, Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, and Billy Wilder... 

The Smile Off Your Face

The Smile Off Your Face

Anxiety. Passion. Comfort. Dread. Those are just some of the emotions you might use to describe The Smile Off Your Face. But words seem so insufficient to explain an experience which goes beyond the normal theatrical boundaries of sight and sound... 

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Shakepeare's romantic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, is one of his most popular works, so it's not surprising that the majority of hands are up when The Pantaloons ask their audience whether they've heard of the play at the beginning of today's performance... 

Company

Company

If you ever needed proof that Edinburgh isn't a level playing field, then Kenmac's production of Company is surely it. This show could be transported, virtually untouched, to any West End stage... 

Debbie Does Dallas – the Musical

Debbie Does Dallas – the Musical

Based on the famous 1970's porn flick of the same name (but with less sex and more satire), small-town girl Debbie Benton dreams of making it as a cheerleader (and marine biologist) in the big city, but the only way she can get there is for her and her girlfriends to raise some money by offering sexual favours to their employers... 

Tony! The Blair Musical

Tony! The Blair Musical

It's impossible to review a musical about Tony Blair without acknowledging that there are two competing productions about his leadership tenure in town. Let's make this clear from the start... 

Tony Blair the Musical

Tony Blair the Musical

Io Theatre's take on the Tony Blair years is a satirical view of his leadership, set to a bitingly funny score. Pretty much all the elements of his ten years in power are there, with only the notable absence of Cherie... 

Joanna Neary's Little Moments

Joanna Neary's Little Moments

I've just spent the most uncomfortable hour of my Festival thus far. Not any fault of Joanna Neary, though, she's actually rather sweet. No, the source of my discomfort is the Pleasance Cellar (aptly named) that her show is in... 

Little Shop Of Horrors

Little Shop Of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors was first produced as a musical in 1982, based on a low-budget movie of the same name, which was shot in just two days in 1960. It has since played around the world, including a current production in London and there are no less than two versions of it at the Fringe this year... 

Be a Star in a Juggling Show!

Be a Star in a Juggling Show!

If you're attending the Festival with some young 'uns in tow, then I can enthusiastically recommend you drop in on Be a Star in a Juggling Show at Zoo Venues. Californian jugglers Fred Anderson and Keith Eveslage know how to handle and audience of kids, and they have the ability to keep them focused for a full hour... 

Richard O'Brien's Mephistopheles Smith

Richard O'Brien's Mephistopheles Smith

Having seen the Janus Theatre Company productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, perhaps my expectations were simply too high for Mephistopheles Smith... 

The Gently Progressive Behemoth

The Gently Progressive Behemoth

I have the distinct feeling that Fringe audiences are going to approach The Gently Progressive Behemoth a bit like Marmite. There doesn't seem much room for the middle ground of likes and dislikes for this absurdly surreal comic sketch show written and performed by Luke Roberts and Nadia Kamil... 

Just So

Just So

The Just So Stories, written in 1902, are Kipling's accounts of how various natural phenomena came about. Things like How the Leopard got his Spots, How the Rhinoceros got his Skin and How the Camel got his Hump... 

Marry Me A Little

Marry Me A Little

Marry Me A Little started life in 1980 as collection of songs either cut from other Sondheim musicals, or from shows that were never produced. Similar to Putting It Together, which followed some 12 years later, it strings these previously unconnected songs in a simple plot... 

Eurobeat - Almost Eurovision

Eurobeat - Almost Eurovision

There's something of an impressive atmosphere even as you queue for Eurobeat. Hawkers are selling flags and rattles and making much noise - warming up the crowd for what is to come... 

Chris Cox - Everything Happens for a Reason

Chris Cox - Everything Happens for a Reason

Paying a second visit to the Fringe, Chris Cox is a contemporary mind reader who strips away all of the sinister nonsense that is often associated with the Derren Brown school of mentalisism, to show us that everything does, perhaps, happen for a reason... 

