Tony of Arabia

Pleasance Dome    31 July - 2 August, 4-5, 7-9, 11, 14-16, 18-19, 21-23, 25 @ 17.30    White Rose Theatre

Tony of Arabia is the sequel to White Rose Theatre’s hugely popular hit from last year’s Fringe Festival, Tony! The Blair Musical, and it looks set to follow in the same footsteps.

With an extremely clever book, combined with fantastically funny lyrics and some great one-liners, the piece seems to bring the audience closer to an understanding of the personal situations that the man himself was involved in. In fact, rather than throw punches, the show does more to humanise Blair than any of his spin doctors or PR people were able to do. I suspect that what Tony of Arabia presents us with - through all the satire, gags and gentle nudging – is far closer to the truth than one might expect.

The plot is superbly supported and narrated by a great cast including James Duckworth’s unnervingly accurate Blair, Ellie Cox as the beautifully sung Cherie, and Gavin Whitworth’s hilarious George W Bush. The writing/composing team of Chris Bush and Ian McCluskey is certainly one to watch. They’ll grow out of their Blair years, but I’m sure the talent will keep growing with other shows – hopefully before Duckworth becomes too much like the character he’s portraying!