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Fringe 2007 Reviews (49)
Company
By Stephen Sondheim
Kenmac Productions
C Chambers Street
****
While Company, for me, falls into the same category of musical
as Cabaret or Chicago (no, not musicals with one-word
titles starting with C, rather musicals where five minutes after I walk
out I'm not really sure what the story was), here it is the performers
who make this a stand-out show. Playing a half-hour late to a packed
house in C's Adam House venue, the cast and orchestra sparkle through
the story of Robert (Antonio McArdle), a 31-year-old bachelor whose
friends are urging him to get married while battling marital woes themselves.
As Sarah and Jenny, Abigail Rosser and Daniella Gibb steal the show,
but the fact is all the female performers do a brilliant job, and one
can completely understand how Robert might find a woman to measure up
to his female friends a bit tough.
Strong voices and sharp choreography, not to mention a live orchestra,
make this a superb production of a classic musical.
Rachel Lynn Brody
One Man Star Wars
By Charles Ross
Underbelly Productions
Underbelly - Cow Barn
****
In his one-man rendition of all three star wars films, performer Charkes
Ross relies on his audience to have a solid knowledge of all three films,
providing his interpretation of the three films without giving audience
members who don't know the three original Star Wars films off
by heart any hint as to what's actually going on.
Saying that, while I'm sure I missed a few references over the course
of the show, on the whole this was a hugely impressive performance which
combined physical theatre with popular culture. Ross' injection of a
few lines of tongue-in-cheek humour from the perspective of an audience
which has now seen the prequel trilogy was also fun.
Don't expect a lot of commentary; this is a purist look at the original
trilogy, boiled down into bite-sized lumps.
Rachel Lynn Brody
Stonewall
Pleasance and Angelica
Pleasance
*
Stonewall opens with the line, "I'm probably the last one
alive who remembers Stonewall." I remember Stonewall. And a lot
of my friends from that time are still around. This is not the Stonewall
that I remember.
This "Stonewall" takes us on the journey of one tranvestite,
her friends, and her memories of those days in the early summer of 1969
when the police and neighbors were somewhat less than tolerant of the
very present gay partygoers. We see our lead character fall in love
with a boy just off the train from the Midwest (accents ignored) who
is more interested in the civil rights of the gays than in her.
This production is all glitter and not too much substance to get in
the way. The play is weak, the production values contrived and amateurish.
This story doesn't know if it's about love or civil rights but the two
don't really connect in any real dramatic way.
That said, I think that there is some real talent here. The actors
work hard at trying to win the audience over. The dance numbers, which
have little to do with the plot, are fairly well choreographed and executed
with great enthusiam. The direction, however, is leaden and the characters
seem two dimensional.
Stonewall may be too far back in history to have much relevence today.
But with the U.S. government not asking and some gays still not telling,
maybe it's time for another look at where we really are in accepting.
Catherine Lamm
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