Friendsical: A Parody Musical About Friends follows Ross who is trying to write a show about his and Rachel’s relationship and attempting to cram 10 seasons worth of episodes into 90 minutes.

The show starts off humorous enough, with some scene setting and rediscovering our favourite characters in the shape of new actors however this appeal quickly wears off. The jumping around in the chronology eventually becomes so confusing and the jokes repeated that it goes downhill rapidly.

The saving grace of the Friendsical is some of the talented cast. Sarah Goggin as Monica and Thomas Mitchells as Chandler not only sound and behave like their characters but they also look eerily like them. Every move they made and the slightest expression they pulled drew me further and further into believing I was watching the real deal. This therefore made the Monica and Chandler moments some of the more endearing moments to watch. Jamie Lee-Morgan as Ross was the shows narrator and most of Friendsical focused on his relationship with Rachel. He had the geeky side of Ross down to a ‘T’.

The title of the show does promise a ‘parody’ of Friends however in reality Miranda Larson has made it much more of a roller-coaster recap of the episodes, with actually very little parody in it. Friendsical’s does have funny moments but this was due to the source material rather than the shows own take on it. The one or two moments they do try to parody the show sit uncomfortably with the rest of the material as these references are so few and far between the audience is unsure what to make of it.

The songs by Barrie Bignold, whilst all sung well, were forgettable. The songs ranged from numerous love/hate duets between Rachel and Ross to songs about Richard’s moustache to Janis’ foghorn voice but all of which fail to really raise a laugh from the audience. Considering the wealth of source material they had to choose from this is a real let down.

The set was one of the more impressive that you can expect to see at the Edinburgh Fringe and there was everything from Joey and Chandler’s reclining chairs to the purple doorway with the framed peep hole which immediately meant that the audience knew where they were in each scene and added to that nostalgic feel.

Whilst a Friends super fan may enjoy this show for a nostalgic trip down memory lane delivered by 6 strong impressionists those heading to Friendsical: A Parody Musical About Friends for some comedy or even parody may want to give it a miss and head for a stand up show instead.

Friendsical: A Parody Musical About Friends is on at the Assembly Rooms – Music Hall from 13:00 – 14:30.

If you like this review you might also like my review of Trump The Musical, Vulvarine and Now That’s What I Call Brexit.