Directed by Joe McNeice
Written by Nora Brigid Monahan
Music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen
Review by Annie Aslett
Tickets for Diva: Live From Hell are a hot commodity, as rave reviews for this returning show pack in the punters. Heat is also the first thing you’re hit with as you enter Underbelly’s Belly Button venue, the dark room is a sauna as the audience files in. Less an artistic choice and more the reality of backroom Fringe venues, the close, tense atmosphere that the heat creates is nonetheless fitting, as the show opens on our narrator in the depths of hell.
Luke Bayer is Desmond Channing, an underworld-dweller after a high school theatre feud goes south. Fabulous songs penned by Alexander Sage Oyen are child’s play for Bayer as he confidently guides us through the story of his death. Bayer is a force of nature as Desmond, biting and antagonistic towards the crowd – some of the show’s funniest moments come when Bayer pauses for a well-deserved drink, still in character but improving as he takes swipes at the front row for various effronteries. Bayer doesn’t give for a second; no cheeky grins here to let his victim off the hook, embodying the vicious snap of the self-aggrandising theatre group president (think homicidal Sharpay Evans). Various artists come to mind when watching Bayer – Neil Patrick Harris, Reuben Kaye, Andrew Scott – like these performers, Bayer deftly juggles comedy, musicality and drama.
Director Joe McNeice’s set is simple yet used to great effect, focussed around a bank of high school lockers. Watching Bayer strain and bitch when he turns his back to the audience, face only visible in the slim mirror within one of the lockers, is almost harrowing as the audience zeroes in on his ranting.
This is a one-man musical, so Bayer plays all the other low-ranking players in Desmond’s tale. As Evan Harris, the jock with no stage experience who swipes the role and the girl from under Desmond’s nose, Bayer is hysterically committed. Bayer knows what works and isn’t afraid to ham up this caricature – flavours of ‘Justins‘ Timberlake and Bieber, though the unfortunate in the crowd will recognise the unmistakeable tang of Jedward in their TikTok era.
Bayer’s interactions with himself as he Jekyll-and-Hydes between Desmond and his put-upon best friend, Ally Hewitt, are as slick as they are hilarious – Bayer is never more impressive than lisping his way through Ally’s emotional solo number.
This balance of humour and poignancy, levity and darkness, is the alchemy that makes this show the engrossing hour that it is – the harmony of an exceptional performer delivering an exceptionally well-crafted show written by Nora Brigid Monahan. Don’t miss your chance to see it at Underbelly Cowgate until 25th August.
Review by Annie Aslett (contact@corrblimey.uk)
Annie is a not-so-recent graduate of the University of Edinburgh with a degree in French and Spanish, along with a Masters in Translation from the University of Glasgow. A Spanish teacher for three years, she decided to leave the classroom behind to pursue personal goals and has since been regularly reviewing for Corr Blimey’s Glaswegian wing. Annie is a life-long lover of musical theatre, whose childhood performances included a rousing production of Snow White in The Hall and a heartfelt rendition of Go, Go, Go Joseph in The Living Room.
