Broken Legs Blog

“Outstanding, jaw-dropping and utterly flawless”

This is part of a series of shorter reviews from Edinburgh Fringe, August 2026.

“Shamilton” takes a suggestion of a person (real or otherwise) from the audience, and then tells their story in a homage to “Hamilton”. The music throughout is very much hip-hop influenced, in keeping with the original source, and even directly references the musical at times, the opening song being a straight up parody of the opening number of “Hamilton”. Throughout, the ‘Shamilton’ team are able to create a rounded story with clearly defined protagonists, whilst still occasionally diverging into random escapades as one would expect from improv comedy.

The cast begin by taking multiple suggestions from the audience, who then vote for their favourite one by way of applause. For the performance that I saw, Genghis Khan was the victor, but close runner-up Timothée Chalamet was still featured – it turns out, by pure coincidence, that Geghis named his horse Chalamet (who knew?!?). Once the featured protagonist is picked, the cast then turn to the audience for some “facts”, and take the audience at face value – regardless of whether these facts are true or not, they will influence the show. Therefore, the fact that Genghis fathered 1,000 kids and kept raw meat under his saddle were key plot points, alongside the ‘fact’ that Genghis was a pole dancer. It’s all very silly, but you cannot fault the actors’ commitment to their roles.

Improvised rapping is not an easy thing to pull off, yet this cast make it look easy, barely a stumble as they conjure bars from thin air. Supported by not just a keyboard but also drums gives this show an extra level of production value. The cast continue borrowing from ‘Hamilton’ throughout – a reimagined “Wait for it” becomes “Pray for it” and is performed by Jesus (because of course Jesus would be in a musical about Genghis Khan), and we even get a “Satisfied”-style rewind as Genghis flashes back to his childhood. The story is wrapped up seamlessly within an hour, a true marvel that displays not just this group’s musical talents, but their talents for telling a good story as well, clearly recognising how to set things up and pay them off within the allotted time. Outstanding, jaw-dropping and utterly flawless.

Tom Morley, August 2026

“Shamilton: The Improvised Hip-Hop Musical” plays at 7:50pm at Studio One, Assembly George Square Studios until 30th August.