Star rating: ****
Oran Mor was full to capacity again yesterday for the premiere of this snappily-titled musical comedy starring Tom Urie (Chewin' the Fat, Tutti Frutti) and featuring the stage debut of overnight sensation Kathleen McDermott (Morvern Callar, Wedding Belles).
Sweet Home Balmaha did not disappoint, delivering belly laughs along with what its characters call "proper music", superbly performed.
The cast is completed by Matthew McVarish, who co-wrote the script and songs with Urie and Donald Cameron.
Billy Prestwick (Urie) is a washed-up rock'n'roller-turned-pub landlord with a fondness for whisky and bar snacks.
His cocky son, Elvis, has stars in his eyes but reckons he's got more chance of help from Simon Cowell than from his old man. Barmaid Heather acts as mediator and medical adviser while keeping the place afloat, but still finds time to dabble in songwriting, too.
The banter between the trio fizzes almost from start to finish, bursting with below-the-belt insults that conjure imagines of a riotous creative process, and featuring some truly inspired moments (Heather's reaction to the sudden appearance of a crowd of villagers is priceless).
There's a real ring of truth to the love/hate relationships between these aspirational sufferers of a very specific kind of cabin fever.
A brief opening scene in which father and son interact with an unseen careers adviser is the piece's weakest, and there were a few first-performance stumbles, but this is an irresistibly funny show performed by great comic actors in tailor-made roles.
The producers had better order in extra pies for the rest of the week.
