EDINBURGH 2025: Review: JACKIE!!! Gilded Balloon
Jackie!!! runs at Edfringe until 25 August
Jackie!!! is a new musical produced by Blair Russell Productions about the life of Jacqueline Kennedy. Starting with the assassination of her husband, the narrative then backtracks to a young, ambitious Jacqueline Bouvier setting out on a promising journalism career.
Nancy Edwards captures the sweet naivety of young Jackie but Joe McNeice doesn’t quite have the charm required for JFK. The pair meet at a party and she is inexplicably won over by him and then meets other members of his “cursed” family.
A big problem with Jackie!!! is that it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. There are elements of satire but the comedy misses the mark. Some serious topics are poked fun at, which would maybe work if the jokes were remotely funny.
The cast take on multiple roles, which descends into ridiculousness. There are impressions of historical figures but the impressions are so bad and the wigs so dodgy, they need to be spelled out. Several characters are played as pure panto villains, which could work in theory, but doesn’t due to poor execution.
The music is fine but unmemorable. It’s not the worst way to pass an hour but it fails to establish its intentions as a fun, camp new musical about an iconic figure.
Photo credit: Simon Vail
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