Edinburgh 2022: Review: BABY WANTS CANDY, Assembly George Square Studios

The worldwide, critically acclaimed Fringe sell-outs are finally back in Edinburgh, bringing with them their insane talent for improvising an entire musical on the spot.

The idea is simple but... also incredibly complex. The crowd shouts out ideas for a musical, the gang chooses the best few and the winner is voted via audience applause. The gang then play out the entirety of the musical within a short time limit of 50 minutes or so. Oh yeah, and it is all improvised.

Some brilliant ideas were called out from the crowd; HamilTony Montana, The Phantom of the org*sm (one woman in the audience was particularly encouraging of this title) and the winner of the night, The Book of Hormones.

The excellent band at the side of the stage - who play you in to the venue when you first arrive and are truly fantastic - kick things off with an opening musical composition whilst the members of the troupe hilariously stumble their way into the beginning of the story.

On both the opening and closing night of The Book of Hormones, the story follows two young boys in Florida as they begin going through puberty. Their mother, the leader of a weird puberty-anti-gay cult tells them to leave home and spread the word about puberty. All the while in the background the evil closeted mayor of Florida attempts to rid Florida of homosexuality.

Watching the members trying to remember important plot details or constantly shifting the task of naming the cult to one another is hilarious, with the stand out of the cast being the portrayer of Florida's mayor. Any scene involving him very quickly became the best scenes of the entire show and his hilarious off the cuff comments and total commitment to the bit had the room roaring with laughter.

However funny or clever or surprisingly well put together the show may be, the show stands out primarily because of the insane ad libbing abilities of the cast. Not only are they able to create good, catchy songs but their ability to dance and sing on stage, all the while observing their cast mates to ensure that they are keeping up with them and ready to take over just shows how talented they are.

Furthermore, the entire cast always seems on the same wave length, very quickly being able to bounce off of one another or join each other in song. It truly is a sight to behold and a show that would be very rare to see again.

The troupe's approach to creating an entirely new show every night means that every night will be of a different standard. Whilst The Book of Hormones wasn't quite a masterpiece there is no doubt that any other night of Baby Wants Candy's Fringe run could be 5-star worthy.

Baby Wants Candy is a show that is dependent on the musical that is chosen, and so each night really is a roll of the dice. With that said, however, you will always receive a show of the highest quality when it comes to Baby Wants Candy.

Baby Wants Candy perform at Assembly George Square Studios until 28 August.

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