Friday, December 5

Tag: Dan Bryant

Merrily We Roll Along – EUSOG @ St Augustine
Scotland

Merrily We Roll Along – EUSOG @ St Augustine

At the beginning of 2024 I was as fortunate enough to be in New York to see the Broadway production of ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ which eventually won 4 Tony awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. Now Broadway comes to Edinburgh Festival Fringe with an excellent student rendition of this poignant commentary on the nature of friendship from EUSOG at Edinburgh University. On its initial run in 1981, ‘Merrily’ closed after just two weeks and was a commercial disaster for Sondheim and co-writer George Furth, critics at the time found the storyline confusing and the characters unsympathetic and audiences agreed. But, as with many Sondheim productions, a reassessment has happened in the intervening four decades and helped by significant changes in subsequent productions, modern audienc...
Pippin – Paradise in Augustines
Scotland

Pippin – Paradise in Augustines

A fantastic trip to the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival concluded for me with the Edinburgh University Footlights production of ‘Pippin’, Stephen Schwartz and Bob Fosse’s groundbreaking 1972 fantasy musical. Unfortunately, this production had none of the soul, wit and energy required to carry the audience, and with a couple of notable exceptions, the performance lacked magic. Pippin’s odyssey of self discovery takes him from naivety to self awareness, watched by the mysterious Leading Player (Gemma Iseka Bekano), controlling the narrative and his development, Bekano gives good value with a strong vocal which is dominant when onstage. Dan Bryant as Pippin looks the part and acted well but is limited vocally and struggles to fully realise the beauty of the score, especially during ‘...