Edinburgh Fringe 2024
DIVA: Live from Hell!
Blair Russell Productions.
Genre: LGBTQIA+, Musical Theatre
Venue: Underbelly, Cowgate.
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A tour de force from Luke Bayer as he recounts how the ambition of high school student Desmond Channing, President of the Drama Club, and star of every production, leads to his punishment in Hell, recounting his tale over and over!
Review
The Fringe musical appears to be in good shape at the moment, with quite a few making the transition from Fringe to West End, most recently, of course, Six and Stella and Kathy Solve a Murder, and there are some very good new musicals staged in this year’s Fringe, and here is one of the best that I saw. Performed with youthful exuberance by Luke Bayer and an excellent trio of musicians, the show is outrageous fun. It follows a sell out run at the Kings Head Theatre in London, and deserves, with luck and the right wind, more life after this Fringe.
President of the Ronal Reagan High School Drama Club, and star of every show, Desmond Channing is an ambitious drama queen, unrivalled in his success. That is until a hotshot transfer student from New York, Evan Harris, swaggers in, steals the spotlight and Channing’s ‘girl’, (he is in some denial here!). Bayer is a king of versatility, his Justin Timberlake inspired movement and dialogue of Harris is a delight, as his his portrayal of shy best friend, and stage manager dogsbody, Allie Hewitt, and theatre teacher and director Mr. Dallas. Bayer is ferocious in his diva status, no one in the audience is safe, he will return to his victims over and over! (The poor woman who drank from her can of Iron Bru during the performance was bever forgiven!) It’s a masterclass in bitchy comic delivery, and he has the musical theatre chops to deserve the status of Diva. And the show teems with musical theatre references and old Hollywood checks, the Principle is Miss Desmond, the play on Evan’s name recalls Dear Evan Hanson, and the climax is a lovely nod to the beginning of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. The High School setting puts is firmly into Americana and the genres of shows like Glee, and no one, not even his band, is safe from the put downs he pings around the venue. There is also a great gag about stage managers not being important, which leads to the crew taking swift revenge!
It’s a compelling, energetic performance, and his singing is terrific. All of the musical theatre tropes are there in the book by Nora Bridget Monohan, and music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen. A Fosse tribute, (although a one man one), the torch song, the revenge number, and a blistering, hot as Hell climax. It could do with perhaps more pathos, as Channing is a totally self centred Queen, we are given no room to perhaps see his side of events, one sided as they may be. However, as the character becomes unhinged, there are very pleasing dark twists to the tale. Bater gives an outstanding performance, totally owning the material and the space, and one of the best to be found on the Fringe.
