Will Pickvance is a very talented man, and he’s been entertaining families with First Piano on the Moon since pre-pandemic. Put him in front of a piano and watch the extemporised fireworks explode. There’s no genre he won’t cross into, or attempt to fuse with any other in a freeflowing equivalent to a musical waterfall.
Now it might be the layout of TechCube 0 at Summerhall compared to venues he’s played at Fringe’s past, or maybe some tweeks in the ‘Revisited’ process, but the show doesn’t quite gel this time around. The story remains the same, following a school-aged Will as he is chosen to play in Salzburg for Mozart’s birthday celebrations. More a fan of fun than practice, his intincts are to play some ‘tricks’ as he calls them. That could be playing with his hands behind his back, blindfold, or anything else that comes to mind.
Settled into Mozart’s very own Geburtshaus, Pickvance realises he may have miscalculated, but fortunately the spirit of Mozart himself rises up, and between the two they hatch a suitably musical plan.
It should work, it has all the storytelling elements needed to hook in an audience, yound and old. There’s a recognisable crisis, an adventure through a historic mansion plunged into darkness, and a nuanced, positive message. The piano playing is impressive, and the finale a touch spectacular.
However, such is Pickvance’s joy at the piano, it threatens to overwhelm the story at times. The crisis needed to drive the narrative never seems so grave that Will might run into real trouble. When Mozart appears, the fun begins almost immediately, as the two conspire to explore the history of composition since the boy-geniuses early expiration.
But…because we haven’t spent quite enough time establishing Will as a younger character, or the straits he finds himself in, the audience (particularly of a younger persuasion) are given too many chances to check out. With just a little less haste, and ironically, a touch more silence, the sweep of the tale might be all the grander. It would create a needed thread to pull younger watchers through, and create anticipation for the beautifully imagined set-piece wherein The First Piano On the Moon ultimately comes to life.
For now, there’s more than enough talent to please the grown-ups. There’s promise to captivate the little ones, and let’s hope it comes good in the next few performances.
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