Spraywatch: A Beautiful Rescue musical review – Self-mocking shenanigans
Delightfully tongue-in-cheek, Spraywatch pokes fun at musicals and 90s shows with power ballad parodies and puns aplenty
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There’s trouble in Santa Monica. The chief lifeguard has developed a smidge of cellulite and, as such, must be exiled from the perky, perfect world of surf and sand. In an act of revenge she travels to the UK, to one of the world’s most unappealing beaches, Spray, to see if she can turn it around and win the coveted position at the top of the Association Of Shoreline Standards (ASS) league.
With strong Drag Race ‘Ru-sical’ vibes, this show, from writer-composer Hywel Evans, affectionately sends up not only its primary source, Baywatch, but the genre of musicals in general. We have contemplative questing songs (in this case relentlessly punning on ‘cellulite’), a heroine who has to conform to the community (by downing pints in a pub called The Stink), hidden villains, obstacles to overcome and unlikely friendships to be forged.
The jewel in the crown is recurring power ballad ‘You Can Fuck Off’ (prepare for an earworm) and the whole show is stupid in the best possible way: fun, smart, with sharp lyrics, energetically performed. Izabella Webb, in the chief lifeguard role (you do find out her name, but that would be a spoiler), is a comic star in the making.
Spraywatch: A Beautiful Rescue, Space Niddry Street, until 29 August, 7.30pm; picture: Derek Stuart Cole.