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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Tomfoolery - The Songs of Tom Lehrer
Verdict: Fabulous
Tomfoolery is a two-hour collection of Tom Lehrer’s irreverent, satirical and very funny songs from Kit and the Widow with Dillie Keane (Fascinating Aïda) and Mathew Wolfenden. There's a 15 minute interval.
In the domed assembly hall of Edinburgh Academy, there's a mixed audience, with many a blue rinse. For those who don’t know Tom Lehrer and his songs, it's a superb introduction to both. The banter between the songs and the troupe are based on Lehrer’s writings and performances during the 60s.
They open with the rousing Be Prepared performed by all the cast. There's The Widow on piano, voluptuous Dillie Keane, dapper Kit Hesketh-Harvey and gorgeous toy-boy Matthew Wolfenden singing the song with gutsy bravado. There are lines like ‘Don't solicit for your sister, that's not nice. Unless you get a good percentage of her price.’
The sheer delight on Dillie Keane’s face as she and Kit Hesketh-Harvey sing about the happy Sunday afternoon pastime Poisoning Pigeons in the Park is gorgeous. Matthew Wolfenden thinks it’s sick. He sings My Home Town with charming innocence, about the mayor’s son who likes to set fire to houses just to watch them glow, or the guy who drowns his wife. ‘Oh, yes indeed, the people there are just plain folks, in my home town.’
Lehrer was way ahead of his time, with songs like Pollution, Send the Marines and We Will All Go Together all relevant to today’s politics. And The Elements (a Danny Kaye-esque rush through science's periodic table) is used today in many a chemistry lesson throughout the UK.
Dillie Keane is fabulous as she struts her stuff with Smut - legs akimbo, wrapped round a chair, showing off knickers and thighs.
The Irish Ballard is full of frantic leg kicking, fiddle-playing, and a very catchy refrain of ‘rickety-tickety-tin’. It tells how a young maid kills off her family.
There are thrilling (and exhausting) performances of the Vatican Rag, I Got it From Agnes. And every pervert’s favourite - the Masochism Tango. How angelic Beckham-lookalike Matthew Wolfenden changes into a seedy-looking druggie with just a touch of make-up and a yellow spot is amazing.
And it's all as applicable today as when Tom Lehrer first wrote the songs - over 40 years ago.
Song List: Be Prepared. Poisoning Pigeons in the Park. My Home Town. Pollution. The Elements. The Folk Song Army. Smut. In Old Mexico. She’s My Girl. When You Are Old and Grey. National Brother Week. I Got it from Agnes. Vatican Rag. I Wanna Go Back to Dixie. Hunting Song. Send the Marines. Irish Ballard. New Maths. Wienerschnitzel Waltz. I Hold Your Hand in Mine. Masochism Tango. The Old Dope Peddler. We Will All Go Together.
Cast Credits: (alpha order) Kit Hesketh-Harvey. Dillie Keane. The Widow (Richard Sisson). Matthew Wolfenden.
Company Credits: Words and Music - Tom Lehrer. Adaptation - Cameron Mackintosh & Robin Ray. Director - Matthew Francis. Designer - Oliver Kubicki. Musical Staging - Frank Thompson. Production Fashion Stylist - Babette Kulik. Production Co-ordinator - Gareth McLeod. Company - Evergreen Theatre Productions Ltd.
END
(c) Lea Harris 2005
reviewed 17 August 05 / Edinburgh Academy
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2011
www.fringereport.com
