Reviews 2016
✭✭✭✭✩
by Kurt Fitzpatrick, directed by Jeff Culbert
RibbitRePublic, Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace, Toronto Fringe Festival, Toronto
July 1-9, 2016
Framed as part of the 89th annual Oscar Awards ceremony, this hilarious romp takes on the admittedly barmy task of saluting in only one hour all 88 movies that have won Best Picture. In fact, the fantastically talented three-person team (American Kurt Fitzpatrick and Canadians Rachel Kent and Jon Paterson) satirizes more than salutes the Oscars especially in years when lesser films won out over great ones.
The team’s non-chronological approach creates horribly grotesque transitions, such a segue from The Sound of Music to The Silence of the Lambs (with Kent spot-on as both Julie Andrews and Jodie Foster) or Bing Crosby (Paterson) from Going My Way serenading the possessed Linda Blair (Fitzpatrick) from The Exorcist. The Americanization of history as in Argo comes in for particular lambasting. For many movies only the title is mentioned, but others come in for deeper scrutiny as when Fitzpatick as Forrest Gump picks apart the inanity of his mother’s advice about life being like a box of chocolates.
Meanwhile, tensions develop within the team when Kent, as herself, objects that her male cast mates try to remake every film into (non-Oscar-winning) Star Wars. Not knowing all the references may be frustrating but the comic infighting along with the cast’s inexhaustible bravado create more than enough humour to raise anyone’s spirits.
Next stops:
Winnipeg Fringe Festival,
July 15-24, 2016
Edmonton Fringe Festival,
August 12-21, 2016
Victoria Fringe Festival,
August 24-September 4, 2016
http://intrepidtheatre.com/festivals/fringe-festival/
Vancouver Fringe Festival
September 9-18, 2016
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is based on my review published in NOW magazine July 2, 2016.
Photo: Jon Paterson and Kurt Fitzpatrick. ©2016 Richard Gilmore.
For tickets, visit http://fringetoronto.com/fringe-festival/shows.
2016-07-02
Best Picture