How To Pimp Your Kids and Shop For Free at Waitrose

How To Pimp Your Kids and Shop For Free at Waitrose

Matthew Collins is a travel journalist and single parent, although not necessarily in that order. The title of his show is possibly misleading, as these are just two of the subjects he touches on during his 50 minute monologue at Sweet Grassmarket... 

Faith Brown and Her Boys in the Buff

Faith Brown and Her Boys in the Buff

In a story that's somewhere between Mrs Henderson Presents and The Full Monty, Boys In The Buff tells the story of Diane Diamante (Faith Brown), the owner of a failing seaside theatre and her plans to rescue its fortunes by staging an all-male nude review... 

The Terrible Infants

The Terrible Infants

The Terrible Infants is billed as a children's show, and I'm a gnarly old hack, just the wrong side of 40. So I wasn't expecting a great deal whilst queuing in the Edinburgh drizzle at the Pleasance Courtyard... 

Les Miserables

Les Miserables

I will freely admit that I had a certain amount of anxiety when approaching Minnetonka's production of Les Misérables. I mean, how could an amateur group possibly do justice to a show on the scale and grandeur of Les Mis? Clearly, I hadn't counted on the fact director R... 

Stinky Flowers and the Bad Banana

Stinky Flowers and the Bad Banana

Fringe theatre is often about taking risks, so you have to applaud Croft Vaughn for the bravery of his one-man show in which he plays a nine-year-old boy up in his attic with an over-active imagination... 

A British Guide to World Peace

A British Guide to World Peace

A British Guide to World Peace is Toby Mitchell's third in a trilogy of 'British Guide' shows that started with 'French Pop' in 2005 and then 'World Religion' last year. Unfortunately 'World Peace' doesn't quite live up to the promise of its predecessors... 

Pam Ann - One World Alliance

Pam Ann - One World Alliance

Please ensure your seat is in the upright position and that your tray tables are securely stowed. You are about to watch comedy take off.Aussie air hostess Pam Ann is one of the big names at the festival now, and for good reason... 

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeny Todd is arguably one of the finest works in musical theatre. It's not camp froth, but rather a dark and complex show with highly operatic moments. It's one of the best examples of Sondheim's genius you will find... 

Out of the Blue

Out of the Blue

There's a predictable brilliance about Out Of The Blue which explains why this troupe from Oxford are selling out only two days into their month-long run at C Venues this year. So if you want to see what all the fuss is about, grab yourself a ticket fast... 

State of Matter

State of Matter

The boys of 2FaCeD last attended the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005 with an explosive breakdancing show, appropriately called Acetylene. The boys are now young men, and both they, and their show, have matured and developed... 

Xenu is Loose! Cower puny Humans as the Dark Prince of the Galactic Federation rains Atomic Death once more upon your Pitiful Planet - The Musical!

Xenu is Loose! Cower puny Humans as the Dark Prince of the Galactic Federation rains Atomic Death once more upon your Pitiful Planet - The Musical!

I lowered my expectations dramatically during the opening scene of Xenu is Loose when the smoke effect obliterated the audience's view of the action for at least a couple of minutes... 

Jihad: The Musical

Jihad: The Musical

There's something of a dichotomy going on in Jihad The Musical, and I'm not sure whether I should be deeply offended, or laughing my socks off. The high-kicking, gun-toting, burka-wearing antics of this no punches-pulled show reminded me a lot of the show-within-a-show from The Producers... 

Failed States

Failed States

The opening few bars of Failed States brilliantly foreshadows the musical to follow. A combination of the British and American national anthem displays both harmony and dissonance - succinctly summarising the “special” relationship our countries enjoy... 

Shakespeare for Breakfast

Shakespeare for Breakfast

If ever there was a perfectly matched pair, like a pie and a pint, a horse and cart or Edinburgh and rent-scalping, then surely Shakespeare is now inexorably linked with Breakfast. For it has been 6 years since C Venues have been serving up the Bard with a croissant and coffee at the hangover-challenging hour of 10am... 

