Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Hot Mess
Birmingham Hippodrome in association with Vicky Graham Productions
Genre: Musical Theatre
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Hot Mess is a two-person musical celebrating the troubled relationship between Earth and Humanity. The pop-musical brings an hour of riprous fun to Pleasance Courtyard.
Review
Better With Time, the productions’s anthem, describes musical theatre’s newest ‘power couple.’ In Hot Mess, we met Earth, a planet in search of love, as they get courted by, and eventually couples up with, Humanity. With powerful vocals and catchy pop tunes, Hot Mess, is an incredible example of contemporary musical theatre. The show music is akin to that of recent award winning productions like Dear Evan Hansen and Six, but the two-person format keeps a remarkable intimacy for such a powerhouse score.
The powerful producing team behind the production, including the Birmingham Hippodrome, delivers a polished musical worthy of a London transfer. Shankho Chaudhuri simple and intelligent scenic design transforms us to, what I understood, as Earth’s bachelorette pad. What initially felt grounded in a single location transformed throughout the performance, providing every prop or new scenic element needed. Just as Earth gives to us, the set gives to the show. This exquisite directorial and design choice keeps the show moving at a remarkable pace while retaining a sense of magic about the world they’ve built.
Danielle Steers (SIX, The Cher Show) and Tobias Turley (Mamma Mia!), bring unique and powerful performances to Earth and Humanity, two characters everyone in the audience is initially familiar with. Both bring a commanding presence, expertly controlling the audience. They delivered jokes with precise comedic timing, while keeping the adience leaned in for the moments of intimacy and drama. A specific shoutout here for Steers, who seamlessly dealt with a minor prop malfunction on stage. As an example of her performance intelligence, she didn’t just solve the problem, but integrated it into the scene. This truly highlights the talent present in the space.
Jack Godfrey’s score and lyrics are simply joyful. I heard countless audience members humming the tunes as we exited Pleasence Two, and spotify says the cast album will be a great success when the remainder of the songs drop. It could have been beneficial to have a wider range of musicla genres, but given the short run time, the stylistic homogeny helped keep the piece contained.
The musical is fun, silly, and a great piece of fringe happiness. The question remains, what now? The show is slated for a London run later this year, and I’m interested to see how it is received there. The show feels perfect for Edinburgh, but I think some expansion is needed before it can move on.
