Edinburgh Festival

Mickey & Judy was a sold out hit at last year's Toronto Fringe Festival and is now off to NYC and Edinburgh! Before it makes its' international debut the show will return to The Toronto Centre for the Arts for one night only on April 21st, 2012. The enigmatic and extremely funny star, Michael Hughes, took a few minutes to talk to BWW about the show, his love of showtunes, Smash versus Glee and more.

2008: MACBETH, directed and adapted by Grzegorz Jarzyna, plays at the Edinburgh International Festival, August 11 to 18. In this scary trailer for the show, we get a preview of the pyrotechnics, immersive video effects and layered soundscape Jarzyna uses to transform Shakespeare's web of politics, ambition and the supernatural into a contemporary, and highly physical, theatrical film.

Almost 3000 artists from 47 nations will gather to share the live experience of theatre, dance, opera and music with audiences from approximately a third of the world's nations at Edinburgh International Festival 2012. This year the festival will take place August 9 to September 2.

After an award-winning debut run in 2010, Fresher the Musical returns to the Edinburgh Fringe, chest puffed and with a confident swagger, its flyer announcing a cast recording and the release of the amateur rights to perform it. And it has every right to be cocky - it's a highly entertaining romp through five students' early time living together at university and it's uniquely and refreshingly British, standing out in an unmistakably America-focused musical theatre landscape.

All smiles, wide eyes and key changes, the high school glee club is an all-too-familiar concept thanks to a certain hugely popular and equally irritating, inescapable television show. And so, One Academy Productions' ‘Show Choir! The Musical' doesn't have to work too hard to introduce itself. Even so, the expository opening number is a wonderfully over-the-top, sparkling treat. It's part of a dream sequence though, and what follows doesn't quite ever reach the same histrionic heights.

Despite enjoying a boosted profile thanks in part to a supposed copycat performer on last year's Britain's Got Talent, Frisky & Mannish are hard to describe succinctly. 'Pop songs with a twist' was the best I could manage outside the venue when a curious attendee asked, but this duo absolutely needs to be seen to be understood, and there really aren't many better ways to spend an hour at this or any other Fringe.

The setting of John and Gerry Kielty's Wasted Love - a group therapy session - immediately brings to my mind the 2009 Fringe production of Conor Mitchell's Have A Nice Life, my favourite of all the shows I've seen in my three years attending the Fringe. It seems an unfair comparison to make, given how much I enjoyed that, although it soon becomes clear that this show can more than hold its own.

I attended Flawless' latest Fringe show with what I imagine were standard expectations: that I was about to see a production featuring dazzling, pin-sharp choreography performed by extremely talented young men. And talented they undoubtedly are, but this hour is stuffed with superfluous and unnecessary narrative devices which do little more than waste time that could be better spent dancing, if you wouldn't mind, lads.

Pleasance Theatre has taken six nominations, with Assembly Theatre, the Traverse and Zoo Venues all receiving four nods for this year's Stage Awards for Acting Excellence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Jack and Kristy are about to board their flight to Las Vegas for their honeymoon but the story of how they met, their shotgun wedding, family feuds and the strange woman who sits next to them all make for some amusing viewing.

The Prodigals is a cut down version of a full-scale musical but what is shown at the Gilded Balloon makes you want to see more.

Follow seven supervillains as they battle it out with their evil balls, to see who will gain world supremacy.

The untold story of Hitler's youth, using musical theatre to help him express the 'man behind the moustache'.

Scat Pack improvise an original film of your choosing each night.

This is Showstopper's fourth year at the Fringe and, with performances regularly selling out, they must be doing something right.

Showstopper returns for a fourth Fringe season of improvised musical comedy after a sell-out London run.

The Axis of Awesome return with their unique Australian blend of high energy comedy, rock songs, and awesomeness.

Well-known musical by Sondheim and Lapine which follows the story of artist George as he obsessively tries to perfect a painting.

A comedy musical mockumentary following a high school showchoir as they strive for fame.

Ed Jaspers co-adapts and performs a solo storytelling piece for children and adults alike.

Jamie Moakes undertakes an enthusiastic mission to affect the economy by collecting as many as he can of an overlooked 80's toy, thereby making them rare and valuable.

No Shoes Theatre deliver a different improvised comedy musical each day.

Greg McLaren explores language and communication by carrying out his everyday interactions through song.

High-energy comedy piece on the greed behind the financial crisis.

Filthy double entendres? There are plenty of those. Gayed-up versions of popular songs? Absolutely. Gratuitous displays of male flesh? There's some of that too. What you might not expect is singing of an exceptionally high standard, but that's what you'll get.