Fringe Festival 2017: "Jefferson Township Sparkling Junior Talent Pageant: A New Musical"

Day: 1

Show: 2

Title: Jefferson Township Sparkling Junior Talent Pageant: A New Musical

Category: Musical

By: Devious Mechanics

Written by: Keith Hovis

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: In search of something, a woman returns to her small town home and decides to finally continue an interrupted junior talent pageant from 20 years ago.

Highlights: This is another fun, fringey musical from the brilliant (and perhaps slightly warped) mind of Keith Hovis (see also Teenage Misery and Shakespeare Apocalypse). This one centers around the residents of a small town in Jefferson County, Iowa, and the late-20s former classmates who reunite to reenact the junior talent pageant they participated in 20 years ago, cut short due to a tragic accident. Frannie (Kelly Houlehan) had some success in "the Cities," and now finds herself living with her dad in the town where she grew up, where the first male pageant competitor Liam (Ryan London Levin), past his prime jock Travis (Zach Garcia), and spoiled little rich girl (and reigning champion) Val (Leslie Vincent) still live. In a Keith Hovis musical, we know there will be fun, catchy, clever tunes, dark humor, and blood, and this show fulfills all of those expectations. With fantastically broad and fully committed performances by the cast, a good time was had by all (note: unlike my first Fringe show, this one is decidedly not family-friendly!).

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here.

Fringe Festival: "Teenage Misery: A Horror Musical"

Day: 6

Show: 18

Title: Teenage Misery: A Horror Musical

By: Devious Mechanics

Written by: Keith Hovis

Location: Theatre in the Round

Summary: A young woman in college and her two best friends kidnap their idol Shane West. It ends badly, and they go on a killing spree across the country.

Highlights: What do you get if you combine the Stephen King novels Misery and Carrie with the musicals Sweeney Todd and Bye Bye Birdie? You get this odd and delightful mishmash of a musical, that doesn't shy away from the material it borrows from (the opening song is "attend the tale of Carrie Black," and Conrad Birdie is replaced by Shane West). A little rough around the edges, but the songs are great, with clever commentary on what it's like to be a young person growing up today, and winking jokes about "no time for proper character introduction, we only have an hour." The young actors in the cast may be a little green, but there's a ton of raw talent on that stage, and they perform with such enthusiasm and energy that it's impossible not to have fun watching them. Kelly Houlehan as Carrie has a strong voice and lights up the stage, Jordan Oxborough plays the not-so-smart idol well and sounds great too (talent runs in the family), and Shana Berg is a scene-stealer as the woman with a psychic connection to Shane (their psychic duet is hilarious). It's everything you want a Fringe musical to be - fun, clever, over-the-top, with strong performances and catchy tunes. Musical theater lovers - go see this one!

Read more of my fringe fest reflections…

… including my top 5 shows