It’s mid-July and that means it’s time for the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival! This year the festival runs from July 16-27. There are 25 venues and 145 shows to choose from, including local offerings and national and international productions.

To get in on the fun, pick up a Winnipeg Fringe Festival program from any liquor commission in the city, or download the PDF on the Fringe website:
winnipegfringe.com

I’ll be reviewing some shows this year for CJNU, so be sure to read the latest review here on the website.

Below is the review for “The Funny Thing About Men” at Venue 8 (The Rachel Brown Theatre)

Check your program for dates and times.

WINNIPEG, MB — What do you get when you combine a smart script, a gifted performer/singer and a collection of cleverly crafted songs whose lyrics elicit repeated, well-earned laughs from an enthusiastic audience? A five-star Fringe show! (And successful musicals are particularly hard to pull off.)

But Mandy Williams, originally from England and now living in Los Angeles, does just that with her playful, high-spirited, one-woman musical. Sauntering on stage in high heels, black tights and a houndstooth blazer, while doing deep, glute-busting lunges, she ushers in the first of many quick-witted songs about the power of womanhood, accompanied only by a harmonica, which she plays, in bursts, between lines. (I’m thinking it’s as hard as it looks.) For the remaining songs, she alternates, successfully, between playing the ukulele and using recorded music.

For the record, Mandy is equally comfortable with giving men a deserving role in her world, as she displays in a hilarious bit with an audience member. She uses her seemingly simple set and props quite strategically, particularly in the scenes with her partner. (Yes, I said it was a one-woman show.)

Mandy particularly shines in the songs “Things I Know Against My Will”, crooning about her partner’s love of sports; “I Can’t Do This Anymore”, remembering the time she found a toenail in the fruit bowl (“I swear I saw it there – nestled underneath a pear”); “Let’s Go Out Another Time”, in which she moans about being peri-menopausal; and her “Swan song”, where she belts out a tune about finally knowing it all, that you were always beautiful. Excuse me while I indulge myself here and confess my favourite lyric of hers: “When your moment comes, it won’t be a moment too late.”

Gotta love good lyrics!

Robbi Goltsman-Ferris
CJNU Radio