Marnina and Micah, known together as "Couplet", bring their musical comedy "Honey Honey Moon Moon" to this year's Edinburgh Fringe. (Photo: Jack Morris)[Missing Credit]
The self-deprecating tone prevails through this charming, heartfelt show, whose run at the Edinburgh Fringe actually takes place during the couple’s delayed European honeymoon. Both classically trained musicians, Micah plays the acoustic guitar and Marnina the violin as the couple detail their journey to the altar, which includes their endeavour to uphold Jewish customs but ditch the traditional “bride and groom” gender roles.
Because, as their song “People Think We’re Straight” reveals, both Micah and Marnina are genderqueer: “Everyone’s confused, but mostly our parents,” they sing in what is one of the catchiest songs in the show.
Though the couple admit to giving off “G-rated energy” with their bright voices and winsome smiles, Honey Honey Moon Moon is more akin to Avenue Q than Sesame Street. Kid-friendly melodies are overlaid with such profound refrains as, “We’re f***ed, f***ed, f***ed, f***ed, ha ha ha”, and their song “Our wedding venue burned down in Altadena” is riddled with the kind of dark humour Jews tend to excel at. (“We'd like to think that God would be more subtle”, the next line of the song goes.)
There’s a gloriously droll number dedicated to their hated couple's counselor Jacquelyn Denfark, which is full of genuinely stunning harmonies, and whose hilarious lyrics contain morsels of painfully relatable truth.
The pair’s honesty is rewarding: what audiences get is a beautiful encapsulation of a perfectly imperfect love story, told by two musical theatre nerds who are having so much fun together – and who evidently make such splendid collaborators – that you can’t help but sing along with them.
Honey Honey Moon Moon is on at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival until 24 August at the Front Room at Assembly Rooms.
