Fringe Review: LARD The Musical

It is within the first scene of LARD, as its charismatic and corpulent cast members belt out their take on Grease’s infamous “Tell Me More,” that one quickly gets why Big Moves has already been the recipient of Spirit of the Fringe Award.

Thing is; they get it.

Conscious of the hokey, feel-good conventions of a genre which nearly always borders on being overly shrill and peppy, the ladies of LARD use a well-known storyline to their advantage while managing to take a surprisingly engaging and original spin on the ballad of Sandy and Danny. Chronicling the tumultuous reunion of Lily (Colette Gagnon) and Patty (Mandy Lussier) as they return for senior year after a summer of flirting and fast food, Lily finds herself shunned by her hefty hot-shot love interest when she discovers Lily has succumbed to peer pressure from the Dietrons and embarked on the much hated weight watchers diet. Torn between the desire to escape her parent’s fat hatred and a burning love for Patty and all things wrapped in bacon, Lily is forced to choose between fitting in and being thin and living large and finding love.

Featuring some real talent–both Lussier and Gagnon can actually sing, with the latter holding a masters degree in Opera– and the quirky writing styles of Marina Wolf Ahmed (”I met a girl, she liked to eat”), LARD avoids the trap of becoming a sappy after-school-special by never pretending to be something other than a light-hearted show with a straight-up message about heaviness. Featuring a 300+ lb woman in a gold-lame bikini and a queer romance which is handled with refreshing nonchalance, LARD has guts in more ways than one.

The main drawbacks here result from an unfortunate lack of set and costume design. It’s frustrating that LARD completely misses out on the atmospheric potential of its classic 1950’s locales and sadly, it’s clear that no one was there to pay special attention to something which could have taken the show from cute spin-off to a fully realized production in its own right.

That said, LARD is fun, the cast is obviously having fun and it manages to deliver meaning and joy through song and dance without making me want to rip my hair out. People, we have a winner.

______________
Lard: The Musical at Théâtre LaChapelle

$9 + $2 service charge
16 and under with ID: $6 + $2 service charge

14 Jun @ 22.30
15 Jun @ 20.45
17 Jun @ 22.15
19 Jun @ 13.30
20 Jun @ 17.30
21 Jun @ 22.30

Big Moves Website