When it comes to musicals there will inevitably be a chorus of voices asking why there has to be any songs in a show at all. As a whole heap of musicals join the barrage of shows coming to Edinburgh, so too will the critics who say these affairs are just fluff. But this year’s crop of theatre talent certainly has the lungs to answer them.

‘Musicals are often put in a box and I kind of don’t think they should be,’ says Sam Norman, the lyricist behind Come Dine With Me: The Musical. ‘It is not a genre, it is a medium, and you can say whatever you want in that medium.’ Together with composer Aaron Nihal King, the pair take us behind the scenes during a particularly disastrous fictional episode of the iconic Channel 4 show. Norman and King’s partnership is just one example of performers and writers launching a new era of musical theatre; one that breaks away from the safety of a jukebox musical and celebrates risky original ideas making it big after Fringe runs.

This year alone you’ll be able to see topless queer pirates swashbuckling in the punk-gig sounds of Tit Swingers. Or if you have a more sensitive soul then Pop Off, Michelangelo! tells the story of artistic legends seeking forgiveness for their queerness by becoming two of the most influential artists ever. Set to an infectious electropop soundtrack of course.

Meanwhile, Our Little Secret: The 23andMe Musical is an all-true modern story of one man’s search for the many siblings he never actually knew he had. Plus, and as wholly unlikely as it might all seem, there are musicals across August based on The Silence Of The Lambs, spelling bees, Jane Austen, Bette Davis, Wallis Simpson, Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen Of Scots, Jaffa Cakes (biscuit or cake?), KC And The Sunshine Band, the Great Emu War of 1932, Glasgow’s recent Wonka disaster, the Gwyneth Paltrow ski trial, and gene-editing technology.

And maybe, one of those cited above will be the next break-out Fringe hit to spread its wings beyond a shipping container or lecture room and conquer the world. You certainly can’t talk about Fringe musical-theatre success stories without mentioning Six: The Musical which went from hotel conference room performances in 2017 to their West End debut two years later. The tide of public opinion on musicals seems to be changing with a newfound hunger for fresh concepts. ‘I don’t know if it’s because we are in the musical-theatre bubble,’ notes King, ‘but it seems to me that in the last five years or so, more and more people have become increasingly interested in this genre. There is an appetite for it.’

And now some established acts are turning their talents to musicals. Comedy music duo Flo & Joan, aka sisters Nicola and Rosie Dempsey, have appeared on Live At The Apollo, and are very used to seeing the sold-out signs go up outside their Fringe venue. This year they bring us One-Man Musical, the story of a renowned yet deliberately ambiguous creative gentleman. ‘Hopefully British stuff is having a little renaissance because it was dying on its hole for a long time,’ says Rosie. ‘I don’t think I can handle another jukebox musical entering my algorithm.’ Lovely as it can be to see more traditional-style musicals with original scores, there is always a danger of getting stuck in the past. ‘You see that kind of producing habit of like “oh, well this thing is popular right now so we’re going to keep making that,”’ adds Nicola. ‘You need people to be looking forward as well.’

One of those people is Brendan Bradley. His new show Non-Player Character: Live Virtual Reality Musical is exactly that. Four audience members join Bradley onstage in VR headsets while the action is projected onto a screen. It’s a bold blend of technology, creativity and improvisation, aimed at bringing audiences a new kind of art. ‘This is all part of not just a new era of storytelling and musical theatre, but actually, a new chapter of human art,’ Bradley insists. ‘We’re about to get hit with a bunch of content that is not human-generated and is merely meant to oversaturate, occupying our time and our experience. What we really want is connection and intimacy.’ 

It is hard to nail down exactly when eras begin and end. And maybe that’s not really for us to decide. Some may say we’re living through a golden age of musical theatre. Others will scoff at the idea. If these new shows are anything to go by, then the Fringe looks to be in safe hands (and in fine voice) for some time to come.

Come Dine With Me: The Musical, Underbelly Bristo Square, 31 July–25 August 2.20pm; One-Man Musical By Flo & Joan, Pleasance Dome, 31 July–25 August, 7pm; Non-Player Character: Live Virtual Reality Musical, Imaginex At Yotel, 2–25 August, 9pm, and live online at ZOOTV; main picture: Matt Crockett.