The 29th Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival kicked off Thursday night for an 11-day run until Aug. 22.
It's a wacky world of freaks and weirdoes where in the space of two minutes hippies, angels, mad hatters and zombies parade through the Westbury Theatre, the festival's command headquarters.
While the rainy day opening washed away the outdoor buskers, many of the 170 indoor productions are hitting record sales. Stewart Lemoine's Witness to a Congo, for instance, is nearly sold out.
A list of shows is available by buying a $6 program guide at Safeway or through the online list at www.fringetheatreadventures.ca.
Check out the Gazette reviews for actors linked to our community.
The Unraveling Trilburys
Three stars BYOV #38 Holy Trinity Anglican Church 10037 - 84 Ave.
St. Albert's own Trent Worthington and Kieran Martin Murphy gained Fringe fame through their PreTenors show, a poke at stuffy operatic singers.
In The Unraveling Trilburys, the two join up with Ron King and let their hair down singing a comfortable mix of songs that range from country/bluegrass to Latin and doo-wop.
Picture the relaxed vibe created by close friends around a campfire singing original songs about incidents that have touched their lives — Alzheimer's, lost moments, broken relationships, family and romance — and you have The Trilburys.
In some ways this is Murphy's show. He's written the songs and is the main singer. Each tune is deeply personal, a window into his life from the pop-rock Westlock Summer where he grew up to the soulful Love at a Glance.
While Worthington and King primarily provide backup, they each have their moments. It was delightful fun to see Worthington, a booster of the local classical scene depart from the norm and scat in the jazzy/doo-wop a cappella number So Many Ways.
King is a phenomenal string instrumentalist, accomplished in mandolin, guitar and violin, and it's a treat to hear his Dobro's country twanging phrases in You Won't Be Hurtin' Me No More.
There's a down-home charisma and easy-going rapport among the trio that catches on quickly with the audience. It's a light, fun show that allows you to tap your toes or just kick back and escape the Fringe madness.
— Anna Borowiecki
Bigger than Vegas
Four stars Venue 1 Westbury Theatre 10330 - 84 Ave.
Bridget Ryan brings the energy she must surely require for her morning TV gig to this smart, funny and entertaining show that is definitely no gamble.
Ryan, a morning host on CityTV's Breakfast Television and St. Albert Children's Theatre alumna, leads this show with an impressive back-up band that takes the audience through the misadventures of Ryan's life.
The show has nothing to do with Sin City, nor does it really follow the course Ryan lays out in the opening number about her fascination with the bigger and better.
Ryan instead recounts the stories of her personal and professional missteps; starting with a high school dance, moving to a flubbed New York musical audition, the story of a failed Muppets audition and finally the tale of her disastrous rendition of the American national anthem at Telus Field.
She has a natural comedic timing and a fantastic ability to laugh at herself. She also has a strong singing voice and range, both of which lend well to the show. The show had some small foibles on opening night, but I suspect those will be ironed out as the run continues.
The show uses a lot of interesting multi-media techniques and up until one of the last songs it could even be considered a family-friendly fringe show, but that one — and I won't spoil it — throws that notion out the window.
The show is fun, light fare and neither stands out nor lets the audience down, but is well worth the cost of admission.
— Ryan Tumilty
After
Four stars BYOV #39 Holy Family Trinity Anglican Church 10037 - 84 Ave.
Edmonton playwright David Belke's plays usually have a hint of mystery in them. In his new 75-minute musical comedy After, there are arcs of ambiguity that keep you hooked right to the end.
Ava (Linda Grass), an elegant, statuesque woman has just hosted a memorial for her husband. Despite the emotion of the occasion, she is initially aloof, almost emotionally constipated.
Ava has organized a four-hour memorial with a parade of characters — almost every act her husband Dean ever booked. But she's deliberately left out the ex-wife.
When Holly (Elinor Holt), finds out, she bursts into the church like a tornado. A polar opposite to Ava's Audrey Hepburn glamour, Holly is a clownish, frumpy bohemian that is loud and hysterical almost to the point of annoyance.
