This is a musical about dating, romance, love, marriage, friends and death. The cast of six play a variety of roles during the show, each centered around a theme (which is captioned before the scene). We start with the six all on stage donning their costumes while singing about the fear of being left on the shelf. From here we have songs about dating, choosing a partner, being too picky about choosing a partner, the date at the movies and a restaurant, breaking up, marriage, having children and finally being without one’s partner.
Many of the songs exacted nervous laughs of recognition from the audience as the embarrassing scenes were played out. The cast on stage played their roles excellently, both with their singing in a variety of styles and their acting, which needed some very good comic timing. The switching between roles and scenes was done with a minimum of fuss and the music was provided by a lone keyboard player at the rear of the stage (also excellent). The sound in the theatre was very good and there were only a few moments when I couldn’t clearly make out the words of the songs. Some of the music sounded a little familiar but the words were all new.
If you enjoy musicals or want to laugh about the complexities we heap upon ourselves in the pursuit of a partner, then I recommend this very highly. Just be warned if you plan on taking a partner – I just read that this show has the record for people from the audience coming on stage during the show to propose to their girlfriends. Or maybe you’ll lower your standards enough to chat to the person sitting next to you.
Visit the Fringe website for bookings details.