Fringe Fest 2024: Day 6

Fragile, fabulous, flaming fool's gold.

My best friend Trudi joined me for shows today—hooray for Trudi day! She and Carmin are as part of my Edmonton Fringe experience as anything at this point, and I’m glad I get to experience all the weird and wonderful performances the festival has to offer with the two of them.

Day 6 of the festival was a lot of fun. It looks like I didn’t win the last 50/50 draw, but that’s okay. Edmonton Fringe Theatre deserves our donations, regardless.

Day 6 Reviews

A Fragile Thing

Matthew Hackett has written a very sincere, heartfelt play. A Fragile Thing spoke to me in ways that I know I should speak to myself and offered my soul a bittersweet symphony in the same tone as Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. This show is also just adorable—I was particularly happy with the talking Triceratops and Parasaurolophus. A Fragile Thing is a warm, hopeful production which deftly wields its complicated, multiversal premise to affirm a simple maxim: love thyself.

Fabulous Elagabulus!

I enjoyed Fabulous Elagabulus!, but I wanted more. For those unfamiliar (I am not entirely familiar myself) Elagabulus was a Roman Emperor who ruled for a short time, just four years, while he was still a teenager. Power is said to have corrupted many Emperors, but Elagabulus has perhaps the most debauched, sacrilegious reputation of them all. Given the wild reputation to work with, I think Fabulous Elagabulus! could have gone even harder—much, much harder. Although perhaps that would defeat the point because, as delightfully risqué as our production actually was, the worst of Elagabulus’ reputation is likely libel spread by snobs who hated the idea of a queer and trans teenager on the throne of Rome. I was also expecting more glam rock, as advertised.

GORDON'S BIG BALD HEAD: The Art of the Steal

Gordon’s Big Bald Head is pretty gosh darn amazing. Our trio of improvisers randomly select another show from the festival (which they presumably haven’t seen but have received a synopsis of) and improvise their own version of it. On Wednesday, they performed their own version of Think of Me, an Andrew Lloyd Webber cabaret about twins born at the Elk Island gas station. I was already scheduled to see Think of Me on Saturday, and I’m willing to bet Gordon inspired my fellow audience members to see it as well, because this version was hilarious. You should check out Gordon’s Big Bald Head, as well as any other Fringe endeavor involving Jacob Banigan, Mark Meer, and Ron Pederson.

Satan Does a Cabaret

Hail Satan! The creative mind behind Jesus Teaches us Things (one of my Fringe faves) is here to bless Edmonsin with a musical cabaret befitting the world’s greatest rebel. Satan Does a Cabaret is straightforward in concept but blazingly hilarious in execution. I was brave enough to look Beelzebub in the eye from the front row, which meant I was conscripted into joining the band as an egg shaker and occasional keyboard pedal plugger-inner. Satan Does a Cabaret is a lot of fun, just don’t bring your easily offended Catholic aunt and ruin the vibes.

Fool’s Gold

Fool’s Gold wins best original musical at Edmonton’s 43rd Fringe Festival. Daphne Charrois is amazing as our playwright and lead heroine, Charlotte Parker. Top marks also for Aidan Spila and Shane Watson, who play brothers Thomas and Henry Montrose at the heart of the drama. I was not entirely sure what to expect with a title like Fool’s Gold, but this is no jester; Fool’s Gold is an earnest, ambitious, triumphant musical. The cast and their personas are the real standouts here. Charrois and Spila, especially, sing life into humane, endearing characters. I might only wish for Watson’s Henry to be written just as well, but that’s a minor suggestion in the grand scheme of things. I highly recommend Fool’s Gold. #ThomasDidNothingWrong