Day 1: And the fringe play reviews continue

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This article was published 20/07/2023 (778 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

Shoestring Players

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 30

Winnipeg’s Shoestring Players have a ball as they bounce their way through this hour-long collection of comic vignettes depicting the never-ending education that comes with being a member of the human race.

Once class is in session, the players — most of whom are middle-aged — turn back the clock and give the audience a reminder that wisdom shouldn’t necessarily come at the expense of wonder, self-belief and a can-do attitude. Based on the series of books by Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know… is sentimental and ultra-saccharine, but there’s a real joy in seeing the actors ham it up and play make-believe, which might give others the confidence to give something new a try.

It’s sappy, and it knows it, but you’ll still clap your hands. ★★1/2

— Ben Waldman

THE AMERICAN SONGBOOK EXPERIENCE

Melanie Gall Presents

MTYP — Mainstage (Venue 21), to July 29

Internationally renowned Canadian chanteuse Melanie Gall (Ingenue: Deanna Durbin, Judy Garland and the Golden Age of Hollywood; Opera Mouse) hailing from St. Albert, Alta., gets personal with her latest musical, a poignant love song to her late musician grandfather, Jack Young.

The operatically trained soprano belts out greatest hits by Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and others, as she recounts Young’s big band roots in Toronto with a “booming baritone” voice rivalling Sinatra’s. Her showstopper, Brother, Can you Spare a Dime?, is worth the price of admission alone, as is another highlight, Yiddish theatre classic Bei Mir Bistu Shein.

Some opening-night wonkiness included her slide projections of evocative archival photos cutting out midway through the one-hour performance. More stage business would have further brought her narrative to life, with Gall appearing oddly stiff at times during her numbers sung to a pre-recorded jazz combo.

Still, her deeply moving finale, in which she melds her voice with Young’s ghostly taped vocals, brings a lump to the throat, in this unabashedly sentimental, insightful journey back home. ★★★★

— Holly Harris

ANATOMICA

Ragmop Theatre

MTC Up the Alley (Venue 2) to July 29

This is the first solo show for Portland, Ore.’s Amica Hunter (they/them) of the physical-comedy duo A Little Bit Off. The poster has them wearing a pink hooded bodysuit with a white tube attached. If you go — and you should — you will see another kind of white tube on stage, beside an invitation to “have a listen on the way to your seat.” Many did. This coward did not and regretted it as one after another listener began by smiling and then giggling.

There were more giggles as Hunter arrived in another costume with tales of bodily aches, pains and peculiarities. Then another costume, and another, the shedding and donning of which is the spine of this mashup of storytelling, confession and clownery.

Speaking of spines, the show is ostensibly about skeletons, ostensibly about the science thereof, which invites and enthusiastically receives audience participation, questions and voting.

The momentum falters at times, but Hunter’s sweet face and antic energy picks it up and keeps it rolling to a wonderful conclusion that reveals what their show is really about. ★★★1/2

— Denise Duguay

AT THE TABLE WITH KEITH BROWN

Keith Brown

Alloway Hall — Manitoba Museum (Venue 5), to July 30

Thank you, Dave Grohl. I overrode my aversion to magic shows and went to the first of seven performances by London, Ont.’s Keith Brown in part because the poster quotes the Foo Fighter frontman’s review: “You’re incredible.” And Grohl is right. The sleights of hand are astonishing and fun. But Brown’s skill of illusion is not the only thing that has audience members laughing, open-mouthed and full of wonder like a kid at the end of a good story demanding, “Again! Again!”

Magician and storyteller Brown begins with a warm, beautiful land acknowledgment, setting the tone for an intimate, generous hour to come. Next, he welcomes the “small but mighty audience,” speaking and looking directly to each one of us, sprinkling tricks in between tales from his pandemic living room to Iceland. Jo and Francis leapt at his invitation to join him at his table. I cringed, but by the end I was jealous. ★★★★

— Denise Duguay

DANGEROUS MIND

Strange Danger

Planetarium Auditorium (Venue 9), to July 29

Scott Porteous, a Winnipeg standup comedian in his late 30s, has led a difficult life. As a highly anxious kid in the North End, he was bullied and plagued by insecurity. After being exposed to video porn as a seven-year-old, he went on to become a porn addict and a paying customer of sex workers.

It takes courage to confess to being “warped” and “tainted” by porn. But merely informing the audience of this in a self-absorbed way does not constitute storytelling art.

