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Thursday 20 August 2015

A Modern Fairy Tale: A Musical Parody

Setting up shop at the Metro Theatre is the latest musical to hit the stage this summer. So far, we've gotten the likes of Hairspray and Oliver at Theatre Under The Stars, Les Miserables and Godspell at the Arts Club, and Jesus Christ Superstar from Fighting Chance Productions.


Standing out from the crowd though is Orthros Theatre Company's A Modern Fairy Tale: A Musical Parody, being an original musical written by Lisa Simon yet using familiar pop songs as its soundtrack with rewritten lyrics. So when you've had enough of the classics, why not take a chance on something new yet familiar? This retelling of fairy tales is akin to Sondheim's Into The Woods with its melange of famous characters you'll instantly recognize, except with a new bent. For example, Cinderella is now Cinder, a male married to his Prince Charming (aka Chuck), both of whom are obsessed with shoes. Meanwhile, Little Red Riding Hood is busy being caught between the Hunter and the Wolf.

The Wolf is played by Sasja Towe, who is absolutely brilliant and by far the main reason to go see this show. Sasja identifies as "gender non-binary" according to their bio and uses the "they/their" pronoun. Armed with a magnificent voice, Anne Hathaway features, and the smoothest dancing moves on the stage, Sasja is definitely the break-out star of this show.



Other high points included a sudden tap dance-off, a haunting ballet/modern dance sequence during Snow White's story line, and a dance fight featuring much of the ensemble cast, which numbers just over 20!



There were sound difficulties at times, and some of the scene transitions could be ironed out, but overall it's one big giant love-in happening right now at the Metro Theatre.

A Modern Fairy Tale: A Musical Parody runs now until August 30th at the Metro.

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