IT isn’t difficult to see why the teachers of the BA Musical Theatre course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) selected the award-winning 1997 off-Broadway show Violet for performance by the class of 2021.

The musical by Jeanine Tesori (score) and Brian Crawley (libretto) is set in a southern US in the early 1960s that connects time and time again with the problems of America, and indeed the world, today.

Covid-19 may, by-and-large, present less of a physical threat to the young, but it has ensured that 2020 through 2021 has been a terrible time for young people, especially those in the final years of secondary education and those pursuing qualifications in higher education institutions. No musical theatre student wants to head towards their graduation with a show that is filmed and streamed online, rather than performed before a live audience.

That, however, has been the lot of the cast of this online production. Add to that the requirements of physical distancing and “household bubbling” among this student cohort, and one can’t help but feel that the performers, musicians, designers and technical crew who have created this show are analogous to a boxer who has been sent into the ring with a blindfold on and one hand tied behind their back.

Be that as it may, these brave young artists have a tale to tell, and they tell it with undeniable gusto. Their story is based upon the short fiction The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts. It follows its titular hero Violet Karl (played by Maren Ovidia) as she makes a road trip by Greyhound bus.

Facially disfigured in an accident, the young woman is making her way from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the fervent belief that she will be made “beautiful” by a television faith healer.

On her journey, Violet encounters two soldiers, Flick (who is black) and Monty (who is white).

The love triangle that follows places Violet at a fascinating junction. At one level she appears like the self-image of the white south in the 1950s, but one “spoiled” by her disfigurement.

However, despite her seeming commitment to Christianity, she has a liberal attitude to sex that sets her apart from the caricature of “Southern Belle” innocence. Add to that an aversion to racism, and Violet is an unlikely signpost towards the soon-to-be burgeoning political radicalism of much of the US in the 1960s.

Which is not to say that Tesori’s music follows that signpost. A rock opera influenced by Jimi Hendrix, The Velvet Underground and The Doors this is not.

Rather, the composer offers a varied score that neatly mirrors the narrative, while staying well within the established boundaries of the Broadway musical. As it does so, it references country and western, the blues and rock ’n’ roll.

The film itself faces the same difficulty as professional online movies of stage productions, in that it, inevitably, it looks like a fish out of water.

That said, despite having minimal props and costumes, and being hemmed in by public health restrictions, its production values are actually superior to some of the professional online offerings I have seen over the last year.

It’s hard for the performers to truly shine in this context, yet the cast manages to impress across the piece. Michael Ahomka-Lindsay excites, both in song and acting, as the charismatic and decent Flick.

Norwegian performer Maren Ovidia is a particular revelation in the title role, singing her part beautifully, while achieving a wonderful balance between her character’s power and pathos.

Violet streams via the RCS website until April 25: rcs.ac.uk