Porteous lacks the writerly skill to give his autobiography a narrative shape, create compelling scenes or dig into universal emotions like shame and loneliness. He avoids looking at the audience. The hour-long Dangerous Mind is mostly an excruciatingly awkward, sordid inventory of Porteous’s addictive behaviour. His raw gut-spilling is punctuated by standup-style jokes that are rarely more than slightly amusing. He does land the occasional quip, like his comment on using his Christmas money from Mom and Dad to pay for sex: “This is why they give me gift cards now.” ★★

— Alison Mayes

THE DREAMS OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR

Geraüschbiest

CCFM — Salle Pauline-Boutal (Venue 4), to July 29

The Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar is a locally produced 45-minute musical told by way of harmonized chanting, song and carefully choreographed scenes, using several cast and chorus members and minimal props.

The show is interesting, raw and has moments of crude intensity, though admittedly, it’s a bit hard to follow if you aren’t overly familiar with the biblical story of the longest reigning King of Babylonia (605-562 BC).

One of the most notable and impressive aspects of this show is the array of homemade instruments that creator Jesse Krause and his counterpart play throughout — an electric cello or bass-type instrument that looked like a large branch, or a small tree played with a homemade bow? Very cool.

For the right biblically knowledgeable audience, this musical could have a profound impact. ★★★

— Shelley Cook

DRAG ME TO THE OPERA

Aida Cupcake Presents

MTC Up the Alley (Venue 2), to July 29

What a necessary show and a lively introduction to two historic and affirming artistic disciplines: opera singing and drag. Steven Morton wanted to take centre stage as a professional opera singer and he finally, truly gets that chance. We get a linear recounting of how Morton’s passion to sing ultimately led in 2006 to a prestigious audition in Weimar, Germany, as told by his alter ego, drag maven Aida Cupcake.

This reference to the German district and the use of cabaret-style title cards creates a subtle time shift; we can’t help being willkommen to think back to the brief era of late 1920s Weimar Berlin, where drag and gender expression flourished.

Morton’s impediment to stardom (but his ultimate victory) is his beautiful, unique voice, which does not fit into a conventional vocal category. You could say there’s a tenor and a soprano trapped inside the larynx of a lyric baritone. The chosen arias provide an opportunity for a little operatic history and a mini recital; one baroque aria in particular can inspire tears.

On leaving, a woman stepped through the exit into the arriving dusk, bursting to say, “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen.” Sing that from the rooftops. Brava/Bravo! ★★★★★

— Lara Rae

MA-BUHAY: THE ROAD TO RAINBOW STAGE

Ma-Buhay! A New Musical

Tom Hendry Warehouse (Venue 6), to July 30

Per capita, Winnipeg has the highest population of Filipinos in Canada, and per capita, this 65-minute all-Filipino musical workshop might have the highest concentration of emerging talent in the entire fringe festival.

The brainchild of local performer Joseph Sevillo, who devised the production as a showcase for Filipino creatives both onstage and behind the scenes, Ma-Buhay follows three finalists (Brady Barrientos, Jerilyn Bulaong, Victoria Exconde) on a reality singing program, with one million pesos on the line (C$26,324.35 doesn’t sound quite as lucrative, the show jokes).

This fringe version is pitched as a work-in-progress, featuring snippets of the show that will run at Rainbow Stage in the near future. But this draft is far from rough, replete with costume changes, lively choreography, show-stopping pop songs and heartbreaking ballads. Students in Sisler High School’s CREATE Program add superb production value with feature animation accompaniments, while Rochelle Kives and Robin Quintana are hilarious as the competition’s hosts, a former beauty queen and a honey-dill-obsessed boxing champ.

If this is the workshop, one can only imagine how entertaining the finished product will be. ★★★★

— Ben Waldman

MY DAD ISN’T DANNY DeVITO

Anthony DeVito

The Cinematheque (Venue 7), to July 30

In 1983, Danny DeVito was wrapping up his Emmy-winning run as Louie De Palma on Taxi. Meanwhile, an unrelated, diminutive comedian named Anthony DeVito began his life in northern New Jersey, not fully knowing where half his chromosomes came from.

DeVito’s real father’s life was much less funny than the beloved Hollywood star’s, marked by crime and punishment. But in this 65-minute one-man show, DeVito spins poignant comedy from his own family tragedy, puncturing the illusions of stereotypical Italian-American masculinity. “Any outward expression of bravado is an inward suppression of vulnerability,” he says, while tossing winning jokes left and right.

Sadly, DeVito has a habit of taking the bit one step too far into offensive territory, proving the eternal value of editing. The last joke of the show would be his best if he didn’t inexplicably pull a yarmulke out of his pocket and sloppily ruin his own punchline. ★★★

— Ben Waldman

NEECHIES

Broken Record Productions

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to July 30

Anishinaabe playwright Jo MacDonald offers up a comedic story of four childhood friends who reunite for a night of shenanigans that lands them in the slammer.

While waiting in a jail cell to be questioned by the overnight officer, these four of your deadly aunties not only have to navigate their night gone awry, they also begin to unpack the tumultuous years of estrangement and the mounting situation (and person) that landed them there in the first place.

