Edinburgh Fringe comedy review

Flo and Joan risk the wrath of the supposedly litigious Andrew Lloyd Webber with their first musical. Not because they are stepping on the West End king’s territory – but because the subject of the piece is the man himself. No wonder they kept his name out of the pre-publicity

Their version, as expertly played by George Fouracres, is an hilariously grotesque parody, a creepy, lonely, right-wing, weirdo, outsider desperate to be accepted as cool and normal, the one thing his privilege and wealth will never buy. He really is Britain’s Elon Musk…

Flo and Joan, aka sisters Rosie and Nicola Dempsey, have delved into ALW’s genuine background, though they added plenty of embellishment. As a child, for instance, he really did find his happy place was mounting musical productions in an intricate toy theatre called the Harrington Pavilion, and he really did walk his cat Perseus around London on a leash. 

Following the very best education –  Westminster School, Oxford, the Royal College of Music – he hit paydirt by teaming up with Tim Rice, whose easy-going wit and effortless charisma was everything he wasn’t, to create Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamboat and the ensuing string of hits including (without Rice) the peculiarly sexy Cats.

The conceit of One Man Musical is that now the hits have dried up, Lloyd Webber is both presenting and starring in this vanity project at the Fringe in a bid for relevance. It’s All About Me! is the opening song. But his lack of self-awareness means that the decisions he makes in putting the show together reveal more about his true character than the varnished version he wants to present.

Fouracres – part of sketch group Daphne with Jason Forbes and Phil Wang, as well as being a Shakespearean actor in his own right – does a brilliant job in lampooning Lloyd Webber’s upper-class self-belief and numerous quirks. He hams it up in this loosely of caricatures. He is palpably having fun playing such a larger-than-life figure, commanding the stage, chucking in ad-libs, making up his own bizarre pronunciations, but keeping the show on track.

A stand-out scene puts the narrative on hold for a minute as the peer tries out some stand-up crowd work, like he’s seen on TikTok. It was deliciously awkward yet showcased yet another impressive gift Fouracres has.

The ever-deadpan Flo and Joan are also on stage, ostensibly providing keyboard and percussion backing but also sitting in silent judgment on the anti-hero they created. They, and a convenient theatrical device, are keen to remind us of the flops downplayed on the official account  – a musical about Dr Barnardo and Jeeves! – or that time he flew first-class from New York to London to vote for cuts to benefits.

The toe-tapping and occasionally reflective songs wouldn’t be out of place in a real West End musical, and there are in-jokes aplenty for those who care about the genre. But the story of the decline and fall of a tragic hero who can never get what he seeks is universal. Fouracres plays it as camp farce, and it’s an absolute blast. Enough to make you forget the Cats movie never existed.

Review date: 11 Aug 2024
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett
Reviewed at: Pleasance Dome