Naomi Forman Productions

The Telephone—Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall

Two hilarious and classically trained professional opera singers bring you a delightfully 1950’s, bite-sized, comic opera by Gian Carlo Menotti.

Ben desperately wants to marry Lucy but every time he gets down on bended knee, the telephone rings and chaos ensues! The Telephone has the distinction of being the first opera to be presented on Broadway. Brought to you by the company that created StarBach’s: The Coffee Cantata (4 Stars), this is the only opera offered at the 2015 Fringe.

theater simple

The Death of Brian—MTYP Mainstage

Who has: a zombie puppet? The tastiest guts in town?

A near-mythic desire to find his wife?

BRIAN SMITH!! Who doesn’t know he’s dead.

Yet.

THIS is the show for those who get EVERY Zombie trope pop-culturally available.

This is ALSO the show for folks who are squeamish or zombie-averse.

Horror-fest guest Ricky Coates is “a cross between a feral animal and a Balanchine dancer” and the show is “deliciously gruesome”

Brian S—Not your average Post-Human.

Theatre Anywhere

Salt of the Earth&mdashRRC

Kevin Longfield steps front and centre to tell the story of William Cliffe, his grandfather.

Bill Cliffe was a child labourer in England before apprenticing as a blacksmith and coming to Canada in 1911. He worked on the Winnipeg Aqueduct before enlisting with the Royal Engineers and serving in Baghdad in World War I. Then his life became interesting.

Brian Richardson’s direction and Nancy Drake’s voice coaching helped to bring this story to life.

selardi productions

Daddy Issues—RRC

I’m 10 years old and I’m on my way outside to play basketball. My dad motions for me to sit down. “You’re getting older. You’re going to start getting curious about your body. That’s OK. Just don’t do it at the dinner table.”

He crushes out his cigarette in the heavy glass ashtray. “Do what I do. Do it in the shower.”

I was 10. That’s when I stopped taking showers.

Rumble Pak Returns

Rumble Pak—Eckhart-Grammetté

While the point of the show was to be all over the place and shift from scene to scene, it almost felt too all over the place.

The boys were funny certainly, and they act well together, but they seemed distracted, and as an audience member it’s hard to keep track of a show when it’s constantly shifting and slightly unclear.

In a sense, though, I liked it. It felt like they were playing. They used the entire theatre, and it was easy to be charmed by the show.

Arden Pruden

From Broadway to Obscurity

Winnipeg Studio Theatre—PTE Mainstage

Where do you go after Broadway? After being cast in the lead of Jersey Boys, the only way is up…or…obscurity?

Why walk away from success when you spent so much time to get to Broadway and have dealt with rejection after rejection at audition calls? Is the Fringe the end? Is it Winnipeg now or bust?

The singing is superb, so go and hear Eric sing and tell his story.

Frank Martin

The Mystery of Krummhorn Castle…

Kiss the Giraffe Prods.—MTC Mainstage

This presentation has everything you want in a musical, including some of the best props ever seen at the Fringe. The songs are fun and catchy, the heroes are adorable, and the villains are charismatic. What more could you want?

Oh yeah, monsters—and they’re cute, too. Throw in some quirky humour and they have you engaged for the entire ride.

While the main characters all have powerful vocals, some of the minor characters are a bit weak and hard to hear in the back rows. If you want to catch all the lyrics, stick to the front half of the theatre.

Ray Yuen

The Birdcage

Crosswalk Productions—Warehouse

Considering where this play originates from, it had some enormous shoes to fill. How do you top Nathan Laine’s and Robin William’s performances in the classic film? While I wouldn’t go in expecting anything new (especially if you’ve seen the movie a few hundred times like I have), I would expect to see a production with a lot of heart, and a good integration of local drag performers that made the show seem a lot closer to home.

Expect fun classic drag numbers and a few hearty laughs, courtesy of the very flamboyant live-in maid.

Kaitlyn Kriss

Tape

The 28th Minute—Asper Centre (U of W)

I was hooked on this show right from the get-go—really strong actors in a believable story that I could definitely understand.

Towards the end of the play however, things started to get a little muddled. It seemed like the actors weren’t certain of what they were trying to say, and the show boiled down to miscommunication as a plot device.

It certainly felt like 75 minutes, especially, towards the end of the show, and so much of it felt like it was padding out the runtime to be able to advertise a 75-minute show.

The actors were believable, the direction was very good, but it really needed an editor for those last 20 minutes.

Arden Pruden

Ain’t True & Uncle False

ManDamsel and FellaLady—Cinematheque

A wacky world woven from words; that’s what Paul Strickland invents and delivers. Trailer Park tales with just enough logic to have you nodding your head, and then shucks, there they are on stage, Uncle True with his wonky eye, Poppa Ganda, Ma Ganda, the Siamese twins who were one year apart in age, and the black-eyed pea factory with it’s own way of processing, canning, and marketing.

And that’s to say nothing about the hills and valleys that make a life, and the flat line that you want to avoid with its one note promise of a full stop. Only that doesn’t stop the stories from being told and passed down.

Fringe means edge and edgy and Strickland will take you there and back if’n you’re willing to go.

Ron Robinson