Tony of Arabia
Pleasance Dome
***
It's always heartening to see new musicals on the Fringe.
Last year, White Rose Theatre made a splash with Tony! The Blair Musical. This year, they are back and Tony's gone but, if Chris Bush (book and lyrics) and Ian McCluskey (music) are to be believed, Blair has, Messiah-like, ascended to a higher and drier place.
This satire hits some targets resoundingly and misses others by yards but with much catchy songwriting there is lots to enjoy, especially as James Duckworth captures Tone's tone so perfectly.
There's also "Davey C" - amusingly played by Iain Duncan Smith's son Ed - and his downwardly mobile elocution lessons.
The highlight, though, is the magnificent country and western number Kickin' Some Ass for Jesus, performed by Bush's boys and rounded off with a jubilant "neo-con - ga".
Departure Lounge
George Square
****
If you've been near an airport recently, you'll have seen this sight: sunburnt, football-shirted British "lads", for whom women are "birds" and everything they don't like is "gay".
Dougal Irvine has great fun unpacking the stereotype, giving us 75-energy-filled minutes in the departure lounge at Malaga Airport, where four friends are stuck after a post-A-levels holiday.
There are jolly boyband spoofs and the quartet make a delightful noise when they sing together. Flashbacks introduce us to the oddly orange Sophie, the object of the group's muddled affections and the catalyst for some much-needed air-clearing.
The boys' back-stories could be sharpened, but this is just the sort of unpolished gem you hope to find on a damp Edinburgh night.
Both until 25 August. Tony (0131 556 6550). Lounge (0131 662 8740).
