Fanny and Stella

“Fun, flamboyant outdoor production”

ReviewsAug 12, 2020by Paul ValeThe Eagle, London

Jed Berry and Kane Verrall in Fanny and Stella at the Eagle, London. Photo: Alex Hinson

Buoyant music-hall adaptation of a Victorian cause célèbre that kick-starts the London fringe back into business

Glenn Chandler’s musical comedy Fanny and Stella first saw the light of day at Above the Stag in 2015. Chandler, perhaps best known as the creator of Taggart, drew on court transcripts and often salacious news reports to tell the story of Ernest Boulton and Frederick Park, two young men who shocked Victorian society by regularly dressing as women.

It’s a story that could quite successfully transpose to a sumptuous television drama but the celebration here is that Fanny and Stella marks the tentative return of musicals to the London fringe.

Under extraordinary circumstances, the producers and director Steven Dexter have staged a fun, flamboyant outdoor production. Strict measures are in place to ensure the safety of cast and audience, but as one character points out in this autobiographical music hall, history is being made tonight.

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Joaquin Pedro Valdes and Mark Pearce in Fanny and Stella at the Eagle, London. Photo: Alex Hinson

Kurt Kansley in Fanny and Stella at the Eagle, London. Photo: Alex Hinson

Jed Berry as Ernest/Stella and Kane Verrall as Frederick/Fanny bring warmth and a sense of perspective to the complex roles. Painted here by Chandler as queer frontiersmen, they play up the camp to great effect. It is, however, the intricacy of their romantic entanglements that give the show its poignancy, supported by a talented ensemble including Alex Lodge as Ernest’s childhood sweetheart and Joaquin Pedro Valdes as the dashing, devil-may-care American consul.

Aaron Clingham’s musical direction reveals the light and shade of Charles Miller’s evocative score adding to the revelry of Chandler’s subversive lyrics. Audience numbers may be restricted and the performances may well be at the mercy of the weather but nothing can hide the celebratory air of this production.