Edges – London Theatre Workshop,

Edges continues at London Theatre Workshop, Fulham until 1 October, followed by one performance at St Paul’s Actors’ Church, London on 3 October.

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have come a fair way since this slight, early effort, written a decade ago when they were undergraduates at the University of Michigan as a sort of protest against the roles they were assigned in college musical theatre productions.

Last year their show Dogfight earned awards and a sheaf of favourable comments following a production at Southwark Playhouse which is being revived again in a one-off concert version at St James Theatre on 11 October.

This insight into the angst and joys of being 20-something in urban America is nicely performed by a cast of four, two men and two women, but we don’t come away feeling the young authors have much to say that is new or profound.

Rarely seen since despite winning the Jonathan Larson award in 2006 – a $20,000 cash prize for burgeoning composers – it appeared briefly in London at the Landor in 2011 and received its UK professional premiere at the Tabard in Chiswick last year.

There seems no discernible link between some of the material but some undeniably catchy songs – there are 13 of them in this shortened, hour-long version – are given plenty of oomph by Chris Barton, Claudia Kariuki, Lauren Allan and, in his pro debut, Robert Woodward, a recent London School of Musical Theatre graduate.

The hilarious ‘In Short’, brilliantly sung and danced by Any Dream Will Do finalist Barton, about wishing vile injuries and death on the girl who has ditched him, has become something of a cabaret turn (although always sung by the girl when I’ve heard it). This version brings the house down and moves the show up a gear after a slightly uncertain start.

‘Be My Friend’, here winningly done as an ensemble item, has earned fame as the Facebook song, while ‘I Hmm You’ is a sweet, hoping-to-get-to-know-you duet between Barton and Kariuki – she a fine actress of a song, as we see again with her solo ‘Ready to Be Loved’, another cracker.

Kariuki and Allan team up earlier for the delightful ‘Caitlyn and Haley’, about sibling rivalry, and Allan’s ‘Man of My Dreams’ in which she resiliently shrugs off the fact that the guy she fancies is gay, is also warmly commended.

However, both ladies could choke down a little on the top notes with the audience only inches away in such a small space.

One song, ‘Become’, which outlines the quartet’s dreams and ambitions, bookends the show, setting the scene for us and closing the undemanding hour in rousing style.

Directed by Jordan Murphy, this is the first effort of a new company, Peak Productions, headed by Michael Auger, part of the Collabro singing group that won last year’s Britain’s Got Talent.

The set looks more than a little like what was left over from LTW’s last show Parade, a little more rehearsal would not go amiss and the absence of a song list from the programme and who sings the numbers is a glaring omission.

But it is by no means a bad start and thanks to the talent of a well-chosen cast, backed by some sterling work from musical director/pianist Tom Lees and his merry band of three (Adam Smith on bass and Nick Anderson on drums), by the end of its two-week run it should have a polish that is not yet quite there.

Jeremy Chapman

www.peakproductionscompany.com