A STAN IS BORN! and New Works to Return to Edinburgh Fringe from Alexis Sakellaris
CHILD STAR and MCU: MUSICAL COMEDIANS UNITE! will present at Gilded Balloon Patter House.
Alexis Sakellaris will present A STAN IS BORN! | CHILD STAR (WIP) | MCU: Musical Comedians Unite! I CVNTY AWARDS. Performances will run Gilded Balloon Patter House, 3 Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1HT Thursday 6th- Sunday 30th August 2026 (not 10th, 17th, 18th, 24th).
Back by popular demand and more chaotic than ever, award-winning queer ICON Alexis Sakellaris will return to Edinburgh 2026 with an unmissable season of musical comedy, brand-new work and gloriously unhinged late-night events.
Kicking off the month is the final chance to catch award-winning A STAN IS BORN! - Encore a camp, heartfelt musical comedy about a queer kid's obsession with pop divas and the search for the diva within. Think Bo Burnham, but GAY! Born in New York and uprooted to rural Germany, Alexis finds salvation in Céline, Whitney, Mariah, Beyoncé and more, icons who become 'mothers'. With 7 original songs, the show explores stanning, identity and whether obsession can become empowerment in a final 10-show run.
Following later in the month is Alexis Sakellaris: CHILD STAR (Work in Progress) (Nominee - Brighton Fringe Best New Writing Award), in which Alexis revisits their brush with child stardom after being cast in a German Glee-style TV show, Wir rocken Barcelona. Aged 15, they are whisked off to Spain to film a musical reality series, only to discover the truth behind the cameras and the complications of being a minor on national television. Featuring new original songs and unearthed footage, it's a funny, cringeworthy and unexpectedly moving dive into fame.
Alongside these runs is MCU: Musical Comedians Unite!, Edinburgh's first musical comedy line-up night, running throughout the month. Hosted by Alexis Sakellaris, the night showcases the Fringe's most exciting musical comedians, with original songs, parodies, rap and more from a rotating mix of emerging and established acts... the superheroes of musical comedy! (Marvel, please don't sue us...) The crowning gem is the introduction to THE CVNTY AWARDS, an unofficial official Fringe afterparty and parody awards show hosted by Alexis Sakellaris, Courtney Büchner and Sophie Power. A night of celebration, special guest performances and chaos, it promises free entry to the Gilded Balloon Patter Party and a new 'awards bodyodyody' recognising the CVNTIEST the Fringe has to offer.
Alexis Sakellaris, writer, performer and producer, comments, I can't wait to bring A STAN IS BORN! back for a final run while trying out all these new ideas! This sort of Frankenstein season will see me working out my new solo show CHILD STAR (which has miraculously just had an award-nominated turn at Brighton Fringe), starting a brand new lineup night called MCU solely dedicated to musical comedy (which we desperately need, since we don't have one in Edinburgh OR London!) as well as co-creating THE CVNTY AWARDS, a parody awards show (which will be super legit in 10-15 years time, just you wait) Thank you to Gilded Balloon for signing up for the madness! Let's see what sticks...
With Greek, Italian and Austrian roots, and raised between New York City and rural Germany, Alexis channels their experience of obsession and identity into a body of work rooted in pop culture, queer joy and musical storytelling. From discovering iconic divas as salvation to navigating the chaos of early fame, their work asks what it means to become your own version of a star.
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