A good country epic, but one that could use another verse. Rating
Good!
Praised for its 2025 Edinburgh Fringe run, Midnight in Nashville is now playing at The Glitch. After spending twenty years in jail for killing a man, country singer Marcy Aurora (Biz Lyon) is free and ready to make her return to the music industry. She may not have been as big as Dolly, but Aurora was big enough to tour the world, performing to tens of thousands of fans. Twenty years is a long time, though, especially when your voice is everything. Now Marcy has one night with sound engineer Colleen (Catherine Mieses) to record her comeback.
The theatre space is set up like a studio: played almost in traverse, we crowd around where mats and cushions are laid out. What you might assume is the normal tech desk for the show is, in fact, the sound desk where Colleen engineers Marcy’s songs. It’s a lovely piece of set design by Agathe Williamson, making the space feel small and intimate but still representing a working environment.
Alex Stroming’s direction leans into the enclosed nature of the space, drawing on the similarities between Marcy’s long stint in prison and her one night in the studio. Marcy might be able to leave whenever she likes, but she’s still reckoning with the past. Is there a place for her to pick up her life outside of jail, and outside of this studio?
Tennessee-born Lyon is well suited to the role, with a strong voice that brings an immediate authenticity. She is particularly good fun in a sequence where she sings in the style of other country singers, giving us a moment of Hank Williams among others. It’s very close to gig-theatre, with three original songs and some country classics. The songs are mostly accompanied by piano, not quite the Nashville you might be expecting. This is effective, creating a more melancholy sound and helping Marcy in the search to rediscover her voice. There’s a nice wistfulness to Lyon’s performance too, looking to pick up where she left off and catch up on the years she missed while the world carried on.
Mieses has less to work with. She asks questions from behind the sound desk, first aiming to drag out Marcy’s voice and then pieces of her story. She gives Colleen a quiet heart but retains an edge, making it clear there is something beneath the surface.
In between trying to record tracks, Marcy has a Zoom interview with a journalist, which is an opportunity for a chunk of exposition. We are also able to discover more about her past and present as she shares stories with Colleen. The sound engineer seems overly familiar with Aurora’s work and career: there is a suggestion that there might be something more here, and the relationship between the two seems off.
This is where Midnight in Nashville starts to go a little out of tune. There is an intriguing story here, but one that the script takes a long time to get to the heart of and then doesn’t quite land convincingly. The dramatic tension doesn’t really build up to support the story. Marcy’s relationship with music, both now and in her memories, feels much more convincing.
It feels like it is just getting started when the gig is over, and the audience goes home. Leave ‘em wanting more, I guess? There is certainly a good story in here, told by two strong performers, but it just feels like there should be more of it.
Written by Lee Papa
Directed by Alex Stroming
Lighting and Sound Design by Janhavi Shivalkar
Set Design by Agathe Williamson
Original Songs by Kevin Buchmeier, Jeremy Watson, and Biz Lyon
Midnight In Nashville plays at The Glitch until Monday 7 September.
