Advertised as ‘the biggest new musical of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026’, Bliss sees a seventeen-strong cast take to the stage at Pleasance Grand, one of the largest venues at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
It’s also probably one of the worst venues, for sound at least. I’ve made a point not to comment on sound issues too much at this year’s festival, because most shows only have five minutes to set up before the audience is let in and so it’s never going to be perfect. But when this show started, and for its entire 80-minute performance, I couldn’t help wondering why everything was so loud!
The story is bizarre. Four Princesses are locked in a tower by their overly protective father, the king, who has their best interests at heart but not necessarily in mind. They beg their father to let them go outside to see a once-in-a-lifetime meteor shower and they bargain that if they manage to do a whole year’s worth of schoolwork in just one day then they can leave the tower. Due to a technicality, they fail the task but find a hole in the wall of the tower and an escape route to the outside world.
Once outside, they are bedazzled by a beautiful prince and miss the meteor completley. They meet an extreemly unlikeable character, the fairy godfather, who tells them if they want to win the princes heart, they need to be stereotypically beautiful and dip their toe in the pink pond to be transformed into a carbon copy of every other beautiful girl. Sound bizarre? It is.
The cast includes Tom Bennett (HBO’s House of the Dragon, Netflix’s After Life and Only Fools and Horses the Musical) as Glimmermore and the four lead princesses; Princess Faye played by Miriam Nyarko (Matilda the Musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lion King, all West End), Matilda Shapland (Les Miserables, Matilda the Musical, both West End) as Princess Holly, Alexandra Emmerson-Kirby (Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray the Musical, UK Tour) as Princess Carmella, and Akshara Gunda (The Lunchbox Musical directed by Tony award winner Rachel Chavkin) as youngest sister Princess Piper.
On paper, BLISS is a sure-fire hit. Produced by big-time West End creatives, directed by Tony Award nominee Sheryl Kaller, with a book, music and lyrics by Emma Lively and Tyler Beattie, and choreography by Olivier Award-nominated Josh Prince, it should be the hit of the season. But it is a lifeless, confused pantomime with lacklustre songs and ultimately just boring. It may be one of the biggest new musicals at this year’s Fringe in terms of venue size but it is also the biggest disappointment of the summer, for me.
★★
Reviewed by West End Wilma
Bliss the Musical plays at Pleasance Courtyard (The Grand) until 31 August
Read other reviews I have written of Edinburgh Fringe shows over the years
