Rating: ★★★
Venue: Annexe at theSpace @ Symposium Hall, Edinburgh
Music & Murder By... is a new musical to die for! A last-ditch writer's retreat to finish writing a new musical turns deadly when two of the writers decide the only way to save their show is to rid themselves (permanently) of their insufferable collaborator – only to find the plot spiral out of control when his faded Broadway diva mother crashes the retreat with a sinister scheme of her own.
Penned by duo Jessica Welsh and Wikus van der Hoven, this new musical places 3 writes of a musical (book, music and lyrics) in a cabin in the woods as they have 3 days to finish their 6 year project before the producer pulls out. There's just one problem… the book writer keeps starting again. Determined not to let him ruin all their work, the composer and lyricist plan to kill the book writer off and complete without him. Until his Broadway legend mum turns up at the cabin and ruins everything.
With plenty of laughs, this show focuses a little too much on the meta musical commentary than it does the murder, considering it's in the title. The songs by composer Wikus van der Hoven are all unique and have great music. Exploring various genres, I would love to hear these played with full orchestrations behind the restrictions of a fringe keyboard. Sadly some of Welsh’s lyrics occasionally felt unfinished or clunky.
With potentially room to expand and grow post-fringe, this show needs a little more focus on the murder part of its title to massacre the theatre scene. Strong in the book and lyrics by Jessica Welsh is the comedy. When it's there it's great, but there are too many moments in the middle as it felt like the writer was figuring out how to get from plot point to plot point.
A silly and fun show that's great for fans of musicals, especially reminiscent of Kathy and Stella. With some extra focus on leaning into the silly, this show could return next year stronger and ready to be a ticket to die for.
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