Showing @ Festival Theatre Oct 12th – 16th
Take two politically minded, identical red heads from Leith with a musical career spanning three decades, extract their greatest work and put it on stage with the help of the Dundee Rep. and director James Brining et voila, Sunshine on Leith is born. Returning to Edinburgh after its critically acclaimed debut in 2007, the show has been given a slight revamp and aims to win us over once more with its emotionally driven, down to earth charm.
Written by Steven Greenhorn (Dr. Who, Passing Places), the musical follows Ally (Michael Moreland) and Davy (Billy Boyd) as they return from the army to the exotic location of Leith and the every day social and political issues that will surround them as they try to regain control of their old lives.
The show includes all the well known hits including Letter from America and I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), with a twently strong cast and a live band. After winning the TMA Best Musical award in 2007 and being nominated for five different CATS awards it proves to be an entertaining production, with a real story at its heart. In many cases it’s difficult for musicals to relate to the real world and the power ballads leave us at a loose end. In this case, with such strong minded songs at its core and the Scottish mindset of wanting to stay humble and un-pretentious it might just break the mould of the in-your-face jazz-handing nonsense we love, but are tired of. Even if you’re not the biggest fan of The Proclaimers the underlying issues of the show might still tug at the northern sentimentality. And if all else fails, there’ll be some catchy tunes and a hobbit for good measure.