Presented by Arthur Hull presented by Seabright Live

Review by Hunter King

Wine Bar at Gilded Balloon Teviot

Some shows are meant to be on the stage and some inevitably will flop, but Arthur Hull claims that every show has something beautiful hidden inside of it, and that musicals inevitably will have at least one song that is worth listening to. He attempts to prove that true by performing one song from each of the biggest musical flops in his show Flop! : The Best Songs From The Worst Musicals. 

Hull is a natural performer with a voice to back up his claims naturally. It is no shock that he was a finalist on “The Voice: Australia” but, it is more of a shock that he is not performing on Broadway or the West End. With a similar style to Jeremy Jordan but the energy of a Tasmanian Devil, Hull is a whirlwind of musical wonder on the stage. Throughout the show Hull admits he picked songs from flops that he was excited to sing, and some of these shows have garnered more positive attention in recent years, or had some level of critical success, but all had one thing in common, that something didn’t work at one point or another with each show.

Admittedly, having listened to many of the songs after the show, it is clear that Hull’s renditions of the songs he performs are often better than the original, as is the case for “A Whale of a Tale” from Moby Dick and “The Dress” from the notorious Netflix flop Diana: The Musical. Which are both songs that are really not fantastic, but somehow Hull brings a life into them that would easily add them to any musical theatre playlist. 

On top of being vocally impressive, Flop! is exceptionally funny. Hull brings a passion to the conversation about each musical he is delving into, which can turn to mania in moments that examine really poor decision making from the show teams of the original musicals each number is from. His outburst regarding the lyrics to “The Dress” and the Tom Hooper film Cats got some of the hardest laughs.

Hull is a natural showman and immaculate vocalist, one can only hope that he will release an album of the music from Flop! to give these songs the second chance he insists they deserve, but until then, this show is the only way to hear these songs in a way that is entertaining and a full broadway spectacle. Flop! might just be one of the biggest misnomers out there, because rest easy, this show is a hit!

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