Legendary at Underbelly Cowgate – Edinburgh Fringe review

There’s nothing more galvanising than seeing a musical talent announce themselves at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Legendary is a compelling new show from Cheeyang Ng, tracing Ng’s life from growing up in Singapore to moving to New York and beyond. It intimately captures their experiences of coming out to their parents, navigating a move to America, and choosing music school over business school (complete with a few jokes about Lea Michele).

Crucially, Ng intertwines their personal story with the myths, spiritual beliefs, and deities revered by their family. In doing so, they seek connection and solace regarding their own identity – exploring themes of parenthood, queer identity, and trans representation through deities who reflect their journey.

The concept is rich, aided by brilliant music and strong, genuinely catchy numbers. Ng doesn’t just present these myths wholesale; they are constructed when they invite the audience to join in numbers, teaching us phrases in the lyrics and conducting us like an orchestra. It creates a vibrant sense of participation, we are actively joining in their story (even if sitting next to a particularly out-of-tune audience member proves slightly distracting!).

However, the piece currently lacks a clear structure, making it difficult to discern the destination. We are presented with a series of personal experiences, but without knowing why we are hearing them at specific moments, the story isn’t as impactful as it could be. Strengthening the overall through-line would easily fix this. Similarly, the ending feels somewhat convoluted, relying on repeated affirmations that don’t quite land as cleanly as they could.

That said, Legendary is a perfect showcase for Ng’s incredible talent. They clearly have an abundance of rich material up their sleeve: I am buzzing to see where this might lead them.

See more reviews in our Edinburgh Festivals guide.