#EdFringe: Friendsical Review
The One where they can’t decide what this show is
★★
I was really hoping what I was hearing wasn’t true. And yet despite being panned by most critics, Friendsical has a full house over at Assembly Rooms Music Hall.
Photo by Dale Wightman
Friendsical is hardly the parody it claims to be – nearly every single line of dialogue is lifted from the show, from the overused niche references
But it’s hardly a parody when it just parrots back the same lines we’ve heard a thousand times in episodes and re runs since the early 90s. It doesn’t imitate the style of Friends, it is Friends, and it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen, and one of the songs being a direct copy of ‘With or Without You’ by U2 is hardly helping that.
I tried really hard to like it but when the narrator is Ross (Jamie Lee-Morgan), who is arguably the weakest of the cast, who, Ross being Ross, won’t shut up about himself or Rachel, my patience for the show evaporated like Edinburgh’s temperamental rain today. The strongest of the bunch who know too much about each other (an okay song, better than others, and really feels like it should have been the finale song) is Thomas Mitchells (Chandler), and Ally Retberg (Phoebe) and while all characters have elements of their TV show counterparts, it’s not always strong and it gets dull to watch very quickly. If I wanted to watch Friends, I’d be at home in my undies and after 45 minutes as usual, I’d be bored. The references and stereotypes of the show haven’t dated well, and while the show doesn’t drag us straight back to the 90s, the women talk of nothing but men (and none of their other interests or careers) for about 80% of the show. Bechdel test, failed. Maybe it’s the extreme condensing of the show, but it hasn’t brought to light the best moments of a 10 year running classic television show.
Just because I don’t like it, doesn’t mean the audience isn’t having fun. Clearly an audience full of the TV show’s fans, they roar with laughter when their favourite references to the reclining chairs, the chick and the duck, or to the episode where all the women wear wedding dresses, but they seem to be enjoying these one liners more than the songs, and the energy dips quickly.
Photo by Dale Wightman
The set is lovely and overly ambitious, and a little clunky to move but strongly conveys the feeling of being part of the TV show. Costumes are great, the costume changes are out of this world, but the entire show seems to be built around one liners and gags and I wish some of the effort had gone from those moments and wow factor into making the songs better. You know you’re in trouble story line wise when you have to chuck in a ‘montage song’ in order to salvage to halves of a story that don’t meet, and because in a show that’s supposed to cover Ross and Rachel’s love story over 10 seasons in 75 minutes (and you’ll feel every one of them, especially when it runs over time, and believe me, it runs over), is only covering seasons 1-3 ish in the first hour.
The choreography by Darren Carnall is overall pretty good, but direction by Miranda Larson doesn’t leave the show any clearer, or with any true sense of narrative or purpose.
The show is a good concept, and clearly audiences are still flocking to it, but it had the potential to be really, really good and all of the hype and build up around the show hasn’t held up.
Was it worth the hike over to New Town? Sadly, nope.
Friendsical: The Parody Musical About Friends plays until 25th August at Assembly Rooms Music Hall. More Info
