YOUR GUIDE TO EDINBURGH'S FESTIVALS
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
ED2019 Musicals ED2019 Preview Edition ED2019 Three To See
Three To See 2019: Musical Theatre
By Caro Moses | Published on Monday 29 July 2019
ThreeWeeks Co-Editor Caro Moses helps you navigate the Festival with her Three To See tips. This time three musicals to see.
Islander: A New Musical | Roundabout @ Summerhall | 31 Jul-25 Aug (pictured)
“Eilidh stares out to sea and dreams of a new life beyond her lonely island. Myth and reality collide when the tide washes a mysterious stranger onto her beach, changing her life forever”. I like to look out for new musicals that are on at the Fringe, and that’s how I came across this one. And oh, does it sound like a goodie. It’s got a contemporary Scottish folk inspired score, and the cast live-record and layer their voices, which, I’m assured, will “create an ethereal adventure for the ears and imagination”. Lovely. Listing here.
Paradise Lodge | Underbelly Bristo Square | 31 Jul-26 Aug
And from the ethereal to the hilarious: ‘Paradise Lodge’ is a funny yet heart-wrenching piece of musical theatre that explores writer and performer Steve Cooper’s experience of caring for his mother in law as she succumbed to dementia. The show explores the nature of identity, reality and loss, as Eric and Kylie, a dysfunctional ukulele musical duo called The Doodlebugs, embark on their first gig together at the Paradise Lodge Care Home, and take their audience back to a time when their whole lives lay ahead of them. It promises to have audiences “laughing, crying and singing their hearts out”, so yes, I will be there. Listing here.
Beat | Pleasance Dome | 31 Jul-26 Aug
This isn’t exactly a new show. It’s been performed to great acclaim across Europe following its 2011 premiere, and has won a Moliere Award, which, you may already know, is basically a French equivalent to the Olivier Award. But hurray for the fact that it’s now getting its UK premiere and we get to witness it in all its glory. It tells the story of Alfie, who is not like the other kids: his parents are irritated, his teachers are exasperated, but Alfie doesn’t care as long as he can play his drums, and turn “his everyday routine into a life bursting with wonder and music”. Sounds ace, and I reckon this might have some appeal for teenagers, if you are struggling to entertain one this summer. Listing here.
