Jason’s chat will do
Jason Donovan and his Amazing Midlife Crisis (Assembly George Square) Verdict: Stating the obvious ★★★✩✩
Exiting 1980s teen heart-throb Jason Donovan’s debut at the Fringe, two thoughts struck me about this amiable enough, if aimless, autobiographical trawl through the former neighbours star’s life and times.
One, his midlife crisis isn’t really all that amazing – still working, clean living, happily married with three kids, and no vices to speak of.
And secondly, despite turning 50 in June, it isn’t a midlife crisis Donovan’s going through at the moment so much as a medical one, problems with muscle tension in his vocal chords one of the reasons he had to temporarily pull the plug on this UK tour, which he discusses later.
After a spot of home video, the show starts off promisingly enough with Donovan performing a stripped back acoustic version of his hit single Any Dream Will Do from Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing technicolor Dreamcoat. Fans note: it’s one of only a handful of numbers performed here.
He then engages the audience with an overview of his career – from fame in the 1980s to drugfuelled car crash in the ’90s and coming out the other side – and his decision to stage a show reflecting on his ‘ups and downs’ and ‘the perfect storm of celebrity’. All of it peppered with platitudes about true happiness being family and love etc, ad nauseam.
to help things along and show us his journey from Erinsborough to Edinburgh, we’re also treated to a tame Q&A on stage from some random bloke called Andy covering the main categories mentioned above, complete with neighbours and music video clips.
Surely an audience Q&A would have reaped richer rewards?
to these he adds anecdotal asides to flesh out the show: how neighbours was watched by 23million UK viewers in 1989 when the population of Australia was only 17million; collapsing at Kate Moss’s 21st birthday party at LA’s the Viper Room, earning £30,000 a week doing Joseph; taking coke and ecstasy to appear cool; hooking up with Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
the insights are hardly earthshattering, or news to his fans, plenty of whom, mostly female, appear to make up the majority of the room.
in fairness, despite the showbiz tic of always mentioning how many records he has sold and all the musicals he has starred in, he’s not afraid to laugh at himself, donning double denim and a wig for one number or showing a picture of a fast food ‘Jason Donervan’ – but some of the best moments here in a bland hour come from his ad libs.
Assembly George Square, until tomorrow