Friday, August 22, 2008

"Zanna, Don't!" - Edinburgh Fringe 2008

After a couple of shows that were both pretty intense I was really in the mood for a snappily written cheesefest of a musical, but unfortunately "Zanna, Don't!" with the students from the RSAMD just wasn't it. It's a one-joke show, and I laughed once (the SF gag for the record). The show's concept of a world where heterosexuals are a persecuted minority has potential but there are only so many times a high school cliché can be reversed and remain funny.

But this is a musical after all, so there's always the songs and dancing to look forward to. Ah yes, the songs - pretty instantly forgettable I'm afraid, until 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' where the vocals of Anna Clayton as Kate and Craig Carter as Steve finally show some quality. Up until that point the ensemble numbers had been lacking in clarity and many of the individual songs were unexceptional at best. But the dancing, yes, I'll give you the dancing as the show was excellently choreographed and the performers all executed it well. Bobby Callahan as Zanna, Kirsty Malone as Candi and Craig Deuchar as Tank along with Clayton also get the chance to show that they have the acting ability to make an impact - given the right material.

The RSAMD have three other shows at the Fringe with the cast all featuring in at least one other, and I do wonder if there is a price that has been paid for that. Stunning performances could have lifted what is a pretty mundane musical, but without them the whole is a real disappointment.

Zanna, Don't! has two performances remaining at Musical Theatre @ George Square at 4pm on the 22nd and 25th August

1 Heckle

Anonymous said...

Really glad Rhod Gilbert didn’t win the if.comedy award. He cancelled his show to attend the awards ceremony, only he forgot to tell the audience, who all turned up. He even let people buy tickets two days after the nominations were announced. This shows he is unreliable and cares more for awards than audiences so it is poetic justice that he didn’t win. Haha Rhod. Who’s laughing now?