Experiencing Fringe - July 2, 2010

For my second day of Fringing I had planned to see three shows:
> a 1:15pm of Tightrope @ Theatre Pass Muraille Mainspace
> a 7pm of The Making Of @ Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace
> an 11pm of Wedding Night In Canada @ St. Vladimir's Theatre.

To say the least my body had other plans and my viewing of Tightrope has been shuffled to Monday night.

So for this July 2 of Fringe I saw The Making Of (yes, "Making" not "Marking" as it says in the program) and Wedding Night In Canada.

The Making Of
by The Ensemble
Creator & Director: Michael Murphy

From the Fringe program:
A mokumentary that follows an inept film crew making a misguided documentary about the "untold plight of Toronto's poor" and who completely miss the point.

From the people who watched "Waiting for Guffman" and "The Office" - and thought they were both pretty funny - comes a comedy that'll make you wish you never found out what goes on behind the scenes.

First time in this space and what a great space it is. The A/C was on full blast, which would have been more effective had it been a really hot day out. However, I am not complaining...it was nice. [sigh]

The show was a combination of live on stage acting and prerecorded film that was projected onto a large screen upstage. It was a good combo of both, albeit a bit jumpy at some points - moving your focus from live actors to the screen and then back again. However, the jumpiness wasn't too noticeable because you were laughing almost all the time.

Laughs happened from the beginning to the end. Insane, illogical, stupid and silly lines came out of the "Rick" character's mouth and were then matched with witty and sometimes goofy remarks from the remaining cast of misfits.

Remarkably, some of Toronto's city councilors allowed themselves to be interviewed for portions of the prerecorded parts. It came across as a less gangster version of Ali G, but with all the dumb.

If you're looking for a laugh "Didju" know this is definitely the show for you!

After the show, I found my way to St. Vlad's for my next Fringing adventure - Wedding Night In Canada. Since it was at least an hour and a half before tickets went on sale I sauntered over to Momo's (on Harbord, West of Spadina) for some falafal and other food greatness. I haven't been to Momo's in years, but the food is still just as great and the beautiful night and patio provided for great people watching.

Wedding Night In Canada
by Francine Dick

From the Fringe Program:
Heddy has been planning the perfect wedding for more than two years. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't won the Stanley Cup in over a lifetime. When the dreams of a bride face off against the Leafs, a game away from glory, who will emerge victorious? And will the groom get to watch at least some of the game?

I saw this play once already this year in the form of a reading at Alumnae Theatre (Toronto) and loved the script. The women who played "Heddy" at the reading had a great voice to listen to and played the character with wonderful vocal tones and expressive body language. I also know the actor who read for the "Karim" part. Now a whole new set of actors, and costumes too!

Another new space; this one cozy with a high set stage. First show thus far with pre-show music. Only three songs on repeat, but very appropriate ones.

Heddy's wedding dress was beautiful and can actually be purchased from the designer, after Fringe is over obviously!

I found the chemistry between Karim (the best man) and Heddy was better than that between Nick (the groom) and Heddy. I guess you could say that it played well in showing how upset Heddy was with her new husband, but not really.

Karim was "over gay." Yes, his character is gay, but this was overkill. It did, however, add to the comedy of it all with his hand gestures, limp wrist action and "oh girl" body language. He reminded me a bit too much of Bobby Lee from MadTV.

The actress playing Heddy was enjoyable and had good line delivery. However, I found her, as Heddy, to be too whiny.

Nick had good delivery and he was funny, but I wasn't excited about him.

Awesome stuff:
- Nick in the hockey jersey over his wedding outfit.
- Curtain call with Heddy and Nick still making out/making up and Karim all ready to take a bow.

I guess I am bias because I enjoyed the actors who did the reading more than the Fringe staged production. The same script with different actors and you get a completely different show.

Great laughs and poignant with cute moments. Highly recommended.