Review: Falling in Love with Mr Dellamort | Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025
- Lisa in the theatre
- Aug 21
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 3
Mysterious new musical Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort holds its European premiere at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Featuring an original theremin-led gothic pop score and a cast of West End talent, Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort plays at C ARTS until Sunday 24th August 2025.
Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort ★★★★☆
review: 21 August 2025 | C ARTS, Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025
Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort is the only theremin-based musical at the Edinburgh Fringe this year - possibly ever. It's a gothic, pop-synth, curious new piece of musical theatre that's dark and dramatic, but also deeply comic and wildly fun. Think Rocky Horror meets Phantom of the Opera via Agatha Christie.
The quirky story follows three guests - Mina (Natalie Arle-Toyne), Rhonda (Jennie Jacobs) and Barry (Chris O'Mara) who have been invited to the secluded seaside guest house of a mysterious Mr Dellamort (Robert Tripolino) for New Year's Eve. The invited guests are soon joined by another - Sue (Grace Farrell) - who is wounded, stranded and begs to be allowed to seek shelter in the home. So far so Rocky Horror. Has Sue also arrived on a very special night? Well yes, as it transpires! With notes of Agatha Christie's 'And Then There Were None' and 'The MouseTrap' the group of strangers begin to unravel the mysteries behind their bizarre invitations and of their magnetic host.
Plot hole alert: I'm not being picky, but why would anyone accept a weird invitation to a remote house? Maybe I've watched too many horror films, but come on! - Do you want to be murdered??!
Ignoring that for now, as I acknowledge that without that initial silly plot device there would be no show...
A theremin musical
The eerie, dark, gothic vibes of 'Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort' at Edinburgh Fringe are exquisite. The audience enters to see a set dripping in red and black opulence, as New York-based theremin artist Cornelius Loy stands on stage playing the unusual electronic musical instrument, the theremin. A century-old invention, the theremin plays without being touched - its music conjured by Loy's hands dancing through invisible waves of sound.
Cornelius Loy is spellbinding, his talent mesmerising and the sounds from the theremin as beautiful as they are haunting. Loy remains on stage for the entire musical playing the theremin as an accompaniment to the other more traditional musical instruments, such as the piano, that underscore the production. I could barely draw my eyes away from him to look at the other members of the cast, so fascinating is his manipulation of the expressive theremin and so strong his own otherworldly appeal.
Paul Doust's original pop score is one of the strongest elements of the production
But look away I must, and thankfully the main action of 'Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort' is equally as delightful. The musical opens with signature song 'To Die For' and the remarkable Robert Tripolino as Mr Dellamort setting the ominous, seductive scene with his powerful, operatic rock voice. This is followed by another superb song 'Out of the Blue' which, in a wild swing in tone from the first song, is more comedy pop and could easily be at home in Operation Mincemeat. The first 10 minutes of this musical, with these two incredible new songs back to back, are immaculate.
As the story unfolds Paul Doust's original pop score remains one of the strongest elements of the production, with song after song a winner. Each is enthusiastically performed by the powerhouse cast and, unlike many new musicals hoping to breakout at Edinburgh Fringe, I will remember these songs and I would play them in a playlist at home. The small cast of six are universally excellent, with Tripolino impeccable in the lead role, and particularly strong performances coming from Grace Farrell and Jennie Jacobs, whose rock'n'roll voice soars during her solo, 'Bad Girl.'
Twisty and fun
This Edinburgh Fringe version of 'Falling in Love with Mr Dellamort' is only 1 hour long, but it manages to explore unrequited love and mortality, with an added touch of the supernatural. Jack Feldstein's book is twisty and full of fun: it offers a complete, satisfying story arc and a thrilling ending. However in the condensed time frame, the motivations of the guests are not clear, with some of them feeling a little cartoon-like. This is something that can hopefully be refined if a full-length production is to follow (as surely it will!)
I adored Falling in Love with Mr Dellamort - it has the best score for an original new musical I've heard this year. Jack Tripolino is perfectly cast and utterly fabulous as Mr Dellamort - and yes, I did fall in love with him; I dare you not to!
I have not been this intrigued and excited by a new musical for a long time. 'Falling in Love with Mr Dellamort' has all the right ingredients to be a major success. This one deserves to go far. ★★★★☆
Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort plays at C ARTS at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until Sunday 24th August 2025. Find full venue and cast details below.
Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort Cast - Edinburgh
Mr Dellamort Robert Tripolino
Sue Grimshaw Grace Farrell
Mina Thompson Natalie Arle-Toyne
Barry Scott Chris O'Mara
Rhonda Lipson Jennie Jacobs
Theremin artist Cornelius Loy
Robert Tripolino (Jesus in the Australian and international tour of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's acclaimed Jesus Christ Superstar - Winner of the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival - and Best Musical in the Evening Standard Awards.)
The European premiere cast also features Grace Farrell (Susannah Walcott in the National Theatre’s West End transfer of The Crucible), Chris O’Mara (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, West End), Natalie Arle-Toyne (Van Helsing in National Theatre Scotland’s Dracula: Mina’s Reckoning), Jennie Jacobs (The Mezzo Soprano in Stiletto, Charing Cross Theatre), with New York Theremin artist Cornelius Loy.
Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort CREATIVE TEAM
Book & Co-Lyrics by Jack Jack Feldstein
Music & Co-Lyrics by Paul Doust
Directed by Abigail Zealey Bess
Musical Director: Ben Papworth
Movement Director: Dianté Lodge
Casting Director: Michael Howell
Costume Designer: Row Seward
Sound Designer: Sarah Weltma
Falling in Love With Mr Dellamort at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025
Venue: C ARTS | C aquila (temple)
30 July - 24 August (11th & 12th August off)
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