Hey Diddle Diddle

Hey Diddle Diddle

The National Student Theatre Company (NSTC) are regular visitors to the Fringe, bringing productions that draw on talent from drama schools across the country and combining with over 25 years of experience in theatre... 

Victims of Freedom

Victims of Freedom

Set in an imagined European city of the future, a nuclear family's idyllic existence is shattered when Dad's past returns to haunt him. Before you know it, a bunch of terrorists are hiding out at home... 

Cymbeline

Cymbeline

I can hardly think of any occasion where I have laughed so hard while watching Shakespeare. Sitting on a bin-liner, itself on a damp patch of grass, I was watching The Pantaloons present Cymbeline, the Bard's seldom seen tale of a boastful wager of honour that goes terribly wrong... 

Tina C - Sometimes I Frighten Myself

Tina C - Sometimes I Frighten Myself

Tina C, who shot to notoriety as host of Sky One's Yanky Panky show (basically the US-facing equivalent of Euro Trash), returns to Edinburgh once again to give us all a glimpse into the fabulous celebrity life of a Nashville Country Music star... 

Think Pink

Think Pink

There was a moment during In The Pink's performance of Think Pink tonight when everyone in the audience collectively knew they were watching a new pop idol.That moment was when 18-year-old Anouska Lucas stepped up to sing Everybody's Free... 

The IT Boy

The IT Boy

Sprinkling a little Cinderella magic into the plot, Castoffs Youth Theatre have chosen a worthy subject for their musical The “IT” Boy, which tells the tale of Chris, a sixteen year old with a secret... 

Alice Through The Looking-Glass

Alice Through The Looking-Glass

Let's make this clear from the start, that this is not the sugary-coated vision of Alice popularised by Disney's 1951 classic, but the darker, more nightmarish view closer to Lewis Carroll's original 1871 novel... 

Ida Barr - Get Old Or Die Tryin'

Ida Barr - Get Old Or Die Tryin'

As she shuffles onto the stage assisted by a Las Vegas showgirl, Ida Barr hardly looks like Grandma-rapper billed in the programme; but Ida is the lesser-known creation of Christopher Green, who's country-singing Tina C character featured in the TV show Yanky Panky... 

The Little British Empire

The Little British Empire

My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen - for you delectation, curiosity and amusement, please welcome to the stage The Repertorie Room. I thank you.And if you haven't twigged already, the song list of The Little British Empire is very much in the music hall tradition, although our toastmaster today points out that we're in the bar of The Old Bull & Bush... 

Slap!

Slap!

Slap, in gay palare, is make-up; and that's the central theme to this comedy romp set in the make-up trailer of an 80s music video shoot.Whilst not strictly speaking a musical, it does contain original songs and lyrics by Dafydd James... 

Have A Nice Life

Have A Nice Life

Take six social misfits with relationship worries, throw them into group therapy, and then you have the basis for Conor Mitchell's brilliant musical Have A Nice Life.This is an exceptionally insightful piece of theatre - delving into the problems of the characters' love lives to offer some keenly observed, and often profound, dialogue on counselling... 

Katzenjammer

Katzenjammer

Although their act is only around three years old, Katzenjammer have literally been around the world - and it's easy to see why they are in such demand.Such is their originality, it's difficult to do justice to their talent in words... 

Chris Cox - He Can't Read Minds?

Chris Cox - He Can't Read Minds?

It's obviously easy to draw comparisons between Derren Brown when talking about Chris Cox. But whereas Brown is a bit dark and creepy, Cox delivers his material in a much more approachable manner... 

Breakfast Bedlam, Live!

Breakfast Bedlam, Live!

The premise for Breakfast Bedlam, Live! is a rich comedy vein. Let's face it, we all remember kids TV with some fondness, and this is a complete pastiche of the genre.Upon entering the venue, you'll soon realise this is no longer a theatre but a TV studio, where the floor manager is mingling with the crowd and barking instructions into her headset mic... 

