Alexandra Emmerson-Kirby in Bliss at Grand at Pleasance Courtyard. Picture: Marc Brenner
Bliss continues at Grand at Pleasance Courtyard until 31 August 2026 (except 25).
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Bliss was the disappointment of the bunch of the shows I saw at the Fringe. Everything about it suggests a major musical: a substantial investment, 17 West End performers, a pop-rock score featuring book, music and lyrics by Emma Lively and Tyler Beattie, and a production headed by Tony Award nominee Sheryl Kaller alongside choreography from Olivier nominee Josh Prince.
The cast boasts seasoned West End talent, including Cameron Johnson as the King, Kara Lane as Taffeta and Alexandra Emmerson-Kirby as Princess Carmella, all exploring a premise – four princesses escaping their tower and confronting the rules of the fairy tale world – that should provide plenty of opportunities for invention.
While there is lots of talent on stage, the problem is that Bliss never seems to know what to do with it; Prince’s choreography is often terrific and the performers attack the material with commitment, but the musical itself repeatedly promises a destination without ever quite arriving anywhere.
It feels like one fairy tale musical too many – another attempt to turn the princess story inside out, another catalogue of contemporary attitudes laid over familiar archetypes, and another show telling audiences that happily ever after needs rethinking.
With so much money, skill and energy at its disposal, it should feel liberating, but instead it is strangely inert, creating a misfire whose virtues make its failure all the more frustrating.
Patrick Honoré
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.