Tim Murray is Witches
Ed Fringe 24
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Ed Fringe 24 -
Tim Murray is a talented comic performer from the Midwest who just looooooooves witches. So much so that he’s brought back his campy musical comedy all about green, wart-nosed hags, and sexy 90s vampy bitches.
It’s a campy romp through all the witch-related pop culture references: the Wizard of Oz, Wicked, Charmed, Hocus Pocus (with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and the other one), among a plethora of other witchy media I’d not heard of (because I’m not a millennial).
The show’s an assemblage of musical comedy, carried well by Murray’s gorgeous vocals (mostly - he can’t help but clock an audience member if he hits a note wrong), and witty chit-chat in the interim. Murray also regales us with tales of his job as a teacher for kids who’ve been removed from mainstream schools - a career fitting for a man whose latent queerness caused him so much pain in childhood.
The most impressive moment in this musical hour is the improvised song Murray pulls from a conversation with an audience member about *anything within theme*. The night I went, a man told us about his grandmother, a Cornwallian white witch who held ‘crystal parties’ (it’s not what you think - or maybe it is). The parties were attended by all the gay men in her town, who later attended her funeral (a tale well worth immortalising). Murray plucked and pulled as many small details as possible, which was brilliant in and of itself, but the song was so wonderfully woven, sweet and surprising - it was easily the best song of the evening.
If I had any criticism of the show, it would be that Murray sometimes undermines his own talents; he’s quick and smart in conversation, but some of his songs lack this imaginative sharpness, and fail to surprise us once the structure is established. The improvised song and Tim Murray’s overall wit and charm outshine this criticism, but if Murray wants to up the ante, that’s the direction he might take.
Tim Murray is Witches is no longer playing at Ed Fringe. Tour tickets for London can be found here, and tickets for Birmingham can be found here.
FOUR STARS
