Directed by Andy Johnston and Louise Hunter

Musical Direction by Andrew Thomson

Dance Direction by Louise Williamson and Jemma Crawford

Tickets from £14.00

With the 62nd show now one for the books, The Edinburgh Gang Show returns to spark the city with a comforting glitz and celebration of variety in its ever-glowing and underappreciated glamour. And while their usual home at the King’s Theatre continues to have the restoration she richly deserves, The Edinburgh Gang Show has settled into the Festival Theatre quite marvellously, as over 250 young people from South East Scotland Scouts and Girlguides from Edinburgh send audiences back out into the world with a smile, a song, and some awful, awful jokes under their belt for the Christmas dinner table.

There’s only one way to open a Gang Show, and that’s with a traditional Jamboree, with the overture making it clear from the first note that the live music is of top quality. Directors Andy Johnson, Louise Hunter, and the entire team have cherry-picked some musical theatre, cinema, rock, and pop favourites for this evening’s delicacies, throwing in a sketch or two to ensure the classic Gang Show humour and material are maintained from Sir Ralph Reader’s influence. 

The humour, as one comes to expect, has the groans and punchlines which come part and parcel with the show – dad jokes to the extreme, safe for all, laughed at by keen family, friends, and those just happy to be out. They’re charming, traditional, and carried out with a nudge and wink at the Christmas-Cracker quality. With a lot of space to fill on the Festival Theatre stage, it comes over as intimidating to fill this with laughter for even the most ardent of comics. But the second half takes a tighter turn, delivered in a more familiar stand-up presentation with gusto and some tremendously effective crowd control by the young performers. The jokes too, unbelievably, land with a punch, including some brilliant additional jabs at the returning Cameron (a joke added only a day or two before curtain-up) and of course, the infamous Sturgeon campervan.

However, even the occasionally lengthy skit/routine has a touch more pep than usual: a take on the Mischief Theatre’s franchise raises plenty of laughs with hokey acting, particular praise to the performance of a rather befuddled vicar. The real winner is a sketch featuring Barbies, Kens, and a few short-bread tin variants of the famous duo, repairing the damage from the various spoofs and routines which have spun out from the successful film. And any event which can raise the Lord Provost to their feet for a touch of Scottish Barbie (Yes Sir, I Can Boogie) is worth this for admission alone. Extra credit to the team’s inclusion of asking whoever in the audience who feels or identifies as a Barbie (and vice-versa) can join along in the Barbie and Ken showdown. A small, but welcome inclusion.

Possibly one of the more richly orchestrated Gang Shows, choreography and vocals rule the roost with some terrifically delivered numbers and unique concoctions. Often delivered back-to-back, or incorporating movement into the song sequence, Andrew Thomson’s musical direction of the live band maintains a balance which never strays or dips, easily keeping in tempo with strong soloists or a hundred clattering shoes on stage. Most impressive is when the show takes an excursion into the avenues of rock, usually a bit of a death sentence for any other than strict professionals. But the show’s incorporation of the thundering energy from We Got the Beat turns out to be an impressive departure from expectation.

With so many bodies on stage, with varying levels of skill and experience, Louise Williamson and Jemma Crawford do bloomin’ spectacular work as dance directors. Utilising the strengths of solo artists to deliver impressively resonating numbers with a bit more bite and edge than the Gang Show is used to, but also ensuring that Gang ensemble numbers still run with relative ease, only a handful of tiny-tot collisions over the course of the evening.

Building to Tara Boynton’s passionate performance of Kate Bush’s Running Up The Hill, a song so overplayed since its Stranger Things inclusion, Boynton brings it right back into the hearts of many – a commendable performance. Equally, Lara Brechin delivers a sentimental and well-controlled rendition of Ed Sheeran’s Celestial leading into a stellar moment for the night – Matthew Knowles’ intimate and emotional take on Sam Ryder’s Fought & Lost, already possessing a voice destined for solos and either the pop or stage world.

Officially, this year’s Gang Show sparks the Christmas season with a lengthy sequence dedicated to  Christmastown complete with elves and candy canes. Benefitting from Alan Hunter and the wardrobe team, who do a spiffing job of ensuring all the sequins and gowns make it to the stage intact. They’re all lit up with James Gow’s special touch, which provides additional dimensions of shade and vivid colour, which often makes way (or intensifies) Lee Murphy’s video design which is unobtrusive and offers a change of space and other areas to play with and enhance the overall aesthetic of the show.

Another belter of a show, another year in the bag. Carrying the torch of variety, The Edinburgh Gang Show does it all: they sing, dance, laugh, entertain, and there might even be a tear or two. A warming evening provides the opportunity and freedom for hundreds to explore their artistic capabilities, and there’s a resounding sense of pride emanating from the Festival Theatre audience. For those with family, friends, and colleagues on stage – to those who just want to support their local Scouts and Girl Guides.