ER at the Fringe: Lovelace – A Rock Musical

It takes a bold step to merge worlds as far apart as porn and stage musicals, but “bold” is the operative word in Lovelace – A Rock Musical. Lavish and ambitious, the show operates on such a constant level of grandeur that even the most lyrical musings of its protagonist, legendary Deep Throat pornstar Linda Lovelace, explode onstage with epic theatricality.

Central to its larger-than-life appeal is the music. Composed by Anna Waronker and Charlotte Caffey (from classic girl group The Go-Go’s), it echoes the over-the-top 70s arena rock anthems by the likes of Scorpions, Ted Nugent and Boston. “Overnight Sensation”, “Girl Next Door”, “Let’s Fuck” and “I’ll Be Good, I’ll Be Bad” sound like genuine bygone Top 40 hits, especially in the voice of Jimmy Swan, a swaggering macho tenor that belongs in cigarette TV ads (if anyone can still remember those).

Predominantly lit in strip-club reds and blues, the cast stampedes confidently through the actress’s rise-and-fall story, seamlessly metamorphosing into porn sets, paparazzi posses and demonstrating feminist crowds by means of powerful choreographies and stately tableaus. Josh Greene does his wig and moustache much justice by playing Deep Throat leading man Harry Reems with a congenial farcical cheer extremely true to his role in the classic skin flick. But the musical finds its most powerful voices (literally, too) in Linda and her abusive husband Chuck Traynor, played by Katrina Lenk and Jimmy Swan with palpable chemistry.

The casting of Katrina Lenk in the central role is instrumental to the show’s overall effect. Too beautiful to resemble the freckly, ugly duckling that was Linda Lovelace, Lenk reaches the essence of the pornstar’s memoirs (upon which the production is based) by playing the part with a delicate frailty, more coy than seductive, enhancing the pathos of her many ordeals. The exceptions are the moments when a triumphant Linda strides like a goddess among awe-struck crowds, but those only establish the contrast between her public and private selves.

Though Lovelace – A Rock Musical follows the story of one woman, in her individual, however dramatic, circumstances, it inevitably raises the debate on whether adult entertainment is demeaning to women. The picture it paints is certainly bleak: Lovelace’s only succor, the affectionate and supportive Deep Throat co-star Harry Reems, is surely too comic and marginal to redeem a whole industry. By contrast, indignities pile up on the unsuspecting protagonist as she is beaten, drugged and forced into sex work (on- and off-camera) by thuggish husband Traynor. And yes, the blame does extend to Gerard Damiano’s film crew, and to many other nameless middlemen who profited from such criminal casting methods. In a poignant third act exchange, a broken Linda tells a fan and porn hopeful to run away, confessing she’d give anything to be someone else.

Whatever you may read into it, Lovelace – A Rock Musical provides a pungent insight into the haphazard, unprofessional and at times criminally exploitative industry that the so-called golden age of porn was. But that is just a small part of a lavish explosion of colour and sound that, like the best musicals, thrives on larger-than-life pathos and that good ol’ redemption without which Broadway or the West End would be long out of business.

Lovelace – A Rock Musical. Directed by Ken Sawyer. Udderbelly’s Pasture, Edinburgh. 5-16, 18-30 August, 22:35. £14 (£13 concessions). www.lovelacearockmusical.com