74th Annual Sunger Games – Ed Fringe 2024

74th Annual Sunger Games: theSpace @ Niddry St – Lower Theatre

19th August 2024

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Following sold out shows in 2023, AcadePitch present their latest show the 74th Annual Sunger Games. This show is a daring crossover bringing the popular Hunger Games universe to life with over 25 performers. In an all-singing, all-dancing a cappella adventure through the dangerous Capitol of Panem, what twist and turns lay waiting?

AcadePitch give a confident performance and do so with charisma and humour. This is a large group and they utilise the amount of singers by building good harmony and using clever arrangements of the well known songs, allowing all of the voices to be heard. There is a variety of songs performed with ‘Cold As Ice’ being a particular hit with audience. A lot of the songs are split into the male voices and the female voices – it would’ve been nice to have more group numbers.

As mentioned in other reviews, there is a tendency recently for a cappella groups to have a theme, dialogue and almost tip into the musical genre. Whilst this does attract audience members (which is a must at Ed Fringe) for example this production may well speak to fans of The Hunger Games and who may not know anything about a cappella, however it is a fine line and it can become a bit gimmicky. This performance felt a bit sparse on the musical numbers for an a cappella group. You would expect most of the performance time for the cast to be singing and this wasn’t the case with this production. Whilst it was humorous and many of the audience members were laughing and enjoying the production, some of the numbers felt a little bit long and perhaps could’ve been cut back to include a few more group numbers. However what is good about 74th Annual Sunger Games is the clever arrangement of the songs, the harmonies and confidence they perform with.

The choreography is perhaps not the most original but it works well and uses the whole stage. There are a few transitional moments which feel slightly too long, but overall this doesn’t affect the show too much. AcadePitch gives a great performance with strong vocals but for this show to be a hit we just need to have a few more opportunities to enjoy these.

For more information and tickets click here.

AD – PR invite in exchange for a honest review.