Quarterlife The Musical
People in their mid-twenties have been experiencing existential dilemmas since time immemorial, but the recent coining of the term ‘Quarterlife Crisis’ has suddenly brought a new surge of theatrical material on the subject. *QuarterLife: The Musical* is one of several such offerings at this year’s Fringe, cataloging the woes and quandaries of five twentysomething New Yorkers trying to sort out their lives.
It may be naïve, but I tend to approach anything that puts :the Musical in the title expecting jauntiness and irony, so I was caught a bit off guard by the earnestness of this performance.
Quarterlife doesn’t offer anything new or original to the popular theme but that doesn’t detract from the fact that the characters are easy to identify with. Nadia Hovan and Dan Nicks aren’t given much to do as a pair of young, hot artists in love, outside of being young and hot. Jonathan Tan hints at a lot of potential in his underused role as Julius the acerbic, sensible journalist - but it’s unfortunate the only crisis they could come up with for him to suffer through is an HIV scare, especially in a production already edging so close to a Rent knockoff.
Thankfully the cast is rounded out by shining performances by Daniel Abrahamson and Kirsten Kilburn as Barry and Amy, the only two characters who actually seem to be in the throes of any real quarterlife crisis at all. Abrahamson’s nerdy frustration with his prematurely-realized life and Amy’s anxious peppiness make them extremely likeable, and their chemistry as the unfortunately secondary romantic plot holds everything together.
There were some catchy songs, some good laughs, and I’ll admit that a few points hit closer to home than I’d comfortably admit, so I’d recommend checking it out – just don’t expect to be bowled over by originality.
_QuarterLife: the Musical continues until July 12th as part of the ongoing Toronto Fringe. For more information why not go_ "here":http://www.fringetoronto.com/fringe09/indoorBYOV_listings.html#Q
_Or you could check out this "fairy site":http://www.feistyfairy.ca/ instead._