St. Albert's Jenny McKillop as Danica, the church accompanist, is the lynchpin that binds these two contrary women competing for Best Wife Award. Through Danica's gentle probing, the secretive Dean, the invisible protagonist, slowly unfolds.
Belke has a real talent for creating strong women and the dialogue is tight and crisp. This trio of women is loaded with chemistry and they emanate a blend of powerful performances.
It's a directing and production masterpiece setting the play in a church with stained glass windows, dark wooden pews, pipe organ and soft echoes, the perfect locale to unravel a chick comedy with music and mystery.
— Anna Borowiecki
My Pal Izzy: The Early Life and Music of Irving Berlin
Three stars Venue 7 Yardbird Suite 11 Tommy Banks Way
When someone says Irving Berlin, the first song that pops to mind is White Christmas, a tune that single-handedly defines the North American holiday
But don't expect the familiar in My Pal Izzy: The Early Life and Music of Irving Berlin. Creator Melanie Gall, a former St. Albert soprano living in New York, presents a snapshot of Berlin's early life, and in this one-hour cabaret she's pulled together 12 charming but mostly forgotten songs.
Gall is Becky, a childhood friend of Berlin's and a 1930s showgirl. She first steps on stage decked in feathers and pearls stringing together Berlin's iconic story from childhood through to his first compositions, marriage and death of his first wife.
Gall flirts with the audience and wiggles her tush. However, this cabaret's strength is definitely Gall's crystal clear soprano voice, a lush, confident, cool sound that has blossomed from extensive operatic training.
From the opening Down to the Follies Bergere to the closing That Dying Rag, Gall gives it a zestful Broadway energy that puts Berlin in a fresh light.
However, Gall has stacked too much of the show with unfamiliars, and it sags a tad in the middle. Audiences like to hear memorable works. It develops a stronger rapport with the performer.
In a capsule, My Pal Izzy combines intense vocal beauty and a well-researched show of a Broadway legend that stops time and catapults us into the past.
— Anna Borowiecki
Grimmer Than Grimmer Than Grimm
Four stars BYOV #15 La Cité Francophone 8627 - 91 St.
Sequels are scary at the best of times, doubly so when the sinister subject matter borders on the bloody, with vengeful killings aplenty and the odd beheading thrown in for good measure. Fortunately, it's all for a good laugh.
The folks at Ribbit Productions deliver no shortage of laughs while embracing the light side of the dark folk tales collected by the Grimm brothers. Grimmer Than Grimmer Than Grimm is a sort-of sequel in that it's a follow-up to last year's highly popular Grimmer Than Grimm, however the tales this time 'round are completely unrelated — a fresh kill for the audience, so to speak.
Grimmer Than Grimmer Than Grimm is actually a collection of seven skits based on Grimm folk tales, including Hansel and Gretel, The Three Spinners, The Juniper Tree and The Blue Light.
Even before entering the theatre, audiences are promised a bloodbath and Ribbit delivers with several dismemberment and beheadings in Fowler's Fowl, which successfully utilizes a Barbie doll and live action characters. The cast ups the revenge factor in The Juniper Tree, which features the standard "horrid-looking and vengeful" second wife bent on beheading her stepson (who, despite ending up as black pudding, gets the last laugh).
The cast of four players, which includes former St. Albert Children's Theatre alumnus Scott Walters, appears to delight in portraying the darkest traits of Grimms' characters while balancing the creep factor with well-timed witty dialogue and slap-stick. The skits are deliberately overacted and sometimes just plain silly (cue the kung fu fight with a puppet wielding a human drumstick), but the delivery and energy plays off the darkness, making it that much funnier.
Grimmer Than Grimmer Than Grimm isn't child's play, so leave the kids at home. The cast drops the occasional f-bomb with dialogue that often includes veiled and not-so-veiled sexual innuendo (the Barbie dolls again, oral sex on a dirty witch, and a princess who is made to do a little "wax on, wax off" in her sleep to name a few). Is it too grim? No, it's just damned funny.
— Bryan Alary
