Girlz – Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Girlz continues at Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street until 23 August 2025.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Here is a musical about a girl group – not a new concept – but this show has heart. The cast of seven performers are all great singers and the girls themselves are all marvellous movers.

Written by Daf Hughes, the range of songs and musical tone is a triumph. Coming up one star short from the full house, only because parts of the plot and a couple of the characters are somewhat thin in this abridged version of the full show.

Playing the main character, Nicky, is Meggie Hughes: a marvellous performance with a great deal of nuance and a strong connection with the audience. Her partner, Adam (Ethan Emery) is a talented yet unsuccessful singer-songwriter. Emery brings a wonderfully relaxed presence and he and Hughes work well together.

Nicky is auditioning for a new girl group for industry powerhouse, Colin Cashman (John Paul McCrohan – who also directs), a bit of an arrogant yet untouchable sleazy manager. It would have been a bonus to see Cashman becoming sleazy, rather than being so irritating from the outset. Adam describes him as a “morally bankrupt wanker” who single-handedly broke the music industry.

However, Nicky auditions with close friend, Alex (Daniella Mirels) and both are selected (of course) along with Charlie (Abigail Wiltshire), Zoe Antoniou playing Jaz and Luisa Edgecombe as Kim.

The numbers for Girlz are professionally delivered featuring sharp choreography. The song lyrics would definitely come with a ‘Parental Guidance’ sticker on them! The style of their songs is straightforward pop, with a catchy beat. A great group atmosphere of support and standing up for each other is clearly defined, then becomes increasingly brittle, hinting at fragility as the group dynamic shifts.

The character-led songs away from the girl group are more mellow, more tender and perhaps need the sound balance tweaked to prevent the offstage bass line drowning the vocals.

There are storylines for three of the girls in particular: Charlie wants to perform her own songs; Alex has an issue with addiction and being a target for unwanted attention from men; and Nicky is concealing her pregnancy.

These details are well told, if a little quickly, but the performers give them a strong emotional footing. Some of the interaction brings Rock Follies to mind – the TV series in the 1970s with strong female characters in an industry run by men (later adapted into a musical).

The full-length potential of this show demonstrates a great deal of promise and is worth an hour of anyone’s Fringe.

Fiona Orr