Die Roten Punkte and Gutenberg! Steal The Show
Two musicals were the highlights of day 3 of the Vancouver Fringe 2.
Day 3 of the Vancouver Fringe offered up two hits, and one huge miss.
Written and Performed by Tobaias and Bartholomew (Performance Works - Various Showtimes)
Die Roten Punkte may be the funniest show at the Vancouver Fringe 2008. The show has been on tour to the various Fringe Festivals across Canada this year, after selling out venues across Canada in 2007. It's really no wonder that they have been (and are) such a hit. The 60 minutes spent with this pair from Berlin could possibly be the best time you'll spend at the Fringe this year. The brother/sister team that comprise Die Roten Punkte are not only gifted musicians, but have a real flare for comedy and improvisational techniques. They interact heavily with the us, the audience, and it just makes us love them all the more. You can see the impact these two have on their crowd as the audience leaves, shouting "Rock BANG!" and "I'm not a robot - I'm a Lion", on their way to purchasing Die Roten Punkte t-shirts and buttons as they leave.
Is this show the best of the Vancouver Fringe? So far, the answer is a resounding yes.
***** (out of five)
The Movies (Abridged)
By Wolf Productions (Granville Island Stage - Various Showtimes)
This show is one of those that had possibilities. Unfortunately, that's where it ended. The creators of The Bible (Abridged), which played at various Fringes a couple of years back (and was hilarious, by the way), The Movies (Abridged) is a timid kick at the can for these performers. The idea behind this production is that a lonely video store clerk has been informed that he has been selected to take a test to possibly become a store manager, and they are going to test his movie IQ to see if he makes the grade – what we get over the next 45 minutes or so are lame rip-offs of movies, bad impressions of movie stars, and a really boring hour of comedy. How can a spoof of the Die Hard film series not include its most famous line? To top it off, they set the first Die Hard in the wrong city (it took place in Los Angeles, not New York City), and from then on, the show seemed to spiral out of control.
All in all, not a great effort by the gents at Wolf Productions, and this is a show that should have ended up on the cutting room floor.
* (out of five)
Gutenberg! The Musical
By Scott Brown and Anthony King
Produced by Wide Eyed Productions (Granville Island Stage - Various Showtimes)
How interesting could a musical be about Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, right? Amazingly enough, it's fantastic! An Off-Broadway hit musical from 2007, the audience is attending a reading of a new musical, aptly named Gutenberg. Bud and Doug, the two writers of the show, are set to perform the show, hoping that a Broadway producer in the audience will buy the rights to the show and take it to the Great White Way. With characters like Helvetica, Monk, Young Monk, Anti Semite, and Dead Baby, the two actors change roles on the spot with the changing of trucker caps with the characters names on them.
The songs and the plot are pretty corny, but these two performers (Nathan Clark and Ken Lawson) are two seasoned comedy performers, and they carry the show throughout. What they lack in vocal ability they make up for in comedic timing and sheer hilarity.
Go see Gutenberg! The Musical while you can – you'll never look at a musical the same way again.
***** (out of five)
Die Roten Punkte
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