The Bodyguard Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh 18 May 2026 Review
The Bodyguard The Musical is at the Playhouse Theatre Edinburgh this week (Mon 18-25 May). This show is based on the 1992 film of the same name starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, and as much as a theatrical adaptation allows, follows the film pretty closely. The fact that the music from the Bodyguard became the best selling film soundtrack of all time ensures that the songs in this show will be instantly recognisable to so many people too.
For me, the two leading performers in this show always have a hard job to do as their roles of bodyguard Frank Farmer and international singing superstar Rachel Marron will always to many people be Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In this show, those two roles are performed by the very experienced Adam Garcia and Sidonie Smith.
Whitney Houston had a unique voice, and Sidonie Smith wisely avoids the obvious pitfall here of trying to turn this show into a tribute one by simply letting her own vocal abilities stand on their own, and her interpretation of some of these classic songs is impressive. Here, Sidonie did a very good job of making the songs in this show her own. For a stage show musical though, the bodyguard leaves few opportunities for anyone else to get the musical spotlight. This really is the Rachel Marron/whoever is performing that role show. Having said that though, Sasha Monique as Rachel's sister Nicki does make the most of the limited opportunities that she is given to sing.
Adam Garcia (Frank Farmer) does get an opportunity to sing here too, a scene in a Karaoke bar where he deliberately badly sings “I Will Always Love You”. Strangely, this very simple version of the far larger production song, which of course comes later in this show, always reminds me of the emotional depth of the original song by Dolly Parton.
This show is obviously built around the music and the dance routines, and that leaves little room for dramatic development or a more in depth look at some of the relationships between people. The result is that apart from Rachel, Frank and Nikki (Sidonie, Adam and Sasha), everyone else is simply there on stage and some of these roles leave very little for any performer to do with them. There is, however, always a nice opening for whoever is playing the role of Rachel's son. The villain of this story, Rachel's stalker, performed tonight by James-Lee Harris, has an almost silent role and is reduced to little more than a pantomime villain. There are some big song and dance numbers in this show but, oddly, a few of the dancers sometimes looked like they were struggling a little to get their timing just right.
In the end though, The Bodyguard gives audiences what they came out for - entertainment for the evening, and with songs in this show that include "Greatest Love of All", "One Moment In Time", "Saving All My Love" and "How Will I Know" it was always going to be a musical hit. One of my favourite songs from this show is always, the cover of "I'm Every Woman" a huge hit for Chaka Khan in 1978, and here, Sidonie Smith captured the energy of this classic so well.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
For me, the two leading performers in this show always have a hard job to do as their roles of bodyguard Frank Farmer and international singing superstar Rachel Marron will always to many people be Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. In this show, those two roles are performed by the very experienced Adam Garcia and Sidonie Smith.
Whitney Houston had a unique voice, and Sidonie Smith wisely avoids the obvious pitfall here of trying to turn this show into a tribute one by simply letting her own vocal abilities stand on their own, and her interpretation of some of these classic songs is impressive. Here, Sidonie did a very good job of making the songs in this show her own. For a stage show musical though, the bodyguard leaves few opportunities for anyone else to get the musical spotlight. This really is the Rachel Marron/whoever is performing that role show. Having said that though, Sasha Monique as Rachel's sister Nicki does make the most of the limited opportunities that she is given to sing.
Adam Garcia (Frank Farmer) does get an opportunity to sing here too, a scene in a Karaoke bar where he deliberately badly sings “I Will Always Love You”. Strangely, this very simple version of the far larger production song, which of course comes later in this show, always reminds me of the emotional depth of the original song by Dolly Parton.
This show is obviously built around the music and the dance routines, and that leaves little room for dramatic development or a more in depth look at some of the relationships between people. The result is that apart from Rachel, Frank and Nikki (Sidonie, Adam and Sasha), everyone else is simply there on stage and some of these roles leave very little for any performer to do with them. There is, however, always a nice opening for whoever is playing the role of Rachel's son. The villain of this story, Rachel's stalker, performed tonight by James-Lee Harris, has an almost silent role and is reduced to little more than a pantomime villain. There are some big song and dance numbers in this show but, oddly, a few of the dancers sometimes looked like they were struggling a little to get their timing just right.
In the end though, The Bodyguard gives audiences what they came out for - entertainment for the evening, and with songs in this show that include "Greatest Love of All", "One Moment In Time", "Saving All My Love" and "How Will I Know" it was always going to be a musical hit. One of my favourite songs from this show is always, the cover of "I'm Every Woman" a huge hit for Chaka Khan in 1978, and here, Sidonie Smith captured the energy of this classic so well.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com