Scouts! The Musical
Sitting amongst a sea of neckerchiefs and toggles, it’s clear that Gigglemug Comedy are well aware of their target audience for this new musical which shines a comedic light on the institution that is the Scouts. Founded in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, the scouting movement now globally teaches children life skills for their futures. Scouts! The Musical embraces the very nature of the Scouting movement, adding in some lessons of friendship, but most importantly fun.
This show has already garnered great success from previous runs but is now conducting a modest tour across 4 locations for its final hurrah. The audience interaction during this show is what sets it apart from traditional musicals, as you literally have no idea how the chosen few will react. Thankfully at the show I attended each person chosen, all from the scouting movement, slotted right in and added that extra element of humour for the cast to bounce off.
Talking of the cast, we were awash with exceptional talent, as all performers also play musical instruments throughout the show. Eleanor Fransch as Eliza has an exceptional voice, able to fill the space with ease belting out some very impressive notes. Burhan Kathawala as Joe bought a level of tenderness to his role of someone who just wanted to make friends. Returning to the production for this run are Kemi Clarke as Scout Leader Dylan, Katie Pritchard as Rosie, Emily Kitchingham as Charlotte and Rob Gathercole as Luke/Linus Lionheart. Each and every performer really does work so hard to showcase their talents during this 2-hour show (to include an interval).
We find ourselves at the Scout Games where a very special gold badge is up for grabs for the winning scout, however, enter Charlotte (Emily Kitchingham) a disgruntled past contender who was beaten to the badge by her nemesis Linus Lionheart (Rob Gathercole), whose character bears a striking resemblance to former Chief Scout Bear Grylls! Charlotte tries to infiltrate her way into the competition by using her hypnosis skills, a badge now discontinued by the Scouts! However, Eliza (Eleanor Fransch) and Joe (Burhan Kathawala) are able to scupper her plans at the last minute to become victors by winning the competition, but by also building a new friendship through the trials and tribulations encountered during the games.
There is an element of needing to know a little back history of the Scouts to understand some of the jokes contained in this show, such as the fact that there is a badge for everything, apart from hypnosis now obviously! Each song featured in this show with music and lyrics by David Fallon, and book and lyrics by Sam Cochrane (also Director) enhance the storytelling with mainly upbeat and hand clapping numbers that certainly continue the theme of audience interaction, however for me the sound on the night was too out of balance, with many of the vocals being slightly drowned out by the onstage instruments.
The writing is clever, funny, fast paced and also meaningful with the overall message being of friendship, which for the audience of pre-teens and teenagers they would have gone away with a very important message. I very much appreciated the clever line about how hard it is to write and produce a new musical, and I have to agree, however Gigglemug Comedy seem to have the basis here for a very successful new musical and I look forward to seeing its onward journey.
This show was reviewed on the 6th June 2025 at The Crescent Theatre, Birmingham. For full tour dates please visit: Gigglemug Theatre | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree
Review written by Emma Rowley
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Photo credit: Benkin Photography
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