Unique, energetic, thought-provoking and with a truly stellar cast, Janski Productions’ Get Got is what the Edinburgh Fringe is all about.
From the get-go (excuse the pun), we become the audience of a live American TV chat show, ‘The Today, Tonight Show’. The host, Preston Quick, (think David Hasselhoff meets Piers Morgan) is half way into his 50-year contract with the program and has become disillusioned with the job. Much to the disdain of his fresh-faced and camp-as-Christmas co-presenter Wayne Johnson, Quick is determined to get out of the hollow TV chat-show circuit and relishes in setting up his guests in verbal and physical pranks. The celebrity interviewees literally Get Got and the viewing figures soar!
The cast, an amalgamation of experienced West End, Broadway and TV actors, is sensational, and both book and score are handled with dexterity. Get Got is a fantastic showcase for three performers in particular, who are each faultless in their characterisation and vocal finesse: Charlotte Harwood as house band lead-singer Kerry Jackson, Sophie Isaacs as Disney channel star Sophie Lee, and Conleth Kane as side-kick Wayne Johnson.
Although the rock score and the farcical script may not appeal to all audiences, Get Got explores the psychological cost and apparent ineffectuality of fame, and in doing so, resonates poignantly with the celebrity-obsessed culture within which we live.
