Edinburgh Fringe Festival breakout hit from 2017, SIX the Musical, is a popular format for new musicals to try to follow. Put a bunch of historical figures on stage together and let them battle it out in some kind of competition to decide who is the best.
But this isn’t a new format for a musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 80’s musical Cats is basically a feline X Factor where they all get to perform for Simon Meow to see who is the worthiest of going up to heaven. And then you have his other show, Starlight Express which is just as bizarly a group of trains, racing each other to see which is the best – steam vs. electric.
It’s a good format for a show if done well. And thankfully, Muse – The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical, is one of these.
William Shakespeare, pre-fame, is struggling to get any of his plays published. But when a letter comes from a publisher saying they will publish – but only one of them- this launches Shakespeare into a frenzy of deciding which to choose.
Suddenly we see a group of familiar characters from history who are all the subject of Shakespeare’s work. The extremely annoying Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Cleopatra, the Macbeths and Juliet, who is waiting for her Romeo (is no one going to tell her that he’s dead?)
The characters erupt into rebellion in a chaotic race to become the chosen tale to be published, blending Pop musical comedy into this riotous story of ambition, ego and the birth of a legend.
It’s brilliant. Within the first two minutes, I could see this has London Transfer written all over it. It is polished and perfect with some incredible voices among the cast and if we don’t see it at somewhere like Southwark Playhouse soon, I will be very surprised.
Muse – The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical has been devised by Hanna Andreassen, Annabelle Benham, Sabrina Bianco, Riley Dungan, Rion Emery, Julian McCoy, London McKenzie, Zoe Niemkiewicz, Maddie Silva, Sophia Stine, and Tiernan Tajalli, while they were students at Interlochen Arts Academy, with Lisa Sanderson and Laura Mittelstaedt. Music and lyrics by Hanna Andréa.
Unfortunately, what lets it down is its marketing. In the run-up to the Fringe, I knew nothing about this show – it wasn’t on my radar and their online presence is sparse (I tried contacting them through their website and on Instagram with no response). I find it strange how people can spend years writing a show and raising money to stage it at the fringe but the thing they seem to forget is to let anyone know it is happening – causing an amazing show like this to be playing to half-full rooms.
What is to be, or not be, for this show’s future looks bright and I highly recommend it.
★★★★★
Reviewed by West End Wilma
Read other reviews I have written of Edinburgh Fringe shows over the years
