This year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe has officially opened, welcoming thousands of performers and even more visitors to the city during the month of August.In total there will be 2,542 shows held in 258 venues, from large theatres to university lecture halls and pubs, and music will be a huge part of proceedings.
While comedy acts will take up more than a third of the events, hundreds of musicals, operas and concerts will be held too.
Highlights of the coming three weeks include the Bohemians Light Opera Company, which will perform 100 Years of Musical Theatre, featuring show-stopping tunes from The Merry Widow to controversial puppet show Avenue Q.
And following last year’s sell-out show and 12 months of high profile appearances since then, Abandoman will perform a hip-hop mash-up of “the best new tunes that have never previously been written”.
Jazz and blues features strongly throughout the festival line-up, with the Dana Dixon Blues Band making an appearance after selling out for the past two years running.
On the classical front, ROSL ARTS will make its 12th appearance at the Fringe in its concert, Brahms at Teatime. The concert will include works by Brahms and other 19th century composers.
There will be a host of original works premiered for the first time to festival-goers and Little Room Productions will perform an original modern opera called Sanctury, set one hour before the Apocalyspe. Meanwhile, winners of the Best New Musical 2010 award, Paulden Productions, will return with musical comedy Fresher The Musical, which has already received rave reviews.
In addition to all of this, organisers have added a new cabaret section to the programme for the first time ever.
“The 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme is bigger than ever. What makes it exciting every year, but particularly this year, is the combination of all these wonderful, creative and talented people who choose to bring their work here,” said Festival Fringe Society chief executive Kath Mainland.
“The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is still the first choice for performers, producers, venues, artists and creators to come and tell their story.”