THE WORST: A DOFO INSPIRED MUSICAL by Astrid Mrkich and Nicolas Zehr (Meow Wow/Fringe). At Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace. Jul 11 at 1 pm, Jul 12 at 7 pm, Jul 13 at 9:45 pm. See listing. Rating: N
There’s certainly potential in a musical inspired by Premier Doug Ford’s destructive administration. And in one of the show’s only clever songs a litany of DoFo’s cuts called Seasons Of Doug, sung to Rent’s Seasons Of Love you get a sense of what this show could be. (There’s also a fun rhyme on “colonoscopy.”)
But dropped lines, unfunny SNL sketch homages and a hackneyed show-within-a-show conceit make this slack production (there’s no director credit) almost as painful as what’s happening to the province.
I hope social justice lawyers Astrid Mrkich and Nicolas Zehr, who have decent voices, rethink their material. As the province’s cuts continue to be felt, there’s definitely a need for an angry, urgent response.