Rating: ★★★★
Venue: The Other Palace, London
Cast: Max Eade, Aidan MacColl, Paul Toulson, Conn McGirr, Lucy Carter and Maiya Quansah-Breed
POP OFF, MICHELANGELO! is the musical comedy about besties-turned-bitter rivals Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. After realizing they’re both gay, the two childhood friends attempt to earn divine forgiveness by becoming the greatest religious artists of all time. Can Michelangelo gaslight, gatekeep, and girlboss his way to the Vatican? Will Leonardo shut up about his helicopter?
To have this much fun should be a sin!
Pop Off, Michaelangelo! is back in London for a two-night-only event at The Other Palace after a stellar run at the Fringe this summer. I am happy to report it's every bit as hilarious, as clever and as irreverently wholesome as it was in Edinburgh.
We follow the story of the besties-turned-rivals Michaelangelo and Leonardo as they navigate the Renaissance together. They share a secret, though: they are both gay, and all they want is for God to, like, not mind. Full of pop-culture references, bops reminiscent of Six, and brilliant comedic timing, I can't recommend this show enough.
Because of the limitations of the run, and carrying it's Fringe heritage, the scale of this production at The Other Palace is very small. The whole cast is made up of six performers, with Max Leade and Aidan MacColl as Michaelangelo and Leo at the helm, and aside from four set pieces, the staging was bare. This is, of course, perfectly understandable, and I don't think anything else was necessary at this stage. If anything, it only makes me hungrier for whatever a new iteration of the show might look like in a longer run with a bigger budget.
I am a big fan of the material. I think it's funny and fresh and it banks on the "re-imagined history" trend that Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss started without feeling derivative. It's unapologetically queer and camp, while also maintaining a charming wholesomeness throughout that is difficult to capture with words, because it really comes to life in the brilliant performances of Max Leade and Aidan MacColl. That being said, the performance I attended had some issues that make it difficult to give this show a full five stars.
Lighting cues were missed, the villain was a bit overplayed, and it felt like the energy for some of the numbers wasn't quite there. It is a shame, because as previously said, the material is definitely there. I do believe and hope that this is simply a stepping stone and we will be seeing more of POM! In the future.
You can book tickets to Pop Off, Michelangelo, here.
Review by Luma
**photo credit: Steve Ullathorne**
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