The Real Kyle McCarren is an earnest new US musical about Andy Roninson’s friend and bandmate Kyle, who died suddenly at 21. Framed as a concert-style eulogy, it explores the unsettling early days of grief, when private mourning overlaps with memorial tributes from people who knew the deceased differently. The reviewer finds its original music and performances polished and affecting, though believes the show does not fully bring Kyle himself into focus.

Roninson narrates and plays keyboards, while Sean McVerry portrays Kyle and co-wrote the score; other mourners, including Kyle’s mother, ex-partner and another claimed best friend, each perform a tribute in rock, soul or folk styles. The production, co-directed by Lonny Price and Matt Cowart, includes inventive staging such as recreating a skipping CD recording, and Coffey’s ballad is singled out. However, the review argues that reliance on retrospective accounts, rather than fuller flashbacks or a broader plot, leaves the central character elusive; it runs at Pleasance Courtyard in Edinburgh until 30 August.