3 Must See Fringe Shows

Only got a few days left to Fringe!

You’ve only got a few days left to Fringe (yes, that’s a verb). If you haven’t been down to the festival yet, you’d be wise to squeeze as much as possible before the week is out. The roster is packed with some great shows. Here are just a couple you may want to check out.

Performing Hedwig and the Angry Inch on a fringe stage is an ambitious move, yet it makes all the sense in the world, given that all the action, at least as far as the play is concerned, is supposed to happen in a club setting.

Originally an off-Broadway rock stage musical, Hedwig tells the story of a transgendered army brat turned Glam Rock singer, and invokes the spirits of David Bowie, the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, and other Glam Rock pioneers. The story unfolds through song and monologue, with a top o’ the hat to Frank N’ Furter, Sally Bowles, and even elements of Brian da Palma’s Phantom of the Paradise. The music is awesome. And in the right hands, the character, originally performed by playwright John Cameron Mitchell, transports you back in time, from the shadow of the Berlin Wall, into the heart of a boy-inside-a-man, trapped by a botched sex-change operation. How could such a plot by anything but entertaining?

When Balkan bad-boy Ratko Mladic was finally arrested and charged with genocide and crimes against humanity it made a local stand-up comedienne very happy. Jessica Salomon had at one time been a prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal at The Hague, working on cases like the one brought against the Butcher of the Balkans. But she gave it all up… for comedy.

Salomon is a triple-threat, as they say in show business: gay, Jewish, and funny. Her show, Doing Good, is on at the Fringe through to the 19th. With a mix of straight comedy and storytelling, the title begs the question as to whether she means she’s doing well, thanks for asking, or doing good deeds. The obvious answer is it’s a cross between the two.

And then there’s Robby Hoffman who is well on her way to becoming a Montreal favourite. She’s been all over the local comedy scene for the past 2 years, first hit the Fringe last year, and is back this year with a show called Robby Hoffman: Autobiography-What, You Think You’re Better Than Me?. Born into a large, orthodox Jewish family, Hoffman wins audiences over with her neuroses, wit, and charm. Mild-mannered accountant by day, comic antihero by night, on The Fringe until the 19th.

For show times and ticket prices for all these shows and more, check out Montreal Fringe Festival.