Oliver Maltman's Little Black Book

Oliver Maltman's Little Black Book

I can't help thinking that somebody, somewhere must have watched Oliver Maltman's show, Little Black Book, before he brought it up to Edinburgh; but clearly didn't have the balls to tell him it just wasn't funny... 

Tommy

Tommy

Tommy was the first musical to be specifically billed as a 'Rock Opera', and to this day remains one of the most defining examples of the genre. Starting as an album, then a film and finally making it to the stage in 1993, it's set in post-WWII Britain following the life of 'deaf, dumb and blind kid' Tommy Walker... 

Putting It Together

Putting It Together

Few composers have received the critical acclaim of Stephen Sondheim. A genius storyteller, his shows have consistently pushed the boundaries of musical theatre in both subject and execution... 

The End of the Golden Weather

The End of the Golden Weather

Bruce Mason's coming-of-age tale is of a bygone day of innocence, where through a child's eyes even the village idiot's tall stories are to be believed. Set in small-town New Zealand, The End Of The Golden Weather is a beautiful journey of growing up, friendship and a young boy's fantastical ideas... 

The Oxford Gargoyles - Jazz A Cappella

The Oxford Gargoyles - Jazz A Cappella

The Oxford Gargoyles are making their debut appearance at the Fringe this year, in their show which, as the title suggests, brings Jazz and a-cappella together.It's not just about jazz though, as their programme of musical numbers includes pop, calypso and even Disney... 

Confessions of a Paralysed Porn Star

Confessions of a Paralysed Porn Star

Sarah-Louise Young's show, Confessions of a Paralysed Porn Star, was conceived the day she Googled herself and discovered she shared her name with an “adult” actress. Unsurprisingly then, the hook of the show features sex, fetishism and many references to Ann Summers (including product placement!) But Young's fresh-faced and innocent approach removes any notion that this is smutty - it's like Cilla Black hosting an instructional video on wearing a condom... 

Assassins

Assassins

Assassins is arguably one of Sondheim's finest musicals. It opened at Playwright Horizons in 1991, and then in London at the Donmar Warehouse in 1992. I was there, it was a moment I remember to this day... 

4 Poofs and a Piano - Strictly Neurotic

4 Poofs and a Piano - Strictly Neurotic

Their regular slot on the Johnathan Ross show goes a long way to explaining the largely heterosexual audience in tonight. The crowd are probably expecting a show of camp froth - and to a large extent that demand is satisfied by 4 Poofs and a Piano... 

Charlie Pickering: Auto

Charlie Pickering: Auto

Above all else, Charlie Pickering is an engaging storyteller - even if that contradicts the premise of his Edinburgh show, in which he struggles to write his autobiography.Concentrating pretty much exclusively on his childhood, Pickering spins a thoroughly engrossing tale of self-discovery... 

The Future

The Future

Jonny Sweet and Joe Thomas are breaking new comedy turf over at The Underbelly, with their satirical view of the future, called simply The Future.This is a new kind of comedy where the destination isn't nearly as important as the journey... 

Grandmotherf***er

Grandmotherf***er

From the moment Pat Candaras takes to the stage in her show at The Underbelly, you just know you're going to like her. Candaras has a certain charm that makes you feel you already know her, and she already knows you... 

Potted Potter – The Unofficial Harry Experience

Potted Potter – The Unofficial Harry Experience

Dan & Jeff, the comic storytelling duo from Blue Peter, attempt to summarise all six Harry Potter novels in just sixty minutes. All of course, without the legal consent or approval of the publishers... 

Caviar & Chips

Caviar & Chips

Reading the press release for Caviar & Chips, you'd be forgiven for thinking this was some deep polemic drama. The leaflet blurb leaves you with the impression it's all about girls on top... 

Greedy

Greedy

There's some material in Greedy which really is on the furthest reaches of comedy. Subjects like paedophilia, incest and physical disabilities all come into the cross hairs of this highly talented team... 

