One Man Musical review: No One Says No to Andrew
★★★★★
For those somehow unaware, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber has been one of the most successful, recognisable and polarising figures in British musical theatre for the best part of five decades. Composer of everything from Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to Cats and Starlight Express, his reputation extends far beyond the notes on the page. Ego, temper and theatrical excess have all become part of the Lloyd Webber mythology. So what exactly is the story behind the man, the legend and, occasionally, the menace?
That is the question comedy duo Flo & Joan gleefully attack in One Man Musical.
You might assume encyclopaedic knowledge of Andrew Lloyd Webber is required to enjoy it. You would be wrong. For newcomers, there are huge laughs, absurd characters and a near relentless stream of jokes. For musical theatre obsessives, there is another layer entirely, packed with in jokes, references, musical pastiche and, as Flo & Joan openly acknowledge, several legal minefields negotiated with spectacular precision.
At the centre of it all is Edward Easton, playing a bratty, manic and gloriously despotic version of Lloyd Webber. He storms through his own life story as though everyone around him exists purely to facilitate the next masterpiece, part musical theatre emperor, part toddler who has just been told no. Easton commits completely to every wounded glare, theatrical outburst and explosion of ego. It is an enormous comic performance.
The music is unmistakably Flo & Joan, but somehow even more infectiously catchy than usual. The recurring “a show about me” motif may genuinely be the song of the Fringe. There is no adequate way of describing the pronunciation of “me”: part foghorn, part petulant child, part wounded musical theatre deity. It has already joined *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me” in the extremely exclusive pantheon of aggressively pronounced mes that will apparently live in my brain forever.
Then there is “No One Says No to Andrew”, an anthem I am particularly delighted to have discovered given that I share the name. It will now inevitably be deployed during arguments with my partner whenever circumstances require it.
The staging is gloriously sparse: essentially a throne, a miniature piano and a rack of clothing. Cats are made of rubber, the various Sarahs/wives are conjured from hanging dresses, and entire productions are reduced to brilliantly stupid visual shorthand. The simplicity leaves Easton and the writing to do all the work, while the throne gives Lloyd Webber exactly the level of self-appointed grandeur he deserves.
There is something particularly satisfying about watching musical theatre turned back on one of its most famous creators. The jokes work because there is genuine knowledge underneath them, with deeper musical theatre references offering extra treasures for those who know where to look. This feels less like mockery from the outside and more like musical theatre fans dismantling the machinery from within, lovingly setting fire to it and composing an extraordinarily catchy reprise about the flames.
Flo & Joan have created something wickedly clever and irresistibly funny. One Man Musical is musical comedy at its absolute best: clever, stupid and spectacularly funny in exactly the right proportions, with songs that have absolutely no right to be this catchy.
A gloriously ridiculous skewering of Andrew Lloyd Webber, I can only hope Flo & Joan’s excursion into his antagonistic world receives the level of success it deserves.
Which is, obviously, complete.
Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard
Until 30th August
1650-1800
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