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SHOW STOPPER
TUNES OF GLORY Five of the best interactive musical shows
With its mix of clips from movie musicals, live performers and Broadway classics Reel-to-Real is one of the most sumptuous and ambitious shows ever mounted at the Fringe. David Pollock gets the inside story behind its creation
P roducer Simone Genatt Haft shows no restraint when talking up Reel-to- Real, the show she’s bringing to the Fringe. ‘This is probably the most intense live entertainment, multi-media musical format that has been developed so far,’ she says. ‘We’re using cutting edge technology: there are only six of the projectors we have in the whole world.’
As well as a whole list of attention-grabbing technical specifications – with 32 crew, 200 costumes and 12 cast members, this will be one of the largest productions ever to have appeared at the Fringe – there are other, more traditional reasons why Reel-to-Real has all the makings of a commercial hit. It draws on popular showtunes from many and Hollywood’s most familiar musicals, combining live song and dance with footage from the original movies to create what is likely to be a new and unique experience for the audience. of Broadway
‘The show is an around-the- world journey,’ elaborates Haft, ‘a race between a brother and a sister competing to take over their father’s movie empire. They race from Wall Street to the Great Wall of China, the son travelling
east, the daughter travelling west, and take in ten very exotic locations. The score mixes together Rogers & Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein and Lerner & Leowe, all the Broadway greats from Singing in the Rain to The Sound of Music.’ Much more than any other musical production, this show has been a challenge to pull together in terms of the rights and permissions involved. ‘We had to approach Warner Brothers, MGM, Samuel Goldwyn, Universal and Fox, and they were all incredibly supportive to be honest,’ says Haft. ‘Our original mandate was to create this show in four months and we were dealing with intellectual property rights from some of the most powerful companies in the world, but we found an enormous amount of support for the show.’ While its Edinburgh run will be the Western hemisphere premiere of Reel-to-Real, the show first debuted in September 2009 in Beijing, where it returned in updated form in June of this year. ‘Our company [The Broadway Asia Company, which brought the Korean show Cookin’ to the Fringe in 1999] was approached by the Mayor of a Chinese city called Huairou,’ says Haft, ‘home
to one of the largest film production facilities in the world, which was built just before the Beijing Olympics. He’s something of a cultural visionary in China, and his approach to us was with a view to building the city as a base live performance too.’ for
involved,
With so many known and loved properties this Edinburgh run could conceivably be a springboard to the West End and Broadway. ‘The show is unique, quite frankly,’ says Haft. ‘We’ve intercut footage of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca with live performance from one of our cast members, and we’ve devised a sequence for ‘Singing in the Rain’ where our lead male does a kind of duet with Gene Kelly. It’s a striking integration of Hollywood live performance.’ icons and
And also, presumably, the kind of cover-all-bases spectacle from which Fringe blockbusters might be created. Take your seats ladies and gentlemen! Reel-to-Real: The Movies Musical, Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 7–30 Aug (not 10, 17, 24), 6pm, £13.50–£15 (£12.50–£14). Previews until 6 Aug, £9.
‘IT’S A STRIKING INTEGRATION OF
HOLLYWOOD ICONS AND LIVE PERFORMANCE’
70 THE LIST 5–12 Aug 2010
Baby Wants Candy: The Full Band Improvised Musical A veteran of four sell-out seasons at the
Fringe Baby Wants Candy returns to show the young musical pretenders how it’s done. The premise is simple: the audience shout out potential titles and the cast improvise an entire show from scratch. Assembly Hall, 623 3030, 7–30 Aug (not 23), 5.35pm, £13–£15 (£11–£13). Previews 5 & 6 Aug, £5.
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical High- octane, entertaining blend of comedy and musical theatre from this highly acclaimed troupe who are renowned for their ability to think on their feet and turn their considerable talents to any subject and musical style. Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, 7–29 Aug (not 18), 10.50pm, £10–£11 (£10–£11). Preview 6 Aug, £6.
The Singalong Glee Club Award- winning performer and Fringe regular David Benson teams up with
pianist Stewart Nicholls for an hour of show tunes and pub classics. Lyrics are provided and requests are welcome. Gilded Balloon Teviot, 662 6552, 7–30 Aug (not 18, 25), 5pm, £10–£11 (£9–£10). Previews until 6 Aug, £5.
West End Glee Club The first ever nationwide West End Glee Club finals are a mere week away and Sears
Basset college still has to find a solo performer. Four hopefuls audition and the audience gets to decide on the lucky singers in this show jam- packed full of songs from some of the best-loved musicals. Zoo Roxy, 662 6892, 8–30 Aug (not 16), 7pm, £12 (£10.50). Previews 6 & 7 Aug, £10 (£9).
Spontaneous Broadway The Broadway musical that will even appeal to those who would usually give such things a vast body swerve. This troupe of talented Aussie performers create a hilarious and preposterous musical every night based on suggestions from the audience. The Famous Spiegeltent, 667 8940, 10–29 Aug (not 16, 23), 6pm, £12 (£10).