Know It All

Know It All

Coming under a banner of 'edutainment' (please remember to shoot whoever came up with that), John and Dan are a pair of real, genuine scientists from London's Science Museum, who are here to teach us a thing or two... 

Newsrevue 2006

Newsrevue 2006

Anyone who's been even close to Edinburgh in August will have heard of Newsrevue. It's mentioned in conversations such as “What will you be seeing apart from Newsrevue?“After 27 years of practise, it's easy to see why they know this format so well... 

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens is a collection of songs and poetic verse reflecting the lives of people remembered on the AIDS memorial quilt.For those that aren't aware of “The Quilt“, it was the mission of The Names Project to preserve the memory of those that have died of AIDS... 

Topping & Butch: Filth!

Topping & Butch: Filth!

Every year this pair just get better, and their material gets ruder. Their audience would have it no other way. Playing to packed-houses at the Underbelly, Topping & Butch have created a whole new genre of show at the Fringe - and they simply own it... 

Lunch with The Hamiltons

Lunch with The Hamiltons

Call it morbid curiosity, but I was keen to see quite what Neil & Christine Hamilton were going to do at the Fringe. I thought, 'what do this pair know about entertainment?' Well, as it turns out, quite a bit, and I found myself liking them a helluva a lot more than I ever did in their former guise of Tory MP and battleaxe wife... 

Moths Ate My Dr Who Scarf

Moths Ate My Dr Who Scarf

According to Toby Hadoke, hetrosexual Dr Who fans are about as common as a shop selling ginger hair dye. In his show, Toby climbs out of his Dr Who closet to tell you about his life, loves and obsession with the BBC cult sci-fi series... 

Out Of The Blue

Out Of The Blue

For this reviewer, Out Of The Blue is one of the shows in my schedule that I look forward to with some confidence that it's going to be good.Unsurprisingly, this all-male a-cappella group have a near-capacity audience, building a strong following at C Venues over the last few years... 

A British Guide To World Religions

A British Guide To World Religions

Religious belief is a funny thing - so much so that duo Toby Mitchell and Sarah Thomas Lane have devised an hour long comedy show to describe it.Beginning with some (frankly cheesy) religious jokes, the meat of this piece is more lecture than stand up, but it is delivered in a thoroughly entertaining way, and both Toby and Sarah are instantly likeable characters... 

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel are the children of a poor wood cutter and his wife, and times are so hard that mother decides it's time to significantly reduce the number of mouths to feed in the family... 

Be A Star In A Juggling Show

Be A Star In A Juggling Show

If there were a prize for shows that do exactly what they say on the tin, this one clearly would be walk off with a rosette.Expert juggler Frisco Fred and his magician sidekick Paul Nathan are our hosts for an hour as they first impress us with fancy juggling (performing various international styles and even yo-yo tricks), before getting the kids (and big kids) up to teach them how to do it themselves... 

The Trap’s Bad Play: Second Coming

The Trap’s Bad Play: Second Coming

If there's one theatre company that can claim to have built an episodic comedy-of-errors at the Fringe, then it's The Trap. Bad Play, in all it's various guises over the years, has ruthlessly jibed amateurish student theatre - and this year it's religion that is used as a vague hook upon which to hang the comedy... 

Brick Walls

Brick Walls

Despite the University-production origins of Thomas Eccelshare & Dan Mansell's new play, Brick Walls, there is absolutely nothing amateur about their show currently playing at the Smirnoff Underbelly... 

Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing

Jonathan Harvey is more widely known for scripting the BBC comedy Gimme Gimme Gimme, but before Tom and Linda were a glint in his eye he wrote the play Beautiful Thing. The original London production was a huge success, and even spawned a hit movie of the same name... 

Goblin Market

Goblin Market

Youth Music Theatre UK are setting new standards in musical theatre at the Fringe with their gloriously rich production of Goblin Market at George Square.Goblin Market is based on Christina Rossetti's Victorian poem, which tells the tale of two girls, Laura and Lizzie and the goblins who sell exotic fruit... 

