EdFringe Review: Oil & Whiskey

Country music and musical theatre share fundamental DNA: big emotions, bad decisions, and narrative-driven choruses. Billed as The Last Five Years meets Nashville Honky Tonk, Oil & Whiskey brings that natural overlap to life.

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Staged in the basement space beneath The Street, this intimate production transforms a subterranean nightclub into an energetic bar, driven by a powerhouse creative team and an exceptional cast.

The show marks the theatrical debut for producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Kit Nolan. A Nashville-based musician who served as Music Director for Lindsey Stirling, played session tracks for Robbie Williams and One Direction, and co-produced with Grammy-winner Kellie Besch, Nolan brings industry heft to the score.

Book writer and lyricist Dax Wiley—known for New York’s immersive musical The Limbo Lounge and the LA drama Good Fishermen Know A Lot About Sex—anchors Nolan’s compositions in punchy narrative beats. The cast works wonders with the material, constructing rounded characters without relying on heavy-handed exposition. Opening track “Jealous” establishes a catchy, seductive swing from the outset, setting the tone for exes Teddy and Zelda as they re-enter each other’s orbit.

Playing Teddy, Cornelius Versa brings a formidable background in opera and musical theatre alongside the vocal authority of his debut country album The Crystal Cowboy—a blend he terms “Operatic Americana.” Opposite him, Juliet Perel delivers an emotionally grounded and sweetly sexy performance as Zelda, while Sarah Giulanti steals moments as best friend Bree with a pumping “he’s trash” anthem reminiscent of a Carrie Underwood banger.

Levi Penley rounds out the stage as the charismatic, comic-relief bartender, complete with his own ‘Lone-star Cowboy’ anthem. Given the obvious chemistry between the cast, I’d say they are having a grand old time on tour! There’s no question that together, and with the able backing of two talented backing singers, they make a big, colourful sound. There’s scope for more ambitious harmonies, but the base material is very strong.

Structural Shortcuts and Missing Grit

Where the production stumbles is in a few narrative weaknesses. Possibly due to abridging the story for Fringe purposes, the script sacrifices the emotional richness required to make the central will-they-won’t-they dynamic fully investable.

We are repeatedly told that Teddy is wrong for Zelda, but beyond Bree mocking his former peach-fuzz facial hair, the writing rarely shows us what makes him particularly trashy, nor what personal evolution from either side would be required to make a reunion work. For me, Teddy should be the charming, possibly redeemable guy the heroine in a romcom ultimately turns down for Mr Right. You know, that guy that brings folks to social media to explain why the heroine chose incorrectly?

This absence of genuine friction makes a late-in-the-day reveal feel like a bit of a cheat, abruptly showing that reconciliation was impossible all along rather than letting the characters earn their resolution.

Simply put, the show serves up plenty of whiskey, but needs a little more oil—more grit, dirt, and genuinely flawed heroes to elevate it above a subverted country Hallmark storyline. Yet even with these narrative shortcuts, the sheer calibre of the creative team, stellar vocal performances, and first-rate songwriting make Oil & Whiskey a tasty musical treat with enormous potential for its London transfer and beyond.

Following its run at PBH’s Free Fringe, this off-Broadway country-rock musical will make its international debut with a three-week Off West End transfer to London’s Old Red Lion Pub & Playhouse (3–19 September 2026).

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