Pop Off Michelangelo

Take two of the greats of the Renaissance Period, decide that there were childhood friends and go on a quest to appease God and gain forgiveness for being gay, by bluffing their way through art school to achieve dizzying heights of fame. And, you have the premise for 75 minutes of unadulterated camp nonsense that wholeheartedly entertains.

After a success at the Edinburgh Fringe the show gets a two-night run in London. It is set on sparce but effective staging with moving columns providing the support and means of shifting locations rapidly. This looks a little lost on the Other Palace stage but the sheer tacky quality feels right at home with the fast paced humour and tongue-in cheek lyrics.

It’s a show that manages to reference much of pop culture without it ever feeling gratuitous or ill placed. In fact, it’s Dylan MarcAurele’s lyrics that are so delightfully camp and fruity that several times you ask yourself did I hear that right. It is tightly directed by Joe MacNeice and the choreography for the musical numbers from Sundeep Saini are boyband perfection.

Relative newcomers Max Eade (Michelangelo) and Aiden MacColl (Leonardo) are a wonderful pairing with Eade’s vocals so crystal clear you hear every saucy syllable. Especially in the ballad ‘When You Met Your Son Jesus’. The other four in the cast switch roles with ease and special mention must be made for Maiya Quansah-Breed performance when she appears as Marisa Tomei, becoming Michelangelo’s spiritual guide. she rocks the place with her Eade’s rendition of ‘Pick Me Girl’.

There were a few technical hitches, and the final number doesn’t quite give the climax the show deserves, but these can’t detract from what is a glorious chuckle at the struggle for fame and success whilst desperately attempting to conceal love of all parts of the male physique.

I suspect this will not be the last we see of Pop Off Michelangelo, and neither should it be.

Four Stars.