Hope Springs eternal at this year's Fringe

July 19, 2019 | Fringe

Recovering showgirl Miss Hope Springs was once the toast of Las Vegas – and her story is coming to the Edinburgh Fringe.

Now she’s down on her luck and highly medicated. Join her, live at the piano, as she dusts off an array of all-original toe-tapping show tunes, finger-snapping pop and heartrending ballads from her fabulous vintage repertoire and presents her unique brand of ‘sit down’ comedy.

You’ll hear hilarious stories about her Ritz to the pits life in LA, Paris and… Dungeness. Still draped in the sequins and feathers she fled the Pink Pelican Casino wearing in 1972, this ageing ingénue is no has-been, she’s the ultimate never-was.

Hope’s creator: composer, lyricist, pianist, comic actor and singer Ty Jeffries, the son of film director Lionel Jeffries, said: ‘Think Minnelli meets Manilow, minus the lucky breaks.

‘Growing up in a show business family, I was completely obsessed with Golden Age Hollywood and my work is hugely influenced by artists such as Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Marlene Dietrich and Lena Horne. However, unlike them, with her backstory of career wrong-turns and a spectacularly disastrous love life, Hope is the tragi-comic essence of all those showbiz ladies who never made it.’

Ty grew up between Pinewood and Hollywood while his father was making movies such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Camelot. He was taught his first jazz chords by Sir John Mills and once danced down Sunset Boulevard with Fred Astaire.

Shirley MacLaine, Shelley Winters and Diana Dors were all family friends and his close observation of those women at first hand lends authenticity to his ‘stellar portrayal of a jaded, faded star’ (Fringe Review).

Classically trained at The Purcell School of Music, he is the star of Le Crazy Coqs in London’s West End and has toured both the UK and USA, including The Lincoln Centre in NYC.

He even put the wig in The Wigmore Hall when he performed a sold-out solo concert at London’s classical Valhalla. With fans as varied as Will Young, Marc Almond, Pete Waterman and Rula Lenska, you know you are in extremely capable theatrical hands.

For more details on the show, click HERE.

Venue: Assembly Rooms, Bijou, George Street, EH2 2LR

Time: 20.20 Running Time: 60 mins

Dates: 1 – 24 August. Previews 1-2 August.

Tickets: Previews: £10, 3-6, 9-11, 16-18, 23-24 August £14 (£13), 7-8, 12-15, 19-22 August £12 (£11).

Bookings: assemblyfestival.com, 0131 623 3030 or Assembly box offices at Assembly Hall and Assembly Roxy, Assembly George Square, Assembly Checkpoint and Assembly Rooms