Bette Midler and Me – Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Bette Midler and Me continues at the Space @ Symposium Hall, Edinburgh until 27 August 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

I last saw the talented Sue Kelvin at the Fringe in her one-woman show about the American entertainer and singer Sophie Tucker. Soph is a character device invented by Bette Midler to deliver her bawdiest material. She was based partly on Tucker but also an amalgam of several female Jewish comedians who inspired Midler. Bette Midler and Me, which has been revamped for this year’s Fringe, is a love letter to Bette and also demonstrates the influence the performer had on Kelvin’s life.

Kelvin grew up in a dysfunctional Jewish family in Didsbury, Manchester, which had its share of problems and tragedies. She was bullied and body shamed at school but listening to musicals, and in particular Midler, got her through a lot of the pain. This isn’t a maudlin show. It has it’s moving moments but there is no self pity (like Midler herself) and the sadder moments are soon punctuated by humour from Kelvin or from Kelvin as Bette.

So, the show tells Midler’s story and it also tells Kelvin’s story. There is a sidekick in the form of the talented Billie Kerr (especially good on ‘From a Distance’). All of the songs used in the show have been covered by Midler. The well-chosen choice of numbers illustrates key moments from Midler’s life and also from Kelvin’s.

There is a slightly bizarre but funny puppet version of Beaches, which probably left the approximately third of the audience, who admitted never to having seen the film, very confused. There is social history too as Kelvin explains to the more unknowing what bathhouses are (Midler began to develop her following there with sometime pianist Barry Manilow). There is also a tribute paid to her AIDS activism.

The script is informative and entertaining though maybe could do without a couple of the innuendos.

This entertaining and fast-paced show is delivered with gusto and heart by Kelvin and Kerr and is one for Midler fans, for people who want to know a bit more about her, or for anyone who wants to see an entertaining and often moving show about the journey of a performer, whether that person is a world-famous entertainer or a talented actress from Didsbury, who went on to have a successful career in the West End.

Keith Paterson