The launch for the Underbelly was delivered with a welcome compactness and more than a little colourfulness, with the press and other assorted individuals greeted on the courtyard of the Udderbelly venue by comically scuzzed-out acrobats, very oddly shaped ‘exotic’ drag artists and most notably by the sights and sounds of Brazil! Brazil!
The cheery troupe combined South American rhythms, zestful dancing and breezy acrobatics, then going on to showcase the sort of virtuoso football skills that would put any other nation to shame. (At this point you can insert your own topical England World Cup quip, if you must…)
Brendon Burns seemed to be as impressed as any of us, though soon recovered his composure to usher us inside the venue, where the Ukulele Project were already working their way through hits including Country House and The Lovecats with multiple harmonies and... four ukuleles. Count them, four! How’s that for rock ‘n’ roll?
Little over an hour later Britain’s Got Talent and Streetdance 3D stars Flawless brought the preview show to a finish with a pin-sharp flourish, performing enough somersaults and other assorted physically improbable dance moves to make me feel like a big blubbery killer whale by comparison. (Or perhaps an upturned cow, for a more appropriate reference point.)
Operating as host, quick-witted comedian Rob Rouse kept the show ticking away throughout, barely betraying the exhaustion apparently brought upon him in the past year by fatherhood. His accounts of the perils of potty-training and, er, the scrotum proved illuminating enough to put me off the prospect of food afterwards; his full show may prove the perfect alternative to Weight Watchers.
The Magnets were quite possibly the highlight of the showcase, and it’s easy to see the six-piece all-male a cappella proving to be a huge draw at Udderbelly’s Pasture. (No pun intended, but I’ll be damned if I take it out now.) They seemed to tackle Girls and Boys and Let’s Dance effortlessly - at least until you contemplated the amount of work that must have been invested in the nimble arrangements - shifting and reshaping the hits with confidence. Suitably suave, it probably doesn’t hurt that one member looks like Colin Farrell over in the capital for a working vacation.
Celebrity Autobiography seems as simple as the name suggests, one of its stars Michael Urie (of Ugly Betty) reading David Cassidy’s actual memoir, which focussed with fantastic bluntness on the possibility of sleeping with his screen sister - Cassidy’s, that is. The brief excerpt was delivered with just the right timing and arch tone. Providing something of a contrast, Be-dom were a mesmerising and playful junkyard symphony, swapping clicks and slaps as though they were a physical commodity, while Rich Fulcher of The Mighty Boosh was just about as outré and downright odd as you might expect in the guise of Eleanor the Tour Whore.
Even at a pocket-sized 4’ 11” Glaswegian comic Susan Calman was not to be messed with as the sole Scottish representative at the previews, and she put in a sharp, short set able which won the audience over despite any threatening undertones. (According to her own theory, you can blame the accent for that.) Oh, and be on the lookout for anyone using her chat-up line during the Fringe, it’ll be hard to miss…
Frisky and Mannish tackled The Ting Tings’ That’s Not My Name, changing the lyrics to take note of and then attack Fringe reviewers’ critiques from last August. It was a brave move at a preview packed with representatives of the press, but one that they pulled off with sly charm, as well as an impressive operatic finish. Another performer with a powerful set of lungs was Storm Large, the Amazonian former US reality show contestant revealing herself as a fierce and compelling rock siren, the likes of which is rarely seen nowadays.
