In the Pink A Capella Present Tuniversity Challenge, Surgeon's Hall, Edinburgh Fringe

In the Pink are an a capella group of seven women from Oxford University.   All have excellent voices, all get their turn at providing lead vocals.  There is no real standout singer in the group, no 'star', but nor are there any weak links.  There are some beautiful arrangements and harmonies, and they make a good job of providing a rhythm section when required.

The choice of songs seemed a little odd and it was hard to work out what kind of audience they were hoping to attract.  The majority of numbers were reworkings of contemporary pop songs, which were largely lost on a crowd where the average age might have been around sixty (not that I helped to lower it).  There was a curious Disney medley, an old Scots song and one classic rock number (Proud Mary), but much of the music chosen was too bland and uniform.

Stranger still was the format in which the songs were placed.  A faux University Challenge contest never really worked as a device and it would have been a much better show with simple introductions between each number.  As singers they might all have been operating at a similar level, but the quality of the acting talents on show varied considerably.

Charming, but disappointing.

In the Pink A Cappella Presents Tuniversity Challenge are at The Space at Surgeon's Hall at 16.40 until the 29th.