Picture: Iain Masterson
I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical continues at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, Edinburgh until 28 August 2022.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
You know you’re in for some decent musical theatre shenanigans when you enter the auditorium to Barry Manilow’s ‘Overture of Overtures’. And decent musical theatre shenanigans is exactly what you get with this affectionate pastiche of all things MT.
Composer/lyricist Alexander S. Bermange leads the joyful proceedings from the piano, while four talented singer/actors take us through the loose narrative of the career of a musical theatre performer, from rejected auditionee to diva.
The opening number of ‘Opening Numbers’ is a hint of the wit to come. You can see the audience recognising gleefully, tantalising snippets of other opening numbers.
Luke Harley’s hilarious hypochondriac, Harry Winchester’s unfortunate understudy, Hannah Taylor’s lyrical ‘Love to Sing’ and Alice Ellen Wright’s demented ‘Diva in The House’ all demonstrate that these are people who know exactly what they’re doing on a stage. The choreography is just cliched and camp enough to match the spirit of the songs, with quotations from Anything Goes amongst others, in the terrific tap number.
What could’ve been a predictable indulgence is in fact, a clever, funny and accessible send up of what it’s like to live and work in musical theatre.
Steven Wren
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