I know some people still read this blog and if you're reading it during the Fringe Festival 2009, I thought I'd do a quick list of recommendations of the stuff I've seen so far. I'm hoping to have a little bit of time this week to do a more concentrated review post, but I won't make any promises.
Highly Recommend:
Fall Fair: The guy who did Giant Invisible Robot puts on an amazing one-person show. This was one of the best Fringe shows I've ever seen and I was embarrassed that there were only 12 people in the audience. See this show.
archy and mehitabel: A high-concept one person show based on the writings of Don Marquis, a newspaper columnist who wrote as a cockroach and cat.
Sound and Fury present Vaganza: Good, funny S&F show. If you like their humour, it's a great 60 minutes
Molotov Circus: Bizarre and wonderful family of gypsies deal with the coming of age of a teenaged daughter.
Like Father, like Son? Sorry: Chris Gibbs is one of the funniest people on earth.
Ryan Paulson: I'm Uncomfortable: A few "too graphic" moments but the sing-along was fantastic. I met him the day before the show and remembered my name and my wife's name when he saw us at the venue.
Avoid
Blitz Kids: Realizing that I'm a total jerk for slamming a bunch of children:this is a terrible show. I see a lot of people have "disagreed" with my (I think) even tempered, heavily censored analysis on CBC.ca. I can only imagine that these people are related to members of the cast. The mere presence of child actors does not make this show "sweet," "gentle-hearted" or any other innocuous phrase you want to use to sugar coat the harsh reality: this story about two British evacuee children in WW2 will have you rooting for Hitler.
People have commented on the (obviously talented but out of their depth) Winnipeg kids' inability to do London and Scottish accents, but I think there are more basic problems with story, characterization and pacing. Plot lines that could have been quite interesting are dropped and undeveloped. For example, the evacuee children are Jewish, but after one scene it's never mentioned again, even when the kids are invited to a Saturday matinee. The whole "let's put on a music-hall show" plot dominates the last half of the show and the show-within-a-show went on way too long.
Looking Forward To:
These are shows I'm going to be seeing and have the fullest confidence will be worthwhile.
52 Pickup. I think I've seen this play before, but the actress putting it on (Gemma Wilcox) is first rate. I'd see her in anything.
Under the Glacier.
Jem Rolls' Leastest Flops.
Blue is the Water
In other Fringe thoughts, I was thoroughly disappointed with Ryan Gladstone's show The Seven Lives of Louis Riel. I suspect that by the middle of the run he'll at least have his lines memorized, but at his second show he needed a lot of prompting. He confessed that he'd only finished the show a few days before the Winnipeg Fringe and that was all too apparent. If you're going to workshop a show (which is essentially what this was), fine, but don't charge full-price or use deceptive, out-of-context praise (for what can only be for previous shows). More than the lines, I found the pace disjointed. The first three vignettes took almost two thirds of the show, leaving 4 "lives" to crammed into the last twenty minute.
Yes, the show is very funny and I think it likely will be worthy of Wab Kinew's ludicrously generous 5 star review (how can you give a perfect score to something you ADMIT IN YOUR REVIEW IS FLAWED?!?!?), but it's not there yet. And i feel so strongly about this, I'm recommending people avoid it.
1 comment:
I'm going to see Fall Fair on Saturday, because Giant Invisible Robot was the best fringe show I've ever seen, and so I expect good things. I probably will check out Archy and Mehitabel too, if possible. I'm only going for one evening though, so I won't be able to cram a lot in. Thanks for the recommendations.
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