Gang Show 2024
★★★☆☆ Confident
Festival Theatre: Tue 29 Oct – Sat 2 Nov 2024
Review by Thom Dibdin
Packing the glitter, able to hold their big tunes and in possession of some braw dance moves, the members of Edinburgh Gang Show 2024 are brim full of confidence, in a production which plays the Festival Theatre all week to Saturday.
If the main objective of Gang Show is to get many young people on stage, performing to the best of their abilities, while providing a solid entertainment for their peers, parents and any other interested onlookers, then this year’s show must be adjudged a success. However, there are structural elements of the show itself which do not work as well as they might.
The Gang Show’s Back Pic: Andrew Perry.
First things first. There is little to fault in this year’s company. They might be young, but they are fearless, oftentimes delivering their songs, skits and dance routines with panache and they are always entertaining.
From the big opening sequence The Gang Show’s Back, to the obligatory These are the Good Times finale; from the first sketch, We’re Fed Up, to the last individual piece when Alfie Woods and Lottie Steel stepping forward to deliver May the Sun Shine For You, alone on stage, the whole company does the Edinburgh Gang Show proud.
Co-director Andy Johnston’s tenure at the helm of the Gang show, which reaches 20 productions this year, has always embraced innovation and an ability to move with the times, while keeping the principles of Ralph Reader’s Variety-based creation intact.
vintage Johnston
We’re Fed Up is vintage Johnston. A septet of youngsters (not named in the programme, sadly), moan in song about the issues facing Edinburgh. It sets Molly Haddow and Joey Breeze up nicely for That’s the way they do it in Brazil – and the next number Flying Down to Rio which includes the whole company with performing the likes of Copacabana and Dance the Night.
It is easy for such comic skits to focus a little too much on easy targets, such as the trams. But this year’s number goes way beyond that – to touch on all sorts of issues which are changing the face of the city we love. It’s great stuff and makes good use of this year’s innovation: a large video projection screen, with images from around Edinburgh.
The Junior Gang in Hoedown Showdown. Pic: Andrew Perry
However, the screen is not always as helpful as it first seems. The following number, A Deadly Encounter – another Johnston original – has Tara Boyton and Beth McGaulety as Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes’ Niece, trying (in vain) to find track down Lara Brechin’s villainous Moriarty.
All well and good, except for an overlong sequence when Dr W and the Niece sit in their pedal car while the video goes off on a journey. The rollercoaster bit of the ride is quite good, to be fair, but for the most part you can’t get away from the fact that the two performers are sitting with their backs to the audience in front of a screen doing nothing. Nada. Not a twitch.
There is also an uncharacteristic (over) use of pre-recorded material. A number simply called Weather Songs features a newscaster and couple of stage-hand stooges. What if, introduces the Gang Show Giraffe (on video again: Boo!) the weather really reflected the words of popular songs?
a good gag
Cue a medley of pop hits which mention weather (Why does it always rain on me?, Here Comes the Sun, Blowin’ in the Wind, and the like) with much use of water pistols, giant bottles of sun cream and a big fan. It’s pure pantomime, in fact you can see Grant Stott (who of course has his own section on the big screen) using it in this year’s panto.
It’s a good gag, well delivered, but not a great one – yet. Certainly not enough to justify so much time when the tip top Gang Show Band under the baton of Maddy Baron is sitting on its hands.
Lewis Boyd and the main gang in Elvis tribute: C’Mon Everybody. Pic: Andrew Perry
Where this year’s Gang Show really thrives is in its big production numbers. The dance interludes in Deadly Encounter are great fun and include a rather brilliantly done Frug, if I am not mistaken, which while not quite Bob Fosse, certainly does both the dancers and the dance directors, Louise Williamson and Jemma Crawford, proud.
There are strong dance routines all through the production, with a core of main dancers doing a lot of the heavy lifting, but the whole company pulling their weight.
Johnston and his co-director Louise Hunter have got the measure of the Festival Theatre stage, too. Using it to its full capacity with the 127 members of the Main Gang without every letting it feel crowded. The 60 Junior Gang members fill it in their own routine, Hoedown Showdown, which is one of the strongest numbers of the whole evening.
symptom
Which might be a symptom of one of the big issues for this year’s show. Because of a fixture build-up a the Festival Theatre, this year’s panto starts earlier than usual and the Gang Show has been brought forward a whole month. Which is a lot of rehearsal time, particularly when the show is as big and ambitious as this.
The strength of the Junior Gang highlights another issue – the loss of continuity during the Covid hiatus, with no shows in 2020 and 2021.
The Finale, Edinburgh Gang Show 2024. Pic: Andrew Perry
But these are issues to overcome, so when Lewis Boyd steps forward to take on lead vocals in the Act One closer, the Elvis tribute C’mon Everybody with numbers from the musical All Shook Up, the whole stage really lights up with the wheeling patterns of performers which characterises the show.
Act Two has a greater focus on these ensemble numbers, notable with a series of numbers simply called Rhythm, Louder and Homework. There’s particularly strong ballet work in Louder, featuring Tara Boyton, Aimee Jacobs and Aonghas Hunter performing Louder than Words, from Tick Tick Boom! and memorable staging in A Little More Homework from 13.
Hopefully, next year the performance date will fall a little more kindly for the performance schedule. But all told, this is a solid production from the Gang, which showcases the hard work that goes into the piece and certainly achieves that main objective.
Running time: Two hours and 10 minutes (including one interval)
Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street EH8 9FT.
Tue 29 Oct – Sat 2 Nov 2024
Evening: 7pm; Sat mat: 2pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
ENDS
