Ed: The Musical

I was just about getting weary of anything with ‘The Musical’ after it when I went in to see this show by StoppedClock. It’s a sentimental tale with music to match, no bad thing if you’re a hardened cynic, but it boasts two terrific performances by Ben Alyn-Francis and Chris Grahamson. Alyn-Francis as the Ed of the title is a dithering, socially-uncomfortable yet best-selling children's’ author who just happens to fall in love with Evie, sensitively played by Frances Israel, the owner of a bookshop promoting his latest novel. She doesn’t know who the diffident young man is at first and when she eventually finds out, she accuses him of making a fool of her. Well, life’s like that. Grahamson plays hospitalised rock star Tony Morley, in for a liver transplant, and he has the best lines in the show - as you would expect to have in a part like that. What makes this show stand out however is the quality of Alyn-Francis’ vocals. This is one of the most engaging musical turns you will hear and see on the Fringe. He is a young performer with a splendid voice that I could have listened to all night and as an actor he is equally adept. It would not surprise me if I saw him on the West End before very long. I apologise if he already has been, as no cast biogs were available.The play itself by Stuart Price is unexceptional, but it has a gentle heart ticking away inside it, and the score by Michael Bruce complements it perfectly. If you’re in to the Hugh Grant type of movie and enjoy musicals, then this show will sweep you away for an hour and may even induce a tear or two. I come back to my gripe about cast biogs. Is it too much to ask for a theatre company to produce even an A4 sheet of paper with the names of the actors and the production team? I tried to obtain one after the show only to be told nothing was available. If you’re going to produce a musical of this quality, and want your cast and team to get known, it’s the very least you can do. Just sending the audience out into the night without a clue about who they have seen is not good enough, especially on the showcase that is the Edinburgh Fringe.