“A brand-new girl band, a hotshot manager and a struggling songwriter, Girlz unfolds over one tumultuous year.”
Girlz received incredible reviews and a nomination for Best Musical at Fringe last year, so they planned to make this year’s return bigger and bolder. And they definitely achieved.
With it being a Fringe production, the show is a condensed version of the full 100-minute show, running at 65 minutes. It is fast-paced, and packs a lot into the time – so be in for a rollercoaster of excitement, happiness and also emotional moments.
With an original score by Dafydd Hughes, the show contains a variety of incredible songs beyond just pop. There’s musical theatre, there’s ballads, country and even some rap – and it all works amazingly.
You may go in expecting a fun, bright, and of course girly, musical all about this bands climb to the top, but it is so much more than that. Girlz highlights the highs and lows of this journey and shows an eye opening and hard-hitting reality of the music industry beyond the bright lights and sparkly costumes. The show covers topics such as abortion, drug-use and how the media treats women so well through the storytelling and raw emotion of the characters and their actors.
Their egotistic manager may say there is a weak link in the band, but there is certainly no weak link in this cast. The energy and passion put into these characters makes it very hard to pick any stand-out performance.
With Meggie Hughes as Nicky, who is at the centre of the story, who gives a raw and real performance of ambition, grief and the sacrifices that are made along the way.
Tamara Tare as best-friend Alex, who gives an incredible performance that really shows the horrific reality that those in the public eye face more and more nowadays.
Zoe Antoniou, Daniella Mirels and Abigail Wiltshire as the girls’ fellow bandmates, all with their own individual storylines that I’d love to know so much more about.
Tomas Baines as Adam, boyfriend of Nicky and struggling singer-songwriter, brings a warmth and humour to the darker moments and Lee Docherty as Dan Cashman, the band manager, who really makes you dislike him perfectly.
Despite the limited space and time that comes with Fringe, the direction, by Katy Weir, keeps the story constantly moving, making clever use of the set to create a production that feels much larger than its runtime. Matt Powell’s video design also brings the show to a new level, and allows for much more feeling throughout the show.
Overall, this show is a Fringe must-see. Girlz is more than a musical about pop stardom. It’s an honest, emotional exploration of ambition, friendship, and the cost of success. With an outstanding cast, a memorable original score and an important story to tell, it more than lives up to the acclaim it received last year.
It’s important to note that I saw the show’s first preview, so of course, it’s only up from here.
You can catch Girlz up until the 30th August at Doonstairs @ The Gilded Balloon Patter House, and tickets are available on the fringe website!
Scotland's Stage Door 
Leave a comment