3 musicals in 2 days: three of the Fringe's big opening numbers
08 Jul 2019

by Drew Rowsome -

Scheduling Fringe festival shows is a juggling act, so it was just by chance that the first three shows I see are musicals. Which is fine because I love musicals.

First up was Spend Your Kids' Inheritance by Catherine Frid and Frank Horvat. The show starts strong with an ensemble number that introduces the character and gives a comical depiction of the monotonous life at the Alpine Retirement Home. A new resident arrives and, because she is unable to order sushi to be delivered (her credit cards are now in the home's control), she inspires the others to, well, spend their kids' inheritances.

From there the plot veers off and doubles back and sometimes is forced to contort to fit the demands of the songs and/or the overall plot. Subtle it ain't, and often, in the same way that the residents are talked down to, the plot points are spoon fed, underlined and then explained to make sure the audience gets it. There is a breaking the fourth wall running gag that is more hilarious with each repeat, and the lesbian relationship at the heart is a very sweet one.

The Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse is a fairly intimate room and the cast sells the songs well, though, inexplicably the marquee star Charlotte Moore disappears vocally except for one moment where her clear soprano floats sweetly above the ensemble. However her comic timing is spot on and she lands several bits of business and double takes without ever mugging. Bil Antoniou (We Say Such Terrible Things) also finds many laugh out loud physical gags to elevate his roles above their plot device status. Sometimes a dinghy or a dick joke just works.

It was opening night so I suspect that as the cast, who are all very capable but seemed hesitant, will grow to own the stage and hopefully pick up the pace. The songs are all fine - except for an unfortunate semi-rap number that the otherwise delightful Kyle Orzech can't rescue from its ambiguous status - is it parody or an attempt to be hip? - but also all in the same tonal and tempo range with occasional glottal descending notes that are odd. At one point Jillian Rees-Brown, playing a former jazz singer, gets to cut loose and it is electrifying. But she is situated at the side of the stage and unlit. I left singing the hook from Gaga's "The Shallow" which is also the most memorable musical hook in Spend Your Kids' Inheritance.

Next up was Clitoria: A Sex-Positive Superhero! (The Musical) which has just as much heart but also aims at other body parts. Again the plot is just there to hang a thematic concern upon, but Clitoria is so relentlessly upbeat, fast-paced and slick that even a frigid prude would be seduced. Star and writer Laura Bailey is force of nature and utterly fearless. She struts her appealing gospel-tinged country pop voice and Dolly Parton bod to songs about spanking, bondage, nipple clamps and uninhibited group sex. Sexy and in control.

The "direction, choreography, musical direction and arrangements" are all by Christopher Wilson (Parade in Concert, Merrily We Roll Along in Concert, Company in Concert, Assassins in Concert, Into the Woods in Concert, Andy Warhol Musical: In Rehearsal) who makes deceptive simplicity a virtue. Bailey's support is excellent with sly sexpot Ursula K Manifred, powerful baritone Matthew Bradley, and the outrageously funny and subtle Jada Rifkin (Anne of Green Gables) casually upstaging everyone as either a slinky limber chorus girl or the puppeteer/alter-ego Mr Kisses the pussy (and yes that double entendre gets a solid workout that is somehow charming instead of juvenile smutty).

I will go out on a limb and state that few Fringe audience members need to be reminded that sexual education and liberation are a necessity, or that the occasional kink can be educating and liberating, but when the cast launched into a spirited reprise of "Anything You Want," it is impossible not to cheer with delight. Even the gay joke is sweet and opens the proceedings to a whole other set of possibilities that the short running time has shortchanged. If there had been a larger audience (it was the middle of the afternoon alas) the ovation would have demanded that Bradley reprise his Elvis-influenced "Meaty Treat" and begged that someone have the nerve to give Rifkin a song of her own.

Unravelled is unabashedly romantic and firmly in the big voices singing big songs school of musical theatre. Each song is an 11 o'clock number and there are more modulations than a Barry Manilow greatest hits medley. In the acoustically stunning Grace Toronto Church the results are sumptuous. Andrew Seok's score reimagines and mashes together Romeo and Juliet, Orpheus and Eurydice, and The Gift of the Magi in an almost logical way and milks the dramatic heart of each for everything they are worth. And - spoiler alert! - supplies happy endings that, totally against my cynical nature, moved me to near tears.

It is impossible to not succumb to the soaring melodies and gorgeous singing. If the staging is a little stagey and breaks the flow, it matters not. If the lyrics don't often rise above greeting card gibberish ("The world sleeps in darkness/But we dream in light" and "It's always darkest before it's bright/The dawn will bring new light") it matters not. Chris Tsujiuchi (Box 4901, Onegin) keeps the music intensifying and the voices fill the space with magic. Seok, as Orpheus, gets the best and most dramatic numbers (fitting for one who, legend has it, could charm all living things and even stones with his music) but there isn't a weak song in the show and it is cathartically satisfying when the melodies intertwine for the big finale.

Victoria Houser, Laura Larson and Michaela Mar all dance atop their melodies and blend blissfully with the resonant tones of Keenan Smits and Jeff Lillico (Cinderella, Bang Bang, Tom at the Farm). The chorus also deserves to be commended for filling in multiple roles and layering on a sonic wall of sound that shakes the church's foundations. The music is the hook - the plot and theme of 'love conquers all' is just an excuse to break into song - and it worked beautifully. I left singing and buoyant.

The Fringe is often seen as a jumping off place for musicals, rife with whispers of "remember The Drowsy Chaperone." Spend Your Kids' Inheritance should thrive in community theatre especially with the main roles being for triple-threats of a certain age. Clitoria should be toured to every school in the province with Doug Ford, Lisa Thompson, Stephen Lecce and Sam Oosterhoff (now that's an orgy of horror) ball gagged and tied to chairs in the front row. Unravelled needs to catch the eye of an impresario who can add the lavish trappings to transform it into a Phantom, Les Miz. Or a cover version of a song, pick a song, by a Josh Groban or an Idina Menzel might earn Seok the financial resources to create the production of his dreams. Though this Unravelled must be pretty damn close already.