Bruised Blueberries

Bruised Blueberries

Rosalind Adler's monologue, Bruised Blueberries, tackles subjects as gritty as adultery, suicide and paedophilia, from the point of view of five diverse women in a local village community... 

Bouncers

Bouncers

A night out with the lads - or the lasses - is something that most of us have experienced in our teenage years, and that's the subject matter for John Godber's sharply observed comedy, Bouncers... 

Macbeth - The Hour

Macbeth - The Hour

Director Sam Yates has changed my expectations of a Fringe show. His interpretation of Macbeth, currently running at C Venues at Adam House, raises the bar so high that other 5-Star shows suddenly look amateurish in comparison... 

Astrakhan Winter

Astrakhan Winter

Astrakhan Winter falls firmly into the category of challenging theatre. Don't expect to just sit back and be entertained - the playwright demands of the audience your full attention, and leaves you to draw your own conclusions on meaning... 

Angry Young Man

Angry Young Man

I firmly believe Ben Woolf is one of the most originally talented writers in the world. Angry Young Man is Woolf's follow up to Western and Monologue for an Ensemble, and it doesn't disappoint... 

The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project is a play documenting the tragic death of Matthew Sheppard, who was kidnapped and savagely beaten before being left to die tied to a fence on the outskirts of a Wyoming town... 

The Jay Aston Party

The Jay Aston Party

Last night's Jay Aston Party over at C Bar at Adam House attracted an eclectic collection of drag queens and club kids. In the true style of Hello!, Broadway Baby was there, camera in one hand and a vodka martini in the other... 

Cracks In The Garden

Cracks In The Garden

Jo Randerson and Gentiane Lupi are two very brave comedians who find material in places most would be afraid to look. Yet, their delivery is inoffensive even if the gags may cross a politically correct line... 

Night of a Thousand Jay Astons

Night of a Thousand Jay Astons

Editors note: Realising that I did this production a great injustice by only awarding 3 stars the first time around, (Maybe the show I saw before was just too dire), I've re-visited adjusted my rating to 5-stars... 

Mikey the Pikey

Mikey the Pikey

Chavs are a fashionable target at this year's Fringe. Burberry, it would seem, is the new black when it comes to comic material. And so, Mikey the Pikey - the Chav musical - isn't such a surprising show to appear in the listings for Edinburgh... 

Acetylene

Acetylene

A breakdancing act may seem out of place at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but to describe Acetylene as such belittles their talent. This is urban ballet.Similar to the great physical dance group, DV8, 2FaCeD Youth's style is distinctly industrial... 

The Cider House Rules

The Cider House Rules

John Irving is a unique modern storyteller who creates rich plots inhabited with vivid characters, much in the same style as Dickens. In The Cider House Rules, Irving weaved a tale spanning several decades about the issues of abortion and adoption... 

Thrillseeking

Thrillseeking

Tom Powell explores some interesting ideas in his new play, Thrillseeking, which is currently at C Central until the end of the month. Described as 'genre-defying drug theatre', it includes comedy, tragedy and whodunit in Colin's quest to work out where the body came from... 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The name Hedwig originates from old German, hadu = battle; wig = fight. Strangely appropriate, then, for the latest treatment of Hedwig and the Angry Inch currently at Greenside, which is much more punk than many previous versions that have gone before... 

Hitting Town

Hitting Town

Three talented actors present a passionate performance of Stephen Poliakoff's seminal play Hitting Town; the show that formed the basis for the film Close My Eyes.It's 1974, and thrill-seeking Ralph unexpectedly turns up at his sister's flat in Leicester... 

Apocalypse - The Musical

Apocalypse - The Musical

Ok, let's get this out of the way at the start. Go buy a ticket for Apocalypse The Musical now. It's the funniest musical ever. Period.Still here? Not at the box office yet? Shame on you, since if you miss this, you'll be missing one of Fringe's best shows in nearly a decade... 

