Eigg the Musical is an energetic and captivating new musical telling a harrowing story of Scotland’s history. It is a brand-new musical brought to this year's Fringe by a Colorado-based team, with music and lyrics by April Alsup and book writing by Mark Sbani. Despite being from an American group, it captures the essence of Scottish culture. The musical is inspired by the real-life history of Eigg, where regular changes in outsider landowners resulted in a push for community ownership, providing a captivating story of land reform.
This new musical has the movement and community feel of Come From Away, with the overruling Laird providing moments which feel inspired by King George in Hamilton. Providing a story which hasn’t been told via musical before, this new show is innovative, inspiring and joyful. With ceilidh music and dance, this show feels like a heartwarming community, ready to pull you in with Scottish hospitality.
This show was professionally performed, with strong musicianship, vocals, movement and acting skills throughout from a super-talented cast of actors and onstage musicians. There were no weak links. The musical is very well written, and the storylines are engaging, although you can see how these could develop further in the future with the show given a longer performance time. There were some excellent and catchy songs which had the audience clapping along, with many, such as “Life’s a bitch and then you die”, easy to imagine being sung by musical theatre fans of the future.
The intimate venue left you extremely close to the action, with the audience on three sides of the playing space, but this just added to the audience feeling part of the story, with the actors even improvising with audience members. They impressively used the space to transport the audience from scene to scene.
This show has great potential to be something big. It tells an important story and is expertly performed. It is an ultimate show of the power of community, telling an important story of Scotland's history. Could this be Scotland’s next Sunshine on Leith?
Eigg the Musical performs at Greenside@ Riddles Court until the 12th of August. Book tickets here: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/eigg-the-musical
