The Fringe has always been a breeding ground for new writing especially in the musical category. Local boy Marc Mackinnon has taken that mantra to heart by setting up his company, Smile-N productions and performing his self written world premiere production of “I got It”.
The story revolves around a new york born jewish boy Guy Friedman and his mother Roz who find themselves in London as Guy is on the cusp of applying to study theatre arts at the world famous RAPA, a play on the very real RADA. Roz is against Guy’s wishes as her theatrical dream was reduced to pole dancing in a low end strip club leaving her shattered. Add to the mix Guy’s best friends, Eugene and Fiona and what we get is essentially a coming of age musical drama very much in the vein of “Fame”.
Mackinnon has created an interesting book and lyrics for his show but the storyline has been done before in more than one musical. However, he performs it with real heart and passion. I especially enjoyed his performance of the title song “I got it” which is a beautiful and classy song from a young writer who seems to have a great understanding of the professional musical theatre world.
The show is filled out with an ensemble cast drawn from local stage school MGA but special credit goes to Kat Townsend in the role of Roz, she is a trained professional and it shows as she truly shines on stage in a role imbued with broken dreams and a harsh reality. The role of Eugene is performed by the simply brilliant Thomas Doherty with excellent comic timing and deep sense of his character, right down to the way he plays with his hair on stage. He really is a performer to watch in the future.
Some of the plot twists are a bit predictable but with a little work on the script and the addition of a live band and bigger sets ‘I got It’ could be on the road to success. At the moment it's a shining example of what a love of the theatre and a passion to perform can achieve.
