Tag: Flo & Joan

By Lisa Clark

Flo & Joan have written an absolute stunner of a musical, fit for Broadway, or perhaps Off-Broadway, as it satirises Broadway’s biggest Superstar in the most exquisite way. A person not named in any of the promotion for this show. I gasped when it was revealed and knew I was in for a fabulous time but it surpassed my expectations.

It’s very difficult to write a review without naming it’s subject, the cat is pretty much out of the bag now, but I will try. The musical is a satire of a specific musical composer. Lets just say that one of the songs is called something like Pussy Palace. When the audience was asked if anyone had not heard of him, not a single hand was raised so you may know him but perhaps not know the fine details. Don’t worry, this show will gleefully fill you in.

George Fouracres is an astonishing performer, who embodies the powerful, single-minded egotist with an enormous amount of energy and an expressive, comical face. It’s not surprising that he is a good actor, as he’s usually to be found at Shakespeare’s Globe giving Hamlet or somesuch by the Bard. His singing is delightful and reflects the character perfectly, his voice has an astonishing range and he seems to play with every nuance he can get out of it. The patter songs in particular would give Hamilton a run for it’s money with speedy lyrics flying out at an express rate. He sings the whole musical himself with only concessional harmonies and back up by Flo & Joan.

So though it is a one-man musical, it was a joy to find that the composers Flo & Joan are on stage throughout, playing live the music of the night. I am a becoming a big fan of theirs and their live input turns out to be important to the piece. There is a vibe of quietly judging Goddesses about them and also some interaction with the star, questioning his life choices. The best moment was when the girls, who are very straight faced throughout, could barely contain their laughter as George did some hilarious improvisation while interacting with the audience and especially during a costume malfunction.

From the get go our One-Man is portrayed as a condescending narcissist, the enthusiastic opening song is “It’s all about ME!!”, so although the show appears to give the character warmth, admiration and sympathy at times, we don’t cry for him, knowing that underneath is absolute contempt that becomes searingly vicious satire, despite the demeanour of our two calm, sweet looking composers up the back. Flo and Joan also use their character to poke a little fun back at themselves. Female comedians can’t seem to help but be a bit self-deprecatory, but it gets a laugh and softens things somewhat, just as they get quite dark.

I’m not sure about the names of the songs because, unlike our protagonist, Flo & Joan have not pre-released a soundtrack, but many are toe-taping, hand-clapping bangers. The excellent overture pre recorded as housemusic by the girls themselves is one that I really hope they do release. The songs are such hilarious fun. It’s always exciting to walk out of a show with audience members exclaiming “That was Brilliant!” and “It was absolutely hilarious!” excitedly to each other, I reckon Flo & Joan have got a technicolour hit on their hands.

One Man Musical by Flo & Joan is on at Pleasance Dome until August 25

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/one-man-musical-by-flo-joan