Through a broad range of songs, Frances Ruffelle and Norman Bowman sing their way through a very loose narrative. Taken seriously – which, given the duo’s playful nature, is something you shouldn’t do – they fall in love but play hard to get, which leads to myriad misunderstandings as to whether or not they really do want one another’s company. Through various deviations and digressions, they eventually decide that they would walk five hundred miles, and then five hundred more (geddit?) for each other, ensuring a happy ending for a concert in Scotland’s capital city that doesn’t shy away from melancholy numbers earlier on.
This does, of course, make ‘On My Own’ from Les Misérables a curious choice for an encore, even if it is sung by the original Eponine in the West End production that has been going (global pandemics aside) for over thirty-eight years. Still, the discerning Fringe audience would largely have already known that – one of the reasons, surely, to book tickets in the first place. But for a story that apparently began twenty-eight years ago, to go back further is the icing on the top of a fruity and delicious cake.
Letting the songs tell the bulk of the story is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because the storyline is so flimsy you end up sitting back and enjoying the songs, letting the show wash over you. But the downside (okay, so ‘curse’ was perhaps too strong a word to have used) is that there isn’t much to be discovered about Frankie and Beausy, as they call themselves. There may be good reasons for this – they may consider their actual love lives to be too ordinary or conventional to bother boring an audience with its particulars, or maybe it’s simply none of our business.
As far as the music goes, it runs through a wide range of human emotions from the vibrant ‘Beausy, Where’s Your Troosers?’, an adaptation of Andy Stewart’s ‘Donald Where’s Your Troosers?’ to the sublime ‘Something Good’ from The Sound of Music. There’s a strong air of familiarity with some of the selected numbers, and they pack in a good number of songs in an hour. It’s not exactly a groundbreaking show, but it is highly enjoyable and entertaining.
Review by Chris Omaweng
The Scot and the Showgirl is a true(ish) wee musical thingymajig about a perfectly imperfect relationship that began 28 years ago at Edinburgh Waverley train station.
She, a Broadway star and Edinburgh Fringe survivor. He, a Scottish musical theatre lover with a tilt to his kilt. Now they bring the World Premiere of their love story home to the city where it all started, this festival season.
Together with their crackin’ band, they celebrate their quirky romance in a touchingly funny cycle – from Brigadoon to Broadway and from Scotland to Sondheim via Costello, Bacharach, The Proclaimers and more.
This is the ultimate afternoon out for musical aficionados. Expect love, laughter and tartan.
Created and staged by Frances Ruffelle and Norman Bowman
Directed by Paul Baker
Musical director and arrangements by Ryan McKenzie
Cello: Kate Shortt
Drums: Nick Anderson
Cloud9 Management presents
THE SCOT AND THE SHOWGIRL
Pleasance Dome at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
31 July to 26 August 2024
Shows and events booking now for Edinburgh Playhouse and for King’s Theatre Glasgow.
