MUSICAL ROMP NO DRAG
Calgary SUN - Louis B Hobson

CANMORE – With its slapstick musical The Andrews Brothers, Canmore’s Cornerstone Dinner Theatre is serving up mighty hearty laughs. It’s a delicious piece of non-sense set in the South Pacific at the close of the Second World War. The Andrews Sisters arrive to entertain a military base. At the last moment, one of the singers comes down with chickenpox so the trio is quarantined. Because the must always go on, stage hands Max (Parris Greaves), Patrick (Michael Brockman) and Lawrence (Kholby Wardell) have to get into drag and sing and dance their hearts out. The joke in the show is that there’s never any question that these are three men in wigs, dresses and high heels. Their antics are hilarious especially when they forget they’re supposed to be women as is often the case when they sit or adjust their outfits. What’s as genuine as their padding is false is that these three actors have dynamite voices so their harmonies are impressive to say the least. The guys are joined by Peggy (Anna Hurshman) a pin-up girl who travels with the Andrews Sisters. More mayhem ensues when Peggy sets her sights on the shy, asthmatic Patrick. Brockman is a bundle of nerves and nervous ticks. Hurshman turns most of Peggy’s musical numbers into torch songs and has the pipes to handle them. Choreographer Amber Bissonnette’s always manages to add humour as well as sparkle to her dance numbers and musical director Deborah Rosen recreates the sounds and stylings of the 40’s. Director JP Thibodeau incorporates some audience participation into the second act with outrageous results.Everyone involved in The Andrews Brothers knows this is one very silly trifle so, much to the delight of the audience, they go for the broadest of laughs.

3.5/5 Stars