That's quite an unfair review, I mean it's a best of the year show.
Congrats Griff at being the Phantom of the Opera of News Revue.
NewsRevue Edinburgh reviews
Newsrevue is ace, and the audience really loved the preview show.
And that's an amateur review, lets flame the bugger 9joking).
Oh right.
Bah. But I suppose whose going to praise such an old show highly.
Eveything must progress.
Who's got stuff into the Edinburgh run, apart from you two?
They should pay Mark and Aaron commission.
Hey, Griff, you were looking in the wrong place. This one tells it how it really is.
Published Date: 06 August 2008
Source: Edinburgh Evening News
Location: Edinburgh
Ensemble rip into the year's news with hilarious results
By KANE MUMFORD
Newsrevue *****
Udderbelly, Cowbarn
RECENTLY, it's been easier to get depressed by the news than it is to purchase a flat in Panama.
And although the folk at Newsrevue are unable to bring democracy to Zimbabwe or slash the price of a barrel of oil, by jingo they can see the funny side of world affairs.
Returning to the Fringe for its 29th season, this all singing, all dancing ADVERTISEMENTcrack at the headlines promised to be as incisive as ever and, if the evidence shown during this performance was anything to go by, it won't disappoint.
The show makes sport of the events of the last 12 months in a mix of sketches while parodying pop classics. Featuring the crème of the ever-shifting team of writers and performers from the London show, the comic timing, material and talent brought to Edinburgh is formidable.
Katy Cotterrel, the Newsrevue's talented vocalist, did great turns as Ms Sarkozy and Amy Winehouse, emulating their foibles with note perfect hilarity, while prancing provocatively around the Cowbarn stage to the tongue-in-cheek piano which provided the shows soundtrack.
While other tabloid fodder was admirably sent up in sketches including impressionist Helen Colby's savage annihilation of Heather Mills amongst others, nothing was safe from Newsrevue's comedic slant.
More worthy subjects were treated with equal irreverence as Gordon Brown and cowboy king, George Bush, received a hilarious dressing down from Nick Afka and Will Allen respectively.
The success of the Newsrevue format comes from its broad appeal. It manages to provide satire for the masses while at the same time successfully shying away from snobbery.
This, combined with a performance during which all concerned delivered genuinely funny material in an impeccably groomed manner, make the watcher grateful for freedom of speech. Runs until August 25 (not 11).
Quote: Griff @ August 7 2008, 11:49 AM BST(Sorry for sounding so pleased with myself. But I've never ever had anything reviewed before.)
Well, if you ever posted in Critique . . .
the bloke who did the first review was a John Kennedy and he's probably still a bit pissed off about getting shot.
here is the latest edinburgh review
Newsrevue
Canal Cafe Theatre
Underbelly Cow Barn
****
Fringe fixture Newsrevue once again brings the best bits of its satirical revue shows at the Canal Cafe Theatre in London from the past year to the Fringe, but has now moved from the underground theatre at C Chambers Street to Underbelly's Cow Barn on Bristo Square, otherwise known as the Reid Concert Hall.
For the uninitiated, Newsrevue consists of sketches and songs about current events in the news with a few voiceover one-liners to link it all together. The songs are all well-known tunes with new lyrics, such as the opening number Cabaret changed to be about the elections in Zimbabwe, Elton John's Crocodile Rock adapted to be about a certain ill-fated building society and a clever re-writing of Maria from West Side Story to refer to the controversy over the Archbishop of Canterbury talking about Sharia law. There are a couple of medleys, one of Bee Gees songs about hoodies with knives and a finale about the US elections to various Meatloaf songs.
Other targets in this year's show include Heather Mills, Richard and Judy, Charlotte Church, Gillian McKeith, President Musharraf of Pakistan and Robert Mugabe. As always with this type of show, some material really works well and other parts don't quite work. Gordon Brown's Shakespearean dream is very clever, but simply portraying George Bush as a stupid cowboy seems like an unimaginative cliché now. However there is plenty in the show that is very funny and quite hard-hitting, and they step over a few boundaries that TV satires such as Have I Got News For You and Mock The Week are probably not allowed to cross.
As always, the four performers are superb and attack the show with an incredible energy. This year's team consists of Helen Colby — who has a very impressive singing voice — Katie Cotterell, Nick Afka and Will Allen, with musical director Pete Smith once more providing the constant soundtrack at the piano. The director is James Burton.
There are one or two technical deficiencies, such as a very muffled backstage microphone making the offstage announcements unclear and an entrance curtain that flashes a bright fire exit sign every time someone enters or exits in a blackout, but this very popular Fringe regular fits well into its new venue and has a show that is well up to its usual standard.
David Chadderton
Well done, and deserved it.
I will slink off to anonymity again.
Yes but that's a review you can cut out and keep.
Show to your disinterested grandkids, as they make you sign away your home.
Fringe COMEDY 2008
4 STARS www. one4review .com
Newsrevue
I think it now common knowledge that Canal Café Theatres News revue is as much part of the Edinburgh scene in August as the Tattoo and is very nearly as popular, certainly far more so with this reviewer.
For almost 20 years now I have had this production at the very top of my must see list and I have never been disappointed in their productions.
The format does not change, four satirical satirists, this year Helen Colby, Katie Cotterell, Nick Afka and Will Allen backed up by perennial MD Pete Smith and a wicked repertoire of comic songs and bitingly ironic skits on the world of celebrity and politics. The list of those who are satirized is almost too vast, I certainly noted well over twenty different situations featuring such luminaries as Mugabwe, Brown George W, Ian Paisley, Richard & Judy, Amy Winehouse, Ann Robinson, Heather Mills…… the list could go on.
This year's move to the more spacious Cowbarn has introduced radio mikes for the first time and while there was the odd problem with these it certainly made the show accessible to the whole vast space. The whole production as always just oozes class from the off and even though it is very early in the run I would predict that tickets will soon be almost impossible to obtain except maybe from e-bay so get yours fast.
****
Fringe Programme Page No p300
Company Canal Cafe Theatre
Venue Name and Number Udderbelly's Pasture Cow Barn V300 (c15)
Dates and Times 31st July to 25th August 18:00 to 19:00
Three Weeks
NewsRevue
Canal Café Theatre
Having seen this show last year, I thought it couldn't get any better, but I can safely say that 'NewsRevue' has surpassed itself with its topical sketch comedy. From the US presidential election to the Shannon Matthews case, no media stone has been left unturned, and though some sketches might be considered to be in bad taste, it was so funny no one seemed to notice. My personal favourite was Gordon Brown's Shakespearean nightmare ('Friends, voters, Conservatives! Give me ideas!'), as I was amazed at how the Bard's speeches had been tweaked into one big fat political rant. A hilarious reminder of the year's events, unless you don't watch the news. In which case, 'NewsRevue' will get you up to date.
Udderbelly's Pasture, 31 Jul - 25 Aug (not 11), 6.00pm (7.00pm), prices vary, fpp 81
tw rating: 5/5
published: Aug-2008
Who did the Fritzl/Sound of Music stuff?