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Culture Theatre

Fringe review: Fuckboys The Musical

FUCKBOYS THE MUSICAL by Savannah Cassidy Pederson (Generation Productions). At Streetcar Crowsnest Guloien Theatre. July 6 at 8 pm, July 7 at 2:45 pm, July 10 at 5:30 pm, July 12 at 1 pm, July 13 at 4:30 pm. See listing. Rating: NNN

Fuckboys The Musical is peak millennial. The one-act performance explores the woes of modern dating (i.e. ghosting, dick pics and the titular fuckboys who only care about sex) with biting humour and emotional storylines.

Four 20-something women, none of whom are named, meet every week at a dingy karaoke bar for the cheap drinks and to lament their love lives: Woman 1 (Beth Anne Stripling) is secretly dating the bartender, Woman 2 (played by writer/director Savannah Cassidy Pederson) is reeling from a recent break-up and bordering on alcoholism, Woman 3 (Nicole Visco) is a workaholic who doesn’t have time to date and Woman 4 (Kendall Leamy) is the drug-loving, pseudo-spiritual sidekick.

Each woman gets their own solo, but Pederson’s moving performance where she sings about wanting her ex-boyfriend to be happy, even if it hurts her, is by far the strongest of the cast. Full group numbers the show is rounded out by The Bartender (Brandon Munoz-Dominguez), Man 1 (Joseph Adam Gonzalez) and Stage Manager (Hayley Vervalin) highlight the cast’s powerful voices and impressive dancing skills.

Originally premiering at the Orlando Fringe, the show has some American-centric jokes that don’t quite translate for a Canadian audience, and at times, meta-references acknowledging the audience feel forced. And at the performance I saw, technical difficulties with the headset mics disrupted some of the group numbers.

Let’s hope they iron out the tech issues soon, since with a bit more polish and a tightened script, Fuckboys has potential to become a classic about dating in a post-Tinder world.

@SamEdwardsTO

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