Come Dine With Me and Silence of the Lambs parody musical set for the Edinburgh Fringe

Producer Paul Taylor-Mills recently unveiled his full line-up of shows destined for the Edinburgh Fringe, including Rob Madge’s My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) and Gwyneth Paltrow skiing accident musical I Wish You Well. 

Two more musicals on the roster are Come Dine With Me and Silence!. The former is based on the much-loved TV series of the same name, penned by Sam Norman and Aaron King.

Following the film crew tackling the weekly dining competition series, the show is co-created by TV producers Nell Butler (Airline; Celebrities Behaving Badly; You Be the Judge) and Genevieve Welch (Airline; I’m a Celebrity; MasterChef), who both directly worked on Come Dine With Me. Casting and creative team are to be revealed, with the show playing at Underbelly’s Cowbarn from 31 July to 26 August.

The second musical is Silence!, an unauthorised parody based on Silence of the Lambs, which was first seen off-Broadway in 2005.

With singing serial killers and tap-dancing lambs, the show features a ten-strong cacst and direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli (Wonka, Newsies) and designer Scott Pask (The Pillowman). It is penned by Hunter Bell, based on a screenplay by Jon Kaplan and Al Kaplan. The show runs at Underbelly’s Cowbarn from 31 July to 26 August.

Gattelli said: “I’m beyond excited to participate in the legendary Edinburgh Fringe – Silence! The Musical! was created with the Fringe in mind. Spoofing the growing movie turned musical genre, a group of artists thought they’d get ahead of the curve and turn their favourite film into a musical, submit it to the Fringe, and luckily got accepted.

“So they packed up their set, props, and costumes into a van and drove to the festival to share it with others. It’s been a complete joy, and some of the funniest rehearsals I’ve been in, creating the show with the premise in mind.”