by Ed Fortune
Shamilton is an improvised musical that uses the rough style and structure of the sung/rapped biographical musical Hamilton, produced and performed by renowned musical improv company Baby Wants Candy.
The set-up is pretty much like every improv show you’ve ever seen, with the team introducing themselves and then asking the audience to contribute ideas. Specifically, which celebrity they’re going to create a musical about today? It could be Chris Pratt, Nicolas Cage, Taylor Swift or pretty much anyone else the audience can think of, but the law of averages says it’s going to be some famous pop-culture figure. This is done swiftly and with good humour; the team are very good at herding an audience into something that they can actually use (and will be fun to do.)
Our performers then get into it, hitting the usual beats one expects from both an improvised show and Hamilton. Prior knowledge of the celebrity being mocked is not required for either the audience or the performers; we’re going to hit to broadest notes we can and make as much fun out of the celebrity as possible.
Shamilton’s biggest flaw is also the main draw. By using Hamilton as the base, everything created is hamstrung by this structure. This dissonance can be funny; this is a faux-biographical show, so there are a lot of gags to be had by getting the life story wrong. But it also knows that you know what to expect both in terms of story and humour.
Shamilton is a fun show and absolutely one to add to a list of shows to see in order to laugh so hard you’ll turn red. It’s nothing special, but it is very well done.
Shamilton is showing at the Edinburgh Fringe until the 28th. Tickets can be found here. Find out more here.
