A strange beast of a musical, Fangirls has hot-footed it across the globe with the promise of being “the Australian SIX“.
Written by Yve Blake, who is responsible for book, music, and lyrics, and directed by Paige Rattray, Fangirls looks at the extreme end of celebrity obsession through the eyes of a 14-year old, Edna.
Most of us went through the phase of crushes or fancying the unobtainable: pubescent hormones dictate such behaviour as they have from the age of bobbysoxers and beyond.
For Edna and her friends, their focus is Harry, singer of ‘Heartbreak Nation’, a knowing and vacuous parody of the manufactured boy band phenomenon.
The first half is very funny, loud, bold and blackly comic. Edna and her buddies Brianna and Jules feed their obsession through social media and – in Edna’s case – writing fan fiction.
There are the usual conflicts that come with growing up as a teen. Edna’s mother is an unwelcome distraction. There’s competition between the girls (who are at a single-sex school so not amongst real-life boys at all).
Fangirls dials hysteria up to the max and then some more. It is very frank about body changes and sex, although Harry himself is very beige and safe, with no excesses associated with his fame.
With flashing lights and very loud sound design, augmented on press night by enthusiastic screams from the back of the stalls. Memories of my first concert – more metal than boy band, but still – came flooding back.
The cast is dynamic, energetic, and often in on the joke. Jasmine Elcock’s Edna is a dreamer who finds her imagination runs into sharp reality, while Miracle Chance‘s Brianna feels rather restrained set against Mary Malone‘s hilarious Jules.
Debbie Kurup, as Edna’s mum, Caroline, is very good in a role that skips from concerned parent to devil-may-care advocate. She’s funny, but also offers a glimpse of what reality will bring when obsession calms down.
As the focus of all the attention, even a wall of faces drawn from a ‘global fan chorus’, Thomas Grant is a decent Harry, especially wincing in the One Direction pastiche concert that opens act two. But he’s also an adolescent who has his own issues to deal with.
The other main parts are Terique Jarrett’s Salty, fan fiction supremo, and Gracie McGonigal’s superfan Lily. Both give enjoyable performances.
Max James Hodge has a moment as a buff lifeguard, with Max Gill (busy as the dance captain), Eve De Leon Allen, Lena Pattie Jones, and Nicky Wong Rush completing a cast which is pleasingly diverse, with black and trans actors.
As a musical, the songs aren’t particularly memorable, and the set design is led by vast video backdrops (designed by Ash J Woodward). Fangirls is unapologetically loud, brash, obvious, and plain daft.
I enjoyed the cameo (keep it in the family!) but felt this show ran out of ideas and steam by the end of the 150-minute running time.
But the target market of teens will lap it up, and it deserves attention for addressing how hard it is to cross that line from child to adult when your body is giving you signals you don’t quite understand.
I’m giving it 3 stars.
Fangirls continues at Lyric Hammersmith until 24 Aug with tickets here.
Image credit: Manuel Harlan