You don’t need to have a huge budget or venue to put on a spectacular show. The cast of Twisted Tales did just that in Gluttony’s Ukiyo tent last night, and I don’t need a magic mirror to show me that they’ve got a big hit in their future.
Tackling Disney stories is nothing new in the Fringe world. But it’s what you do with those stories that makes it a hit or a miss with an audience. As the title suggests, Twisted Tales takes characters from popular Disney movies and puts them in unfamiliar situations. Was Little Mermaid’s Ariel really a nice girl who just wanted to be human? Is the Queen of Hearts just misunderstood? And what’s the deal with Aladdin and his monkey? All those questions and more are answered in a magical sixty-minute show that will have you laughing from start to finish. It’s not a comedy show mind you, but thanks to the hilarious MC Magic Mirror and his Mirror-ettes, Twisted Tales goes along at a rollicking pace. With some shows, the comedy skits may come across as cringey, but in this one the script is tight, and the laughs are aplenty. Even the group dance numbers show that this team of performers have rehearsed so well that they never miss a beat. Most surprising to me were three performances that caught me completely off-guard.
A tap dance number performed by the Magic Mirror came out of nowhere and had the crowd cheering with glee. I think the whole of Adelaide heard the laughter from the all-cast Aladdin performance. Meanwhile, watching Emily Raymond (playing the Cheshire Cat) showed that Twisted Tales certainly has some all-star pull in the artistic community. Emily first garnered this reviewer's attention in the previous Fringe show Red District. This is a woman who doesn’t just ask for your attention as an audience member, it’s more like she grabs you by the collar, slaps you across the face and demands it, such is her stage presence.
Filled with amazing aerials, sultry burlesque and cheeky charisma, you don’t need to wish upon a star to watch a great Fringe show because it’s playing right now in Gluttony!
****1/2 FOUR AND A HALF STARS