Obama Mia! Just the Tonic at the Caves
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Your support makes all the difference.Proving the old Fringe adage that all you need to fill a theatre is a recognisable name plus the word "musical", Obama Mia! a Musical Comedy is already doing good box-office business.
And while Barack Obama has so far proved a much less fertile source of comedy than his predecessor at the White House (as the opening number has it "Now we have a candidate who isn't Caucasian/ And he can actually spell Caucasian"), this lively musical delivers a fair few laughs.
True, we have to swallow a ludicrous scenario to get them; this is knockabout stuff, not The Daily Show. And so, three days before the election we find Obama indisposed – in fact, he's fallen into a "hope-induced coma". Running Joe Biden (here, a permanent drunk in a Hawaiian shirt) instead isn't an option. The White House needs a replacement and settles upon the nephew of one of the staffers, a musical theatre student and "slashie" (actor/singer) who bears an uncanny resemblance to the man himself. Who cares if he can't remember who Sasha and Malia are? "Being in politics is about image not knowledge," trill the team.
The young ensemble from Trinity College Dublin perform with precocious talent and heaps of enthusiasm making for a daftly enjoyable hour. And despite the title, there's no Abba in it – just showtunes, honky-tonk piano and a bit of Obama barbershop. Just what you'd expect to find at the Fringe, then.
To 29 August (not 17) (0131 556 5375)
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