Rating: ★★★★
Venue: Paradise in Augustines, Edinburgh
Three of a Kind follows Sam as she juggles her responsibilities as a daughter in modern-day America. We follow Sam through her journey of acceptance, growth and love. Originating in 2018 by Gregor Satti and Rebekah Holly Neilson in their final year of university, Three of a Kind is a contemporary musical with an original score and thought-provoking story, adapted by Amy Nic for its professional world premiere.
Three Of A Kind is a new musical, born originally as a song cycle for Rebekah Neilson and Gregor Satti’s dissertation project for their Musical Theatre degrees. The show follows Sam (Daisy Maver Young) as she works herself to the bone as a waitress in exchange for unfair treatment and minimum wage in order to try to make sure her mothers medical bills are covered, all while grieving someone she hasn’t lost yet.
The show has a gorgeous and cleverly written soundtrack with insightful lyrics and beautiful vocal arrangements and harmonies that blend in such a way that creates nothing short of magic. The track list contains some lovely solos and duets and holds space to highlight every character and performer individually. As enjoyable as they all were, I did find myself feeling there was a little something missing, and would’ve loved one or two more group numbers to aid development of the narrative and create more opportunity for the audience to connect with the cast as a whole and experience group dynamics as well as individual ones. And of course it would be another chance to hear more of the genuine magic created each time this group blend their voices together.
The writing and music both take clear inspiration from other existing shows, with Next To Normal and Waitress being the most prominent. But while these influences can be seen clearly, the show did not feel stale or repeated. The show successfully manages to feel very fresh and unpredictable in the content and music, yet warmly familiar at the same time.
The entire cast are very talented, with particular stand out performances from Ciaran Walshe as Michael, and the leading lady herself Daisy Maver Young as Sam. The two sing a duet in the second act that’s so incredibly powerful that, along with the final number, becomes the highlight of the show.
This is the first run of the show as a complete, full length musical and, with a little further development, this show could definitely stand up against the current selection of professional productions on and off the West End. I wanted some more background to Sam’s relationship with Annabelle (Nicole Dickie) as this is something not explored and the audience have little context, so at first it was a little jarring that the depth of the relationship shown through their interactions did not seem to match our understanding of who they were. Similarly with Jamie’s (Sheridan Townsley) mother Laura (Sarah-Louise Donnelly), this story allows for a really special relationship between mother and son, but we as an audience weren’t given the chance to emotionally connect to that, or to her as a character. Laura has very little involvement in the story and there were times I questioned the necessity of her character. Ultimately I think it could be an incredibly special addition but I don’t know that this current version of the show uses her to her full potential.
I had a lovely conversation with the shows creators, Rebekah and Gregor, at the end of the show and among other things they shared their desire to move away from some of the stereotypical features that are seen repeated through many existing musicals that discuss mental health and I feel this show does just that. It’s refreshing to see shows that tell real stories that real people can relate to, without a happy ever after because real life isn’t a fairytale.
The show is not a light easy watch, dealing with some dark and difficult themes, but it also has its fair share of joy, friendship and humour.
You can book tickets to see Three of a Kind, here.
Review by Rachel
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