Snoopy

Snoopy

Cartoonist Charles Shulz created an icon that lasted over 50 years, when he first drew the irrepressible Snoopy for United Feature Syndicate in 1950. The 'Peanuts' cartoon strip (Shulz never liked the name) spawned a musical romp as early as 1983, and now on the Edinburgh Fringe... 

The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera

Much has been written about Brechts Threepenny Opera - after all, it was written in 1928 and plenty of critics have had a chance to dissect what has been become one of the earliest examples of 'epic theatre'... 

School Ties

School Ties

Jonathan and Julian Kaufmann both have a great deal of direct experience in teaching. It's unsurprising, therefore, that their comic musical, School Ties, is a sharply observed view of classroom life... 

We're Not In Brixton Anymore

We're Not In Brixton Anymore

Three guys sit in God's waiting room, coming to terms with the fact they've slipped off this mortal coil and try to figure out who they need to apologise too in order the gain access to heaven... 

The Altruists

The Altruists

Once described as the bad-boy playwright of Off-Broadway, Nicky Silver is known for his black comedies. In The Altruists, Silver pokes fun at the politically correct with a snappy and often-times hilarious tale of 5 people in New York... 

Out Of The Blue

Out Of The Blue

Making a second visit to the Fringe, Out Of The Blue are the Oxford-based all male a cappella group somewhere between Eminem and Gregorian Chant. Opening with Robbie Williams' 'Let Me Entertain You', these boys are a sharp suited beat box who can juggle harmonies with the skill of a knife-thrower... 

Starting Here, Starting Now

Starting Here, Starting Now

David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr are one of the most respected lyricist/composer teams on Broadway. Their writing is somewhere between Sondheim and Jerry Herman, although admittedly that leaves an awful lot of room... 

Seb Lime

Seb Lime

Chris Chapman's take on the classic Faust tale is surrealistically comic. Our hero, Sebastian Lime, is a narcissistic Casanova and painfully good-looking to boot. As such he is prone to sexual adventure without really thinking through the consequences... 

Putting It Together

Putting It Together

Sondheim at the Fringe is a double edged sword. He doesn't write material that's easy to do, but that's also why hard-core musical fans flock to him in droves. However, Sondheim done bad is not a pleasant experience... 

Newsrevue

Newsrevue

If ever there was a comedy institution, Newsrevue is it. Celebrating its 25th year (with a Guinness World Record to prove it); Newsrevue presents its special anniversary show at the Edinburgh Fringe... 

Write For Broadway Baby

Write For Broadway Baby

Want to join the team? We're always on the lookout for talented writers in all areas. 

Complaints Policy

Complaints Policy

If you have a complaint about a article you've read on Broadway Baby, read our policy on dealing with it. 

Brand Guildlines

Brand Guildlines

Want to use the Broadway Baby logo on your poster in conjunction with a review we've given. Sure, you're welcome - but please read our brand guidelines first. 

Advertising

Advertising

Want to promote your show through banner ads but don't know where to start? Read our advertising overview for more information. 

The Brighton Fringe Marketing Guide

The Brighton Fringe Marketing Guide

Broadway Baby Publisher, Pete Shaw, offers a comprehensive guide to marketing your show at the Brighton Fringe with tips on budgets, creating a press release, social media and branding. 

How To Attract Reviewers To Your Show

How To Attract Reviewers To Your Show

Broadway Baby publisher, Pete Shaw, reveals how reviewers pick the shows they're going to see, including the specific way Broadway Baby handles its selection. 

Advertising FAQ

Advertising FAQ

If you've never advertised online before, the jargon alone can be a minefield. Publisher Pete Shaw explains how online ads work and why they work better than traditional print. 

Broadway Baby has been covering performing arts across the UK and beyond since 2004.

Popular Articles

Popular Sections

Contact Us

239 Lewisham Way
London SE4 1XF
Ticket Hotline: +44 (0) 207 492 1606
Press Releases: pressreleases@broadwaybaby.com

2004-2018 © Broadway Baby. Broadway Baby and the logo is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service