Showing @ Fingers Piano Bar, Edinburgh until 24 Aug @ 18:30
Expectations are low for a musical comedy cabaret entitled Lullabies of Pervland, especially one in the dingy subterranean lounge bar surroundings of Fingers. At best, you might get a few sniggersome, oo-er missus Victoria Wood-style numbers about getting a leg over. At worst, vile gross out humour by a bunch of tuneless students in Jimmy Savile costumes.
Thankfully, Laurence Owen is better than that. An accomplished musician, he peppers his set with enough variety to please most audiences. Contrary to the title, it’s not all bedroom gymnastics. There is plenty of that, for those who like a bit of blue, but he’s smart with his repartee, using it to introduce what are presumably some of his greatest hits. His weapon of choice is a lute-like acoustic guitar and his tunes are nifty. There’s enough pace to the music and ingenuity to the lyrics that you can’t see the gags coming a mile off, a common problem in a genre reliant on rhyme.
Pastiche is possibly Owen’s best card. His suite of Disney parodies is bang on the money – witty, well-observed and uncannily musically accurate. There are lesser moments though. An extended monologue about Star Wars adds variety to the set, but serves to amuse only film buffs and sci-fi geeks, and there’s a rough around the edges Doctor Who number which falls flat. From the crowd’s instantly positive reaction, either he’s got a lot of friends in, or some people have come back for seconds. It’d be interesting to see how he copes with a less welcoming audience, probably quite passably. Certainly on this showing, he’s gone part way to winning this sceptic round.