Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night!
★★★★☆ Spectacular
Church Hill Theatre: Tue 24 – Sat 28 Sept 2024
Review by Hugh Simpson
Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night! provides the expected tuneful extravaganza, hugely reliable while appearing remarkably fresh.
The annual musical fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support has been going for so many years now, raising a total just shy of £350,000 since 1991, that it is possible to take it for granted. Director Andy Johnston and MD/arranger David McFarlane have been at the helm for so many of those years that you might be forgiven for thinking that the show just happens.
Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night! Pic: Ryan Buchanan.
So it should be stressed once again just what an extraordinary feat this all is. Nearly 30 featured numbers (many of them medleys), over 50 in the cast (with over 30 of them having featured solo or duo spots), music from different genres to select and orchestrate for a 15-strong band packing out the Church Hill pit, and all in the hope of producing a coherent show without the help of any kind of narrative.
While some of the songs come back year after year, the vast majority are different, and some remarkably recent. The end result is endlessly pleasing and hugely involving.
a notably proficient band
What is most noticeable here is the remarkable lack of bombast and OTT histrionics. Too often shows of this kind feature grandstanding orchestrations and singers who try to outdo each other in volume and forced emotion. Here, the arrangements are tasteful and performed by a notably proficient band, and the songs are without exception performed with taste and due care.
From the opening title number, from the Finding Neverland musical, the impact is clear. Claire Smith’s choreography is remarkable throughout for giving space to the featured dancers while still giving everyone else something to do, even when there are more people on stage than would ever seem advisable. Louise Chambers provides a featured vocal that sets a high standard that is maintained throughout.
Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night! Pic: Ryan Buchanan.
The ‘iconic’ section that follows features Kym Brydon’s emotional take on The Color Purple’s I’m Here, Paul Enever’s impressive rendition of Coldplay’s A Sky Full of Stars and Craig Young, Craig Macbeth, Andy McGarry and Ross MacTaggart’s enjoyable tribute to the Four Seasons.
The full chorus return for a sequence of tunes from Barbie, with Laura Murray’s excellent What Was I Made For and Laurence Aitken as a brilliantly comic Ken who has to be seen to be believed. Nadia Milligan’s version of Valerie undoubtedly owes more to the celebrated Amy Winehouse cover than the Zutons’ original, but she makes it her own.
intelligent
Arlene Tonner opens the ‘showtunes’ section with a performance of Being Alive from Stephen Sondheim’s Company that is one of the highlights, being an intelligent example of how to sing the meaning of the song as well as the notes.
Tonner and Heather Gore at other times step in with very little rehearsal to sing the parts of Lisa Fleming, who is unfortunately unable to perform. It is another sign of the care and commitment on display that, had this not been announced, nobody would have noticed anything amiss.
Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night! Pic: Ryan Buchanan.
The showtunes continue with a medley from Miss Saigon that may be one of the few numbers that could have been a little shorter. Once again, however, the featured turns of Ellie Tullis, Jude Edie, Clare Clayton, David Mack, Heather Gore, Ruth Cowie and Craig Young are beautifully judged.
A hugely enjoyable romp through There Is Nothing Like A Dame featuring Laurence Aitken, Craig Macbeth and John Whelan follows, with Jennifer McIntosh’s sensitive I’m Not That Girl from Wicked providing effective contrast.
stirring
The advent of the jukebox musical has considerably broadened what can be called a showtune, with Green Day (an emotional 21 Guns led by Amy Totty and Lewis Boyd) and Queen (an energetic Seven Seas of Rhye featuring Dan Cook) both now part of musical theatre. Bring On Tomorrow from Fame, led by Lewis Boyd, Arlene Tonner, Stina Enever, Paul Enever, Heather Gore and Kirsten Johnstone, provides another stirring whole-chorus number.
The second half opens with a bang, with a ‘boyband vs girlband’ section featuring clever gender switches. Cassie Williams, Harry Dozier, Matt Fullerton, Dan Cook and Tanya Williamson lead the chorus through a selection of Five, Spice Girls, Take That and Atomic Kitten songs.
Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night! Pic: Ryan Buchanan.
The ‘90s movies’ concept is another elastic one – Misirlou and You Never Can Tell were around a long time before Pulp Fiction, but are nevertheless extremely enjoyable, with the first being a showcase for the excellent band and the second featuring a sprightly Ross MacTaggart and the excellent featured dancers. An energetic Lovefool from Jacqui Mills, a supremely dramatic The World Is Not Enough from Arlene Tonner and a lovely Kiss From A Rose from Harry Dozier all boast fine chorus backing.
Jo Robertson’s spirited Downtown and Cassie Williams’s heartfelt Waterloo Sunset open a ‘60s classics’ portion that climaxes with a beautiful chorus version of Bridge Over Troubled Water and a Hey Jude led wonderfully by Andy McGarry and Jennifer McIntosh.
contemplative
A more contemplative section features two up-to-date songs – Craig Young considered on Billy Joel’s Turn The Lights Back On, Matt Fullerton and Hannah Edie defiant on Sam Ryder’s Fought & Lost. And then it’s the finale – Andy McGarry, Ross MacTaggart, Arlene Tonner and Cassie Williams leading The Whole of The Moon before the obligatory version of Love & Mercy.
What has become Showcase’s theme song has to be there, of course, but this rendition – beautifully sparse at times, and led with genuine emotion by Kirsty McLaren – might be the best yet. A bash through various Scottish pop standards accompanying the bows just shows how much fun everyone on and off stage is having.
Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night! Pic: Ryan Buchanan.
Throughout, the transitions between numbers (and appropriate costume changes) are handled with dizzying speed, and the technical side of the production is hugely impressive.
There can still be the odd moment where it seems like too much of a good thing. The temptation to pile one climax on top of another is rarely resisted. Telling the audience that there is one more segment before the interval is not greatly helpful when that section (Showtunes) makes up a good 50% of the first half’s running time.
outlawed
While the orchestrations are varied and generally restrained, the band do drown out the singing more often than is ideal. Andy Johnston’s lighting design is first-rate throughout, but that annoying habit of shining lights directly into the audience’s eyes at curtain calls really should be outlawed.
These are minor quibbles, however. The overall effect is decidedly positive, and heartily recommended to anyone who likes a good tune well sung, or a good time of any kind.
Running time: Two hours and 45 minutes (including one interval)
Church Hill Theatre, Morningside Rd, EH10 4DR
Tuesday 24 – Saturday 28 September 2024
Daily at 7.30 pm; Matinee Sat 2.30 pm
Tickets and details: Book here.
Showcase Facebook page: @ShowcaseEdin
Instagram: @showcaseedin
Twitter: @showcaseedin
Showcase 2024 – Something About This Night! Pic: Ryan Buchanan.
ENDS
