Three Of A Kind is a new contemporary musical that follows the life of waitress Sam as she attempts to navigate work, love and caring for her sick mother. The score is completely original, and the musical has been created from scratch by Gregor Satti and Rebekah Holly Neilson.
Story wise this is a rather classic musical theatre tale: girl who works as a waitress but longs for more meets boy and falls in love. In this tale Sam is having to work to care for her sick mother, when she meets Jamie, she begins to re-evaluate her life, but it seems Jamie is not the only man who intends to enter her life and change her world forever.
There are many positive aspects to this show: the musical orchestration and composition being one. It is completely fresh and even without words you can feel where emotionally each song is due to take you, the live band are a real asset to the production and as far as musical accompaniment goes this show is onto to something really special. This being said lyrically perhaps it could do with a little more work, at times it feels as though the lyrics and the tempo in which they are sung create a battle between two different musical pieces when accompanied by their backings. There’s a real reliance on rhyming couplets and repeating the same lines over and over again which unfortunately undermines the brilliance of the music created by the band behind the vocals.
Vocally this is one very talented cast, our leading lady Daisy Maver Young has some really vocally difficult songs throughout the show but proceeds to make them sound easy. Our romantic lead Sheridan Townsley has a magnificent vocal tone and is definitely someone to keep an eye out for in the future. Our sick mother Katherine (played by Marie-Anne McGrattan) is emotionally compelling and easy on the ears and nurse Annabelle (Nicole Dickie)’s voice is almost angelic. Overall, across the board this cast work well together.
Our story is easy to understand and follow but this being said I do believe it to be lacking in places. For one all of our characters are very likeable and nice which gives us very little rise and fall between relationships and plot. We also pretty much follow two main characters: Sam and her mum which makes for a whole lot of emotionally charged songs one after another, it would maybe help the tensions and pace if a minor sub plot was added that followed a more comedic angle with some more bouncy and comedy based numbers interwoven in. There are elements within the show that try to follow a more light-hearted approach already, but an established comedy role wouldn’t go amiss. I also found the blocking a little strange from time to time as Katherine does not leave the stage at all through the whole of act one even when other characters do. Characters such as our leading lady could really do with fleshing out a bit more, we are given facts about a lot of our character but never really the “why” part of things, or any real depth.
Overall, for a brand new musical this is an impressive and enjoyable production, the singing is great and the band fantastic. I don’t feel like this is yet the finished product, but it does show a lot of potential and with a few tweaks here and this could really be something special.
Three Of A Kind plays at Paradise in Augustines- The Sanctuary at 19:30 until 17th August 14, 2024
Buy Tickets at: Three of a Kind – A New Musical | Musicals and Opera | Edinburgh Festival Fringe (edfringe.com)
Reviewer: Beth Eltringham
Reviewed: 13th August 2024
North West End UK Rating: