Fangirls | Adelaide Festival 2021 review

Part pop concert, all musical theatre … Fangirls’ new kids on the block have West End smash written all over them.

Adelaide Festival 2021. Karis Oka, centre, as Edna leads the cast of Fangirls. Picture: Brett Boardman, supplied.

FANGIRLS

Theatre / AUS

FESTIVAL

Ridley Centre, Adelaide Showground

Until March 14

All the excitement, self-discovery and heightened emotions of being a teenager – or even a tween – come bursting to life in the exhilarating, exuberant musical that is Fangirls.

It won’t matter whether you are a 14-year-old fan of the current crop of boy bands, or grew up with Take That and Boyzone, or are a 50-something man-boy who just got excited that KISS has announced another Australian tour.

Fangirls captures the passion that only burns so intensely for your very first Indecent Obsession – remember them? – and stays with you for life.

Adelaide Festival 2021. Fangirls, by Belvoir. Picture: Brett Boardman, supplied,

It is very funny, filled with deliciously dark twists, and crammed with tunes that could pass for any of today’s chart hits.

Creator Yve Blake, who not only wrote the musical’s book, music and lyrics but also starred in its original production, also taps knowingly into the perspective of parents – and how their experiences and memories are not so far removed from their children’s.

There are many extraordinary new talents among the diverse cast who are destined to become household names of the future.

Karis Oka steps into the lead role of Edna who, along with her school and cyber friends, is infatuated with Harry, the lead singer of True Connection – a thinly veiled stand-in for Harry Styles from One Direction.

Oka mixes hopscotch moves with hip-hop in her astonishing dance routines and hits some phenomenal notes between trembling, on-the-verge-of-tears spoken passages as Edna concocts a plan to make her fangirl fiction come true.

Adelaide Festival 2021. Fangirls, by Belvoir. Aydan Calafiore (centre) as Harry with his “boy band” True Connection. Picture: Brett Boardman, supplied,

Former Young Talent Time member and The Voice contestant Aydan Calafiore is the real deal as Harry and commands your adoration.

When the female cast don outrageous wigs and costumes to play the other members of the “boy” band in a superbly choreographed concert scene, Aydan still stands out for the sheer supremacy of his performance.

As Edna’s gay US internet friend Salty, James Majoos is astonishing. The pitch and purity of his vocals, his comic timing and the emotional depth of his acting are simply something else to behold.

Chika Ikogwe, Shubshri Kandiah and Ayesha Madon also provide fantastic comic support as Edna’s friends, showing both the competitiveness and support that are part of growing up.

Adelaide Festival 2021. Fangirls, by Belvoir. Picture: Brett Boardman, supplied,

Fabulous use of the Ridley Centre venue actually puts some regular theatres to shame, with two banks of comfortably raked seating angled towards a diagonal stage space.

Five high resolution screens of different dimensions, between which the actors make their entrances and exits, create an ever-changing candy coloured array of backdrops and collaged video effects.

One minute you are in Edna’s bedroom, the next in the front row at a concert, and the next part of a global network of tweeting and TikTok-ing teens.

These new kids on the block (sorry) have West End smash written all over them.

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