The Buzz – Reviews – 2015

Chess, The Musical

Ethereal Fantazy — MTC Mainstage

This 90-minute show has a cast of 14, as well as live music provided by a four-piece band. This is a big show about American and Soviet chess grandmasters dueling for the world chess championship crown, and the love of a woman, in a proxy Cold War of their own.

The source material was composed by Tim Rice and the male members of ABBA in 1984 after the demise of that group.

This Fringe production has pleasant singing, but unfortunately the players don’t use mics and are often overpowered by the band. With it being difficult to hear everything clearly, it is easy to lose important story elements.

Konrad Antony

Die Rotten Punkte…The Best Band in the World

Die Rotten Punkte—MTC Mainstage

They may not be the best band in the world, but they must be the funniest. We have seen them every year, and their zany antics and hilarious sibling rivalry always provide fresh fun.

Drummer Astrid Rot, zaftig, to put it mildly, clambers up and down the aisles, lap dances on the edge of theatre seats, which is very acrobatic and impressive on its own, leaps on and off the stage, all the while keeping her brother on a very tight leash.

Astrid always picks some poor male to be her “Second Best Friend” and direct this extremely sexual song towards him.

Otto, known for his rock ‘n roll high kicks and guitar playing, plays the shy innocent to Astrid’s brazen sexuality. She pretends to be jealous when Otto receives the prettiest pair of pink panties thrown at him from one of his fans. Their repartee and improvisation are always rapid fire and very clever. These are two very talented, professional performers who will never disappoint. We wouldn’t miss them.

Otto is also in the same venue in The Orchid and the Crow, which I am looking forward to seeing. It should be great. He’s so talented, it will be interesting to see what else he can do!

Lisa Campbell

A Girl’s Guide to War

Quake Theater—Playhouse Studio

Prepare yourselves for battle! This hilarious and endearing play was absolutely charming.

Millicent Gulch is probably the goofiest kid you will ever meet, but that is only matched by the courage and fire she possesses. The character’s best friend ditches her, and Millicent decides she isn’t going to take this betrayal!

The show features shadow puppetry, and a 5-foot-long string of guts. The entire audience is invited to Join Millicent’s army.

Our “troop” had a ton of fun during the show. There is a bit of mild language, however this is a great play about taking leadership and standing up for what you believe in. Definitely a highlight from this festival.

Kaitlyn Kriss

Ms. Sugarcoat

Alice Nelson—PTE Studio

I cried I laughed so hard in this show. Nelson’s portrayal of a new age, fresh-faced teacher was wickedly funny and had mile-a-minute jokes everywhere!

Her trusty sidekick Pat the Beaver (a talking hand puppet) with a political agenda of his own upped the anti and kept this show from becoming too sickly sweet.

The juxtaposition of the absurdly inclusive, and the potty mouth of the puppet, made for a great combo.

This show is definitely not one to take the kids or your mom to (there are quite a lot of dirty jokes and language), but it is one you should take some of your buddies too for an hour of pure fun! Definitely one of my highlights from the festival.

Kaitlyn Kriss

Ms. Sugarcoat

Alice Nelson—PTE Studio

Ms. Sugarcoat is funny, smart, irreverent, accessible, and masterfully executed.

Super fave.

Tara Dewar

Stories of Love and Passion

Best Bitts Productions—Eckhardt-Gramattś

This woman is incredible. She’s everything she promises in the program. And more.

She immediately drew me into her world and I honestly forgot for a time, that I was watching a show in the Fringe festival.

Rosie Bitts is a woman of the world. She is a seductress, or an innocent, or a loving mother at a moment’s notice.

It was comfortable, we were just there to have a good time, no strings attached, and I definitely left wanting more.

Arden Pruden

For You. For Me. For Nicolas.

Flotsam Theatre Co.—Rachel Browne Th. (Crocus Bldg.)

This play gives a unique take on the tribulations of three female roommates trying to make it in Toronto.

A live narrator gives the impression her own personal post-college experiences are more or less represented by all three roommates, which would have made it easier to construct dialogue from the opposing voices in her head—except the narrator isn’t the play’s writer (two of the roommates are).

If this sounds like an all-female episode of Friends, think again. Personal dramas reach boiling points here, and reality trumps happy endings in the girls’ various conflicts and crises.

Watching this felt like those nightmares where everything goes wrong and gets worse and worse before you finally wake up. (“Nicolas” is a boyfriend who died in another driver’s DUI crash.)

But it’s not hard to watch: The actresses’ performances are compelling and create interest. Light comedic lines are sprinkled here and there, and the snappy pacing prevents it from becoming overwrought.

By the end, I wanted to see a sequel to find how these characters ended up.

Beau Hajavitch

On The Next Page

Broadway Bound—Rachel Browne Th. (Crocus Bldg.)

This was a good idea in concept, but a little lacking in execution. While the kids’ performances were endearing, they weren’t enough to carry the show.

I love fairy tales, I really do, but all in all, the show was rather weak. It might be fun for your little ones though.

Arden Pruden

Searching for Dick: A Paranormal Comedy

Sticky Fingers Prods.—Sch. of Contemp. Dance

When I attend a show called Searching for Dick, I expect a lot of tongue-in-cheek and a lot of sexual innuendo. There isn’t much of either.

There are some funny parts, and some heart tugging. The brownies taste great, and I’m starting to wonder what’s in them!

This fragmented story jumps from black light to psychic without much cohesion. It’s funny, it’s sad; it’s emotional, and it’s conversational. I get that she’s trying to tell the story like you’re sitting in her kitchen, but the story she tells jumps frequently and often you wonder, “What was the point of that?”

Still, you should see this show, and you should bring some extra money along (voluntary of course) for a good cause.

Ray Yuen

Magical Mystery Detour

Gemma Wilcox—MTYP Mainstage

I have always been awed and amazed by Gemma Wilcox’s ability to not only create and portray different characters in her one-woman shows, but in the odd and wonderful characters she creates out of other objects and animals.

Her latest show contains several human characters as well as a car, a tree, a couple of dogs, a fly, an owl, a penny and more.

Sometimes one-person shows are hard to follow if you cannot easily identify which character is which. You will never have that problem with any of Gemma’s shows.

She is in the top tier of my favorite one-person show performers of all-time, that includes Julia Mackey (Jake’s Gift) and Tara Travis (Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII).

Murray Hunter