Right from the start of this comedy, that real deadly neechie sense of humour shines with one-liners, funny quips and the showcase of Indigenous culture, humour and personality. The characters are endearing and the cast members have good chemistry with one another.

Written from an Indigenous perspective, Neechies is universal and relatable for everyone. ★★★★★

— Shelley Cook

A ONE HUMAN BEING, POTENTIALLY COMEDIC PERFORMANCE OF LES MIS

Living the Dream

Rachel Brown Theatre (Venue 8), to July 30

Alli Perlov, a middle school drama teacher, plays the musical Les Mis on the stereo while she marks papers. She has done so to the point where she can literally act out the entire show. Running with that concept, she moves from her desk to the fringe, with this remount from 2018.

If you love Les Mis, you’ll love this show. It is funny, as Alli is affable, charming and full of beans, and she throws in some games and quizzes to keep it all moving.

The show title says it all. Ms. Perlov delivers on her promise and we even get a chance to get to engage and meet with her prior to curtain. You can see that she would be an inspiring and dynamic teacher and her enthusiasm for fun is contagious; if you’ve never seen Les Mis, she does bring it home.

And she sings better than Russell Crowe. ★★★★

— Lara Rae

OTTO AND ASTRID’S JOINT SOLO PROJECT

Salvador Dinosaur

Pyramid Cabaret (Venue 22), to July 29

Winnipeg fans were out in force for the latest comedy cabaret from Otto and Astrid, the Berlin guitar-and-drums duo Die Roten Punkte (the Red Dots).

The squabbling siblings (Melbourne-based Daniel Tobias and Clare Bartholomew) are attempting to embark on solo careers, but end up accompanying each other onstage; fireworks ensue.

Tobias earns sympathy as the earnest, clingy Otto and Bartholomew is a force of nature as the hard-drinking, abrasive Astrid (though her German accent veers wildly off course). Their White Stripes schtick might fall flat if the music didn’t deliver, but whether it’s Otto’s cleverly de-fanged take on Iggy Pop swagger or Astrid’s bravura performance of the innuendo-laden Tasty Snack, https://youtu.be/K9Wb-74OH0E the songs are a brilliant, harmonious blend of lyrical bite, musical chops and witty genre nods.

However, while the tunes are tight, the parts in between are baggy — the improv feel is fun, but the 65-minute show needs a tighter script and a more satisfying ending. That said, you’ll still want the T-shirt. ★★★1/2

— Jill Wilson

SAPPHIRE BUTTERFLY BLUE

MTYP’s Summer Studio

MTYP Mainstage (Venue 21), to July 30

MTYP’s teen theatre company performs a series of intense monologues about the Salem witch trials of 1692. Sixteen barefoot students, dressed in black cloaks, take turns in the spotlight as condemned witches and their accusers. In between, the performers chant, dance and rap. The most clever bit of action is a game of hot potato that starts right before turning as dark as the rest of the show.

Sapphire Butterfly Blue, written by Canadian playwright Melissa Major, makes a forceful statement about the end of childhood innocence. It’s an appropriate theatre exercise for the young, earnest cast that runs 45 minutes, not 60 as advertised. ★★★

— Kaj Hasselriis

WHY NOT MURDER MOTHER

TBA Productions

John Hirsch Mainstage (Venue 1), to July 29

Points for a clever premise by playwright/director Liz Farler. Fading movie star Sylvia (Katerina Liakakis Dawson) is lying in bed in a coma after someone tried to electrify her bathtub. The twist is she can understand what’s going on around her, so she seeks clues to determine which member of her family attempted the killing, with suspects including her cheating husband, her three daughters and one daughter’s sleazy boyfriend.

This local comedy-whodunit is perhaps too broadly performed, and Dawson’s attempts to elicit audience reaction yielded zero results opening night. But there is a certain disreputable charm to it all. It ran 72 minutes; cutting the attempted audience participation might make for a more desirable tight 60. ★★1/2

— Randall King

WORLD’S GREATEST* DAD

Morgan Cranny

Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Venue 4), to July 30

Victoria, B.C., comedian Morgan Cranny is proud to look like a stereotypical Canadian dad. Plaid shirt? Check. Cargo pants? Check. Ample gut? Check.

But is he the greatest? Sadly, his two kids have never given him a mug that says so.

That doesn’t stop the likable Cranny from giving advice on how to get it. His hour-long standup show is a series of dad jokes and true tales about barbecues, vasectomies and the birds and the bees.

Cranny’s set should improve when he remembers all his lines. But hopefully he keeps fumbling his sound and lighting cues. On opening night, that’s how he scored his biggest laughs. ★★1/2

— Kaj Hasselriis