Edinburgh Fringe 2024
To Be A Prince
Tom Rolph
Genre: Musical Theatre
Venue: Paradise at St Augustine’s
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
With a script that suggests, a song in the heart that is broken and a clever conceit this suggests a great show is in here. There are many things which work really well in a piece with gusto more than Gaston and avoiding Cinderella and the rest.
Review
Tom Rolph appears onstage with the rich vocal range that can be handily placed in amongst the best of the princes, perched on the bedsides of many damsels in distress, in any movie you may consider a classic fairytale. The premise of the piece is that we have lost that figure, perhaps because of the more PC crowd amongst us, though this is never mentioned. This is a struggle for the patriarchy, as it complains of the minimalizing of the role of a once mighty character all audiences hoped for, would appear to save the day within their dénouement.
But it is far more light-hearted than that. There is a charm in Rolph’s approach, a whimsy about the idea that the once mighty hero has become the now forgotten principal. No loss, perhaps for some, but for a man of devastating charm, leading man good looks and the bravery of the hero in every fibre of his body, this seems like tough on them.
Here the conceit draws upon many of the Disneyfied world of fairytales as the lamp onstage becomes home to the genie of the lamp. A disembodied voice makes an entrance to grant Rolph three wishes. Rolph has the first two misinterpreted, the third is not undertaken as this prince takes back control.
And it is here that there is a little disconnect between the intention and the delivery. The prince is clearly narcistic – singing about everything being about them and finally getting to be the principal of every song and the entire show but Rolph seems too nice for that. Either the nasty narcissist needs to be ramped up, or the character of the prince needs to be one who when thrust into the limelight just wants to be loved – what we have ended up with can, at times, be a tad insipid. Ironically you can see why he has been thrust to the side.
That is a shame because this has something quite entertaining to say and Rolph is a very capable narrator. He is also a very good singer. Though the songs are a tad derivative, they can hardly be anything else given the genre to which it is speaking, they have their moments. I particularly loved the interplay with the princess. References are slight and could do with being beefed up. There is some opportunities dropped to explore the richness of heroes taken from the cannon of decent roles where a nice guy with a thrusting chin and a firm gait should be available. This needs more than repeating Frozen and Beauty and the Beast – how about Snow White, what happened with Brave, and Moanna, and countless others where little yellow creatures and even inanimate objects have overtaken the prince as the most noteworthy male?
I wanted much more of the theatricality, as the voiceover worked well and was worked with well, and the singing – aside from the last song being a bit of a struggle – was memorable for the range if not the lyrics. And I was glad not to hear any advice from the genie to “let it go…”
