(seen at the performance on 23rd July 2024)
Those not involved in accountancy law will be unaware that this very website made case history of its own, taking on (alone and without a leader), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs at tax tribunal – and winning.
This musical is not about that case – though the monkey did offer rights at very reasonable cost.
“A Jaffa Cake Musical” is actually about one of the most famous cases of recent years. Manufacturer McVities held that the title product is a cake, thus exempt from VAT. The Tax Man decreed it a biscuit – with VAT payable in a sum which could ruin the company.
In 1991 the case ended up before a tax tribunal judge. As the opening voice-over of this show states, the answer to one of life’s most important questions was about to be answered. Sixty hilarious minutes later... it is.
Sam Cochrane (who also stars as our hero junior barrister Kevin) has created a nutty backstory in which former law school classmates Kevin and Katherine (Sabrina Messer) are pitted against each other.
Both have things to prove. Kevin’s parents wanted him to go into something more precarious, acting. Katherine’s just wanted her to succeed as they did, without emotional support to get her there.
After a quick rundown of the recipe, in musical form (with a little nod to “Pray, Pray, Pray” from “Fame The Musical") and our protagonists back-stories, pre-trial nerves set in with “A Piece of Cake.”
Our man at the keyboard (Alex Prescot - placed between the two brilliantly Jaffa Cake designed balustrades) dons a wig to hear the case.
The trial is a back-and-forth battle. Katherine is poised, rapping smartly her opening argument, Kevin unable to keep up with his beatboxing client Jake (Harry Miller, rightly stressed for most of the time) when called on to respond.
Still, things can only get worse before they get better, he philosophises insincerely.
Actually, they do get a lot better for the audience and far worse for Katherine with the arrival of her boss... the Tax Man. Katie Pritchard steals the show with a bowler hatted, black suited routine from the satanic one herself. Win, all is well. Lose the case and Katherine’s tax affairs are toast for eternity.
Luckily, Katherine is convincing, causing Keith and Jake to have a thinking number where a single word leads to a brilliant idea, like in the detective movies... not.
Another nifty parody, “Hard or Soft,” (thing “Legally Blonde’s” resolver “Gay or European”), and the best they come up with is that you don’t dunk a Jaffa Cake in tea. A fact, incidentally, later contradicted by a 2023 survey - as they point out at the end of the show.
It’s a great patter number for the audience, not so convincing for the Judge.
Fortunately, in true musical theatre style, a “Chocolate Covered Nightmare” brings Kevin inspiration, and the rest is history. If only “Pringles” had hired this lot in 1999...
Every performance lands, the loose presentation making the odd less than smooth moment (Prescot wrestling his outfits, Messer so into her role she forgot about the fork) a delight adding to the fun.
Lauren Jones’ set and costumes are a wonder. Look carefully, and you realise everything is Jaffa Cake coloured – cake balustrade bases and costume shirts, orange uprights, tops and accessories, chocolate balustrade tops, trousers and other items.
As a bonus, Damian Robertson does wonders at times with limited lighting resources and the final reveal is nifty (and no spoiler here).
Writer Cochrane is steeped in Jaffa Cake lore. Time-travelling to 1999 to bring us the full moon / half moon / total eclipse reference we could not do without, he rarely turns out a less than impressive line or tune. His image of Lady Justice with kitchen scales has more than a ring of the great Tom Lehrer, many other lyrics likewise.
Officially taking the cake, this is a brilliantly inventive idea executed to perfection. The Mischief Company of musical theatre, Gigglemug have a chocolate coated hit with a smashingly tangy bit to top it off.
If it returns to London again after trailing Edinburgh success, do not miss it.
5 stars.
Photo credit: Ben Wilkin. Used by kind permission